BLI 2-8-2 Died

[UpNorth]

Finally - success!  The connection between the tender truck wipers and the decoder had failed  - made a few adjustments and was able to reset the loco back to the factory defaults.  Reprogrammed and all is well.  Wow - took nearly 3 hours of this and that overall to get this one resolved.

Thanks to all for their suggestions.

Charles

 

You mean to say there is no electrical pickup from the loco and that it is not passed on to the decoder in the tender ?  This would surprise me. But glad to read you found the problem.

[selector]

Excellent!  It is too bad that you had to experience this difficult of a fix, in a sense, but in another sense it is an excellent confidence builder and learning experience.  So often it is a much simpler affair, such as with a slightly pulled out plug between tender and engines or even a corroded joiner that has finally broken contact with the rails.

I am happy to read that you have a working engine, and all because you persevered.   Good show.

-Crandell

[wmshay06]

Finally - success!  The connection between the tender truck wipers and the decoder had failed  - made a few adjustments and was able to reset the loco back to the factory defaults.  Reprogrammed and all is well.  Wow - took nearly 3 hours of this and that overall to get this one resolved.

Thanks to all for their suggestions.

Charles

[rolleiman]

I'll be watching to see what happens.. I have one of these locos and once experienced the total shutdown. Then I read the instructions and realized I'd hit the wrong sequence of functions. Which is the first thing I thought of when I read your OP. I was able to recover with a reset however.. Good luck and keep us posted.

[wmshay06]

I'll remove the gear cover to see if there is a jam - you never know.  So far it has resisted attempts at reset to factory conditions  in DCC - either by using F6 to exit total shut down or the reset jumper approach.  I'll try again just to make sure.  I'll try reprogramming as well on the programming track. Another thought I had was to try it in analog mode to see if its working and maybe reset it that way.

The loco is just not on - no lights, no nothing, which might mean its in total shot down mode somehow or the decoder is dead.

Charles

[rolleiman]

Well...no luck.. inspected the wiring hardness for loose wires (none); cleaned contact surfaces; cleaned the track; and ran through the reset process (its one of the ones that has a pot on the board) - nothing happened. 

Looks like its off to a repair shop to see what gives..

Thanks for all of the ideas..

How about reprogramming it?? I Have had locos 'forget' who they were (address). Very Rare, but it has happened. If it is accepting commands (are you sure it is?), then the decoder should be working. Has something entered the gearbox and jammed it up? Had that happen on one of my genesis F units. It'd go for a second, stop, no go. 

[wmshay06]

Well...no luck.. inspected the wiring hardness for loose wires (none); cleaned contact surfaces; cleaned the track; and ran through the reset process (its one of the ones that has a pot on the board) - nothing happened. 

Looks like its off to a repair shop to see what gives..

Thanks for all of the ideas..

[selector]

My first tests are these, in order:

Press on the joiners on either side of the loco.  No go?  Then it's the loco decoder or its harness....or dirty wheels/track....or a broken solder at the feeder wire.

Check the track for cleanliness.  Check for track power with a multimeter.

Next test is to press the harness plug into its receptacle.  I have had more than one dead stop due to a plug that wiggled loose over time.

If that doesn't work, and no visible damage or dirt is evident when the engine and tender are inverted (wipers are clean, wiped surfaces are clean?), then it is time to suspect broken wire or solder, possibly a defective decoder.

-Crandell

[enginear]

Stix, I'm glad you noted the shutdown cause I always assume that people know how to use their systems and forget that they might not be familiar with everything ( like a different engine), Joe

Don't assume nothin' Joe

[enginear]

I am sure you thought of this but my first response would be loss of power through a wire lead broken off, or a pinched wire, because of your description of how it died. Did it die on a crossover or an area where it may have shorted? Do you have any track power protection on the lenz system booster? I am thinking maybe a power pick up problem.  Test the motor directly but I think you'll have to get inside no matter what. These decoders are pretty solid compared to say an mrc which I seem to have reliability problems with. Good luck, Joe

[wjstix]

Well I'd start with the obvious stuff first. If you moved the "guts" into a new tender, check to see if a wire came loose so it's not getting power to the decoder anymore for example.

BTW BLI/QSI engines do have a "shut down" mode that basically turns everything off. It's possible you accidently hit the wrong sequence of function buttons and turned that on. Maybe check the directions (in the booklet that came with the engine, or get it online), there's a certain function button sequence you can use to turn the engine back 'on' from shut down.

[wmshay06]

Ok, before I 'crack' the tender shell to see if I can see anything, have a bit of an issue.  Was operating my BLI Mike (with a tender conversion - basically moved the electronics and speaker into a new tender) and quite suddenly the loco stops responding - period.  No lights, no sound, no movement, no nothing.  BTW, using a Lenz DCC system.  All other locos work just fine.  There was no smoke or anything to indicate something got fried.

So...I was thinking maybe after cleaning contacts to try and reset the loco to factory default - if possible (don't remember if there is a 'wand' for this - I'll have to look in the box). But, I'm looking for other ideas as to what may  have happened.

thanks

Charles