re-program decoder

[Ballantrae Road]

Selector, 

I am almost 100% you are right. I'll call them. Now if I can only manage to squeeze in some time to call, what with that 9 to 5 , 5 day a week thing I have to take care of.

 

Tom

[selector]

Phone BLI's customer support and ask one of the guys to talk you through a programming sequence.  You may eventually realize that the person who did the write-up missed a rather important step...wouldn't be the first time this has happened.

[Ballantrae Road]

Welcome to the club. Since I got my Blueline AC6000, it has been nothing but futility trying to program it to run. I have tried for weeks. I know the Blueline is a strange brew, but the price was good. I have checked their website and there was one fellow who described in agonizing detail (his description, not mine) of how to get that AC6000 going using the Digitrax Zephyr , like mine, after speaking to "Larry" at BLI. Well I followed those instructions to the letter....time and time again.....No way Jose!   Mine doesn't work. I have installed the Digitrax DN143Ip as recomended in the Blueline manual.....The AC6000 works fine in straight DC..yes the DN143IP works fine in other Locomotives.....So here I sit all broken hearted....What to do?

 

[selector]

I agree, it does very much depend on the programming signal output strength of the base station.  For example, I have the 5 amp DB 150 from the Super Empire Builder from Digitrax.  I can programme any decoder...period.  Doesn't make any difference if it is on an isolated segment and in Paged Mode or on the main in Ops Mode.  (Digitrax recommends Paged Mode, I believe.)

But some systems don't put out enough oomph on their programming circuit to get the decoders to hear.  Apparently MRC decoders are like that, and the QSI decoders have a capacitor that takes all the initial charge before the decoder "lights up".  That means the capacitor effectively soaks up all the programming signal.  So, you may have to purchase a booster, although I have heard that you can put a resistor across the rails and sometimes get the same effect...don't know anything about it except what I have read.  Hopefully someone else will actually know about this.

[greendiamond]

What DCC system are you using and how are you trying to program the decoder?

You may need a programming track booster device.

 Mike

[MisterBeasley]

When you say you "programmed the engine to 003," did you actually go through the steps of changing the engine address, or merely select 003 on your throttle?  If the engine has been reset to its factory defaults, it will be address 003, and no other address will activate it.  (Sorry if you're thinking, "Of course I did that."  I just don't know how familiar you are with these things.)

If this is a BLI engine with a QSI decoder, you may be having trouble programming it at all.  In general, these decoders can not be programmed on the programming track, and must be programmed on the main line.  The decoders take too much power to operate on the programming track, which is intentionally limited to keep us all from burning up a decoder when we install it incorrectly.  (Of course I did that.)

[selector]

If the new address you are programming is a number higher than 127, you must use the procedure for an extended address.  If you have done this, you have one step left, and that is to enable the address by converting the value currently resident in CV29 to "38".  Once you do this last step (for long addresses only!), acquire the loco using the new address dialed into the throttle, and your new engine with new name will come alive for you.

[baron9]

 I have a Broadway-Limited AC6000 with sound and after sending it back to the factory for some work I could'nt get it to run. I called Broadway-Limited and they told me that the decoder was re-set back to the default number which is 003. I programed the engine to 003 and it started to run. When I tried to program it to the engine number it would'nt run or the sound come on. It will only run if I program it to 003. Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.