Hi all, I hope you has a safe and peaceful Christmas,
My Bachmann GE 45tonner with Bachmann decoder seems to have a mind of its own. It runs fine by itself, but when I'm running other DCC locos it sometimes starts running all by itself. The decoder is set to ignore DC and I am using a NCE Powercab. I haven't changed it's address from 3 yet, but I'm not running any other locos with address 3.
Should I replace the decoder as I hear Bachmann ones are not good.
Thanks
Alan Jones in Sunny Queensland (Oz)
That does sound like a decoder issue, you should contact Bachmann at any rate, as your GE45T should still be under warranty. If you have a spare decoder, you could try it with that one to see if the problem goes away.
Jay
C-415 Build: https://imageshack.com/a/tShC/1
Other builds: https://imageshack.com/my/albums
Try to change the address first. It could be that the primary address is the 4 digit but the power cab is still sending mesages to address #3. If it had a bad decoder than the program track would detect either a short or open and say no decoder instaled or shorted decoder.
Remember group to protect your DCC investment the first place to put new decoders or locomotives is on the program track. Even if you dont change anything the low current will protect somewhat a bad decoder or the command station. It is not 100 % but its better than frieing anything.
Pete
I pray every day I break even, Cause I can really use the money!
I started with nothing and still have most of it left!
Thanks Pete,
I tried changing the address and I still get the problem. I guess you were right Jay. it seems to be something to do with the noise from the other engines motor as it only happens when I run another loco. I tried addressing non-existant engines and couldn't get the 45tonner to run away, but as soon as I run another engine, it gets a mind of its own. Guess I'll be sending it back. I tried a few different addresses just in case, but they all did the same thing.
Thanks for your help
It does sound like it has dc mode enabled. In the menu option 3 (cfg) one of your menu's have a question that says DC mode That should be answered NO by pressing Enter. This is a common problem if it's set to yes. I have a 45 tonner with NCE and don't have a problem, but have had it when the setting was on DC.
Good Luck
Springfield PA
Thanks Hamltblue,
I did check CV29 before I first posted. It was set to 34 which I believe canceles DC operation. But on your advise I went thru the NCE programming and set DC to off. I just tried it for 15 mins and the little 45 tonner is now behaving itself. I re read CV 29 and it's still set to 34.
Alan J
Best of Season to you.
I spent a couple of hrs last night trying to reprogram a new address into my Bach 45 tonner and when I finally suceeded, I couldn,t change it back to 3 no matter what I tried. I reset cv 8 and tried same thing again, no success. I,m using NCE power Cab. I even tried placing 1k resister across tracks,no luck. Finally out of desperation I read my power cab manual and I reset the power Cab itself and tried again to change address -- SUCCESS!
cheers
Hi Polecat,
Happy new year!
I haven't had that problem (yet). Were you programming on the main or using the programming track?
Hi Alan,I tried programming on the main and also on program track.Today Itried it several times on the program track only and was successful.So by resetting the power Cab it seems to work.It is the only engine I,ve had any problems programming.It sure is a neat little engine.It runs a little noisy at low speed,but runs great when you speed up. I already changed the couplers to Kadee #153.I would like some day to install beacon on the roof and sound. i,ll keep a watch on the various forums on how to do those things.Some where I read that if you snip the capacitors on the circuit board,it reduces noisy at low speed.Any way for now it sure runs great on my 1ft.x 61/2 ft switching layout. Cheers
It will be interesting to see how to fit much more into that little loco Polecat. I guess a flashing LED for the beacon would be OK, but sound.........
It would be great on your switching layout. Mine runs a bit noisy at low speed too although it seems to be quieter since I went through the reprograming.
It also has an annoying hickup every now and then (about 30 secoonds appart). I'm not sure if it is a gear backlash problem or another decoder glitch. I just love watching those rods slowly rotate so I might get another one. For my next purchase I hope to get an Atlas HH600 when the unlettered one is released.
Alan,
I installed a Loksound Micro into an older 44tonner with one motor. I haven't seen the 45, but I suspect the speaker could be installed in the roof of the cab. That's what I did, though I had to cut the engineer in half lengthwise to make it fit. While I was doing this, I removed all the gears and cleaned them and lubed them with just a small amount of lube. It ran quieter after doing that.
Happy New Year,
Mark
Keep us informed Mark,
the 45 tonner is a lot smaller so I imaging it will be fun squeezing in a decoder and speaker.
I'm just about to send mine back, as I now am having the same trouble as polecat. Using powercab to turn off DC mode didn't seem to change CV 29 so I tried setting CV 29 to 2 to turn it off. It went back to its short address of 3 the first time I did it. The second time I tried, it kept its long address (2304) but didn't change CV 29. It doesn't runaway any more but it does slow - stop - back to road speed, when I run another DCC loco at the same time. Seems like it's ultra sensitive to any noise on the track. I checked the track voltage and it doesn't seem to vary much or change when the 45 tonner has its hickups.
I have had the faulty 45 tonner replaced with another unit. This one runs even better than the first one (which ran OK by itself), and it has none of the strange behaviour of the original. Thanks to all who offered suggestions. It looks like the original had a faulty decoder in it.
I'm very impressed with the performance of this little loco.