I've been trolling this board for a while and figured I mise well start posting some of the questions that I haven't quite found the answers to.
I have a BLI K4 with the factory sound decoder and a Bachmann K4 (DCC on board with factory decoder, no sound). I have programmed each individually with no issues. I used an NCE cab at my club's layout and used the advanced consisting (I believe that is what it is called) setting. I added both loco's and completed the set up.
I place the loco's about 2 feet apart and address the consist using the number of the first loco (BLI). I receive no response from the BLI while the Bachmann starts to move. I took the Bachmann off the track and increased the throttle all the way up to 28 and no movement from the BLI. I take the BLI off and put the Bachmann back on and it moves as expected. Now with both on the track I play with some of the buttons to receive any type of response from the BLI. After pressing the Headlight button the loco sounds start up. I then have full responsiveness from a sound perspective but still no movement. I played with CV 2 and 5 and still no movement. I then cleared the consist and address the BLI loco individually and it starts up immediately with no issues.
Any help fixing this BLI hiccup would be appreciated.
2. I am not positive, is it listed in the manual or do I have to open up the tender?
3. Great, probably should have just gone with the DCC ready loco
4. I believe it was advanced. It asked me to enter the address of the first loco then direction and then address of second loco and direction
5. I have the K4 manual and while it does give some info on certain CV's it didn't outline anything for consisting. Is there a more generic BLI manual I should look at?
I am away from these loco's today but I'll likely head back to the club tomorrow and can provide the information about the BLI
I went back to my club this morning and had some more fun.
The BLI is a QSI chip and the Bachmann is a low end Lenz. Hopefully it will suffice for now but as mentioned I'll likely buy a replacement soon.
I went through the Advanced consisting steps to try again. This time it actually worked. I noticed there was a considerable difference in speed so I changed CV 2 and 4 on the Bachmann. After the change I noticed I still needed to tweak those and change CV 3. I changed all 3 on the Bachmann and put it back on the main. Now the BLI responded with sound/movement, but I received no response from the Bachmann.
I cleared the consist again. I addressed the Bachmann individually and still no response. I addressed the BLI individually and now only sounds, no movement. I checked the Long address of the Bachmann to be sure it wasn't dropped in the midst of the consisting and it still had the correct address. I reconsisted and the BLI had movement again but nothing from the Bachmann. I cleared it once again and the BLI continues to respond to both sound/movement but still nothing from the Bachmann.
Before I mess any further do you think I should just dump the Lenz and get a better decoder?
Put the Bachmann on the track, remove all other locomotives, and program a value of 0 into CV 19 to clear the consist address from the decoder using Ops Mode programming. The Bachmann should then be set back to its original address before consisting.
Clear the consist from the BLI by programming CV 19 with a value of 0, and start over with both locomotives on the track.
Personally, I've never had much luck programming a BLI locomotive with any other brand.
Just out of curiosity, how are you clearing the consist? When you use the NCE system, it installs a consist number in CV19. This consist number is a number between 1 and 127 that the command station uses to remember which engines are in a particular consist. So, for example, let's say that consist number 127 contains engines 1000 and 2000. The number 127 is what is placed in CV19. But you don't need to remember that number to run the locos. You can enter 1000 and the set will run, you can enter 2000 and the set will run, or you can enter 127 and the set will run.
When you press the clear consist key you can clear the consist from the command station's memory by asking it to clear consist 1000, or clear consist 2000. However, I have found that doing this does not necessarily clear out the consist number from CV19 on the two locos. I don't know why this is, but I have found it best to ask the command station to clear out the three digit consist address. This seems to successfully clear out the consist from the command station as well as all the CV 19s. That might be why you are having to individually enter zero in CV19 of the two locos.
maxman Just out of curiosity, how are you clearing the consist? When you use the NCE system, it installs a consist number in CV19. This consist number is a number between 1 and 127 that the command station uses to remember which engines are in a particular consist. So, for example, let's say that consist number 127 contains engines 1000 and 2000. The number 127 is what is placed in CV19. But you don't need to remember that number to run the locos. You can enter 1000 and the set will run, you can enter 2000 and the set will run, or you can enter 127 and the set will run. When you press the clear consist key you can clear the consist from the command station's memory by asking it to clear consist 1000, or clear consist 2000. However, I have found that doing this does not necessarily clear out the consist number from CV19 on the two locos. I don't know why this is, but I have found it best to ask the command station to clear out the three digit consist address. This seems to successfully clear out the consist from the command station as well as all the CV 19s. That might be why you are having to individually enter zero in CV19 of the two locos.
Ok, I just pressed Clear Consist on the Cab. I will run through this CV19 routine each time I want to clear it.
I was able to consist them again and both fully responded however I think my issue morphed into not fully understanding the implications of changing CV 2, 3, 4 when matching speeds. The BLI speeds up and slows down much more gradually. For the Bachmann to match I believe I need to look at the acceleration/deceleration CV's in 3 and 4? Also the Bachmann does not start moving until speed step 7-10, which I believe I need to update CV2 to fix? I entered a higher value in CV2 which is why I think the loco didn't move during a few of my trials, however with a value of 1-5 in CV2 the loco still only starts moving in speed step 7.
Sorry if this has gotten slightly off my original topic
Assuming your Bachmann has the typical bottom-end Lenz decoder, those aren't known for having the best motor control. I was given one of those for free just to try in a loco that was waiting to be decodered with something else. It works, but even in an otherwise nice-running Kato drive, it's hard to get good low speed control, or to get it to run as well as I'd like in a consist with better decoders. A higher quality decoder with back emf capability would likely help your Bachmann loco start creeping along at lower speed steps.
Also, I don't care for momentum too much, so I normally don't program anything into CVs 3 or 4. Zero those out and see if you get better throttle response in the consist. You may need to manipulate the BLI loco to have a slower initial response with a different value in CV 2, and maybe some downward adjustment in mid (CV 6) and max (CV 5) speeds.
Rob Spangler