I've searched high and low, so apologies if this is answered somewhere...
I just acquired two Broadway Limited SD7s. When I turn on the layout power, the forward headlight and cab light are both illuminated. I would like them both to be "dark" upon turning on the layout, only turning on when I address the loco and access the function.
Any help as to how to configure this? I use JMRI as well, and I can't seem to figure out how to have a "dark" locomotive when turning on the layout.
Much appreciated,Scott
I have two BLI Paragon2 locomotives, one Light Mikado and one NW2. Both of them are plagued with the same problem you describe. I wrote a thread some time ago on this forum but nobody was able to give me the solution. It seems to be inherent to some BLI locomotives. Since that I discovered I have another locomotive in which I installed a NCE decoder that acts the same. I didn't try yet to solve the situation but I gave up with the BLIs. I just make sure they stand on an unpowered track as my layout still have some electricaly isolated blocks from the previous DC wiring.
However, if you find a solution, please post it on this forum for the sake of every BLI locomotive owner.
Guy
Modeling CNR in the 50's
From the earlier thread I mentioned:
Here is the answer from BLI Support.
"To the best of our knowledge, there is no way to have the lights off at startup. The headlights come on automatically as soon as power is sensed, but the engine has to be addressed and lights manually turned off."
Well, setting CV208 to 0 keeps the cab light off at power up, and it can be turned on via a function button. I tried setting DCC light control to "disable" (CV225 = "18") which keeps the headlights off at power up, but then there seems to be no way to ever turn them on.
Setting CV159 to "1" (default is 2) which disables Rule 17 lighting eliminates the rear light on startup. Rule 17 can be enabled via a function key. The forward light still illuminates on power up. But I'm 2/3 of the way there...
A million different parameters on this decoder and I can't believe that this is not an option.
I'll wait for word from BLI before giving up. :)
Scott
I've got a couple of BLI F-7s with that silly cab light! It looks like a carbon-arc lamp blazing in there. Next time I have the shell off for maintenance I'm just going to clip that LED right off the board and use it for an anti-aircraft searchlight!
I'm away from the layout for a few days, but BLI says to set CV159 to 6. I'll need to look at JMRI to see what that adjusts. I'll report back this weekend if it works.
Oddly enough, I was browsing this forum while using JMRI Decoder Pro to adjust some settings on my BLI engines. On the ones I have, there's a tab in Decoder Pro for "Light Control". If you change "Headlight Initial State" and "Reverse Light Initial State" to "Automatic", the light shouldn't come on until you hit F0 on your controller.
That being said, BLI engines can be kind of goofy. Some are set so the rear headlight can't be dimmed for example. It can come down to trial-and-error, but sometimes you can't get things exactly the way you want them.
I do not recall having that option, but I'll look for that this weekend. Seems like something I would have noticed though. I'm not using the latest JMRI, just the latest "stable" version. I'll upgrade this weekend as well!
Okay, I can report setting CV159 to "6" does indeed work! I don't see anything in JMRI that addreses this, or reflects what exactly changes, but at power up, the headlights are off, and fully selectable using F0 (or whatever function they are assigned.)
The cab light still powers on, but as I mentioned earlier, that is changed by setting CV208 to 0 (zero).
So all is well. I am using JMRI 3.6 - perhaps the newer version has additional parameters, I'll check. (edit, no it does not.)
Thanks for everyone's help. Hope this helps others as well!Scott
Scott,
Thank you for posting the solution for this situation. I will try it on both BLI locomotives I own.
Still wonder why the support staff at BLI couldn't help with this one as the solution exists.
I tried setting CV 159 = 6 on both BLI locomotives I own.
It worked fine for the NW2 diesel. But it did nothing to help the Light Mikado.
Guy Papillon Scott, Thank you for posting the solution for this situation. I will try it on both BLI locomotives I own. Still wonder why the support staff at BLI couldn't help with this one as the solution exists.
No problem. That solution comes directly from BLI support. There is nothing in JMRI or BLI's own technical documentation that mentions anything other than a valid value of 0, 1, or 2 for CV159. I would think steam would be the same as most of the CVs are indentical. Drop them a line at their support email with the specific model. Took them about 48 hours to get back to me, but they had the answer!