Engine goes through the start up sounds and sits there burbling. No headlight, no horn or bell and above all no movement. any thoughts or ideas of where I should look for the problem? What scews do I need to remove to take off the shell? For one brief two foot movement everything worked so I assume I either have a loose connection or wire problem. This happened after the start up one time.
Before opening it up, try all other options first! It's unlikely the wires to the lights and the wires to the motor suddenly all came loose on their own. Even if they did, when you try to get the engine to move, the diesel engine sound would rev up. If it doesn't change, then there's something else going on.
Start with the easiest first - put the engine on your programming track and see if you can read any CVs. If so, then there isn't a short or anything.
Some sound decoders default to starting the engine sounds any time there's power on the track, but won't respond to any commands until they're addressed by a DCC system. So maybe the engine address isn't what you think it is?
If you can read CVs OK, then change the short address (CV1) back to the default of 003 and see if the decoder responds to that. If so, then try reprogramming it the ID number you want.
Note that some decoders require that you change CV29 to allow a long address (higher than 127). If you don't do that, it may seem like you've changed the long address, but really you haven't.
If you can't read any CV's these may have been part of the ESU decoder debacle (fake or defective chips). If so Walthers should take care of you.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
Henry, I'm not sure of this at all, but I think lately Athearn has gone with Soundrax decoders. Tsunami2 in Genesis, Economi in RTR. But certainly I could be wrong regarding if the above is a 100% across the board situation.
Regards, Chris
Athearn website says Genesis engines come with Tsunami 2 sound decoders.
ndbprrFor one brief two foot movement everything worked so I assume I either have a loose connection or wire problem. This happened after the start up one time.
There are some decoders that, when they first get power from the track, will scoot forward a foot or two. It's generally because they have dual-mode decoders that can run on DC or DCC (which is AC on the track). For a moment, the decoder confuses the inrush of 12-15V AC as being DC power and runs ahead full speed. Then usually it stops. (You can usually stop that by adjusting CV29 to make it DCC only).
So the fact the engine did move once at start-up doesn't necessarily mean it was working fine and now a wire has somehow gotten disconnected. Much more likely to be a decoder programming issue.
ndbprr Engine goes through the start up sounds and sits there burbling. No headlight, no horn or bell and above all no movement.
Engine goes through the start up sounds and sits there burbling. No headlight, no horn or bell and above all no movement.
If so, then reset the decoder to factory default and go from there.
Also, check Stix first reply to this thread. He has made some good suggestions for testing.
Rich
Alton Junction
Are you using DCC? If not, with some DC systems it can take more juice than the DC transformer can handle to get it to go. I had a Bachmann 2-10-0 I thought was defective because it would not go at all on my DC test track until I put it on my DCC test track and changed some CV's. If you are using DCC it would also help to know what DCC sytem you are using.
Thanks
SB
NCE wireless. Still trying to figure it out. I may have tried changing the engine number on a non programing track. Trying the suggestions this afternoon
Put in the long address 8589 and the bell, horn and movement work. Rear headlight does not when direction switched. Loco does not respond on short address of 3 but that is not a big deal as I will not be using it. Thanks for the help.
The NCE system is great for troubleshooting i use a powercab on my test bench. I would go through the setup again press program, scroll to test track or Program on Main. Push 1 when it gives u the option to make address 3 just hit enter and it will go to the long address put it in hit enter it will give u the chance to say yes to it being the main address. Go through the choices at 1, mine are all just enter especially no DC and long address yes. Back out of that go back into program, click on choice 2 for CV's, enter CV 57 and 58 and make sure they r both set to 0. Those are to set your headlights to on in forward and reverse. 57 is forward and 58 is reverse. Hope this helps.
Boy do I feel stupid. I checked all the cvs and still no headlight. Just by chance I looked at the power pro cab and one of the 26 buttons said headlight and low and behold you would be surprised that it actually does turn the headlight on or off when you press it. Now to figure out the marker lights. Must be some other button. :-)
ndbprr Boy do I feel stupid. I checked all the cvs and still no headlight. Just by chance I looked at the power pro cab and one of the 26 buttons said headlight and low and behold you would be surprised that it actually does turn the headlight on or off when you press it. Now to figure out the marker lights. Must be some other button. :-)
For clarity, that would be the "0" key, since the Power Cab/ProCab throttles do not have an "F0" key. I know that's what Rich meant though.
Tom
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
tstage For clarity, that would be the "0" key, since the Power Cab/ProCab throttles do not have an "F0" key. I know that's what Rich meant though. Tom
Who am I to challenge the Moderator, so I won't...
...except to point out that NCE, the manufacturer of the Pro Cab, refers to that button as the F0 (F standing for Function).
On ALL NCE cabs The "F0" (the actual 0 key) and "Headlight" keys are identical in every way. In fact they are hardwired electrically as such.
So there -
richhotrain...except to point out that NCE, the manufacturer of the Pro Cab, refers to that button as the F0 (F standing for Function).
Can someone let me down, please?
tstage richhotrain ...except to point out that NCE, the manufacturer of the Pro Cab, refers to that button as the F0 (F standing for Function). Can someone let me down, please?
richhotrain ...except to point out that NCE, the manufacturer of the Pro Cab, refers to that button as the F0 (F standing for Function).
I was lucky to find that NCE quote that saved me from eternal doom for my apparent gaffe.