locoi1sa If you ask me the Blueline stuff has been a great addition to my and thousands of others loco fleet. I have never had any problem with them programing or sounding off beat. I wish BLI could do separate runs of locos either silent, Blueline or Paragon2. I would buy the cheaper Blueline every time. To a modeler like me with very limited budget, they have been a very satisfying gift. Just because you had a problem is no reason to constantly bash the company that has satisfied thousands of other modelers. We always hear of problems with this or that in this hobby but we never hear anyone say Hey, Thank you for doing your best to get us the product we want at an affordable price! I truly believe that when a manufacture makes thousands of copies of a product there has to be a few lemons. As with any thing else in this world, Everything can not be perfect. Ask your questions and leave the bashing on your side of the keyboard please. Sorry had to say it. Pete
If you ask me the Blueline stuff has been a great addition to my and thousands of others loco fleet. I have never had any problem with them programing or sounding off beat. I wish BLI could do separate runs of locos either silent, Blueline or Paragon2. I would buy the cheaper Blueline every time. To a modeler like me with very limited budget, they have been a very satisfying gift. Just because you had a problem is no reason to constantly bash the company that has satisfied thousands of other modelers. We always hear of problems with this or that in this hobby but we never hear anyone say Hey, Thank you for doing your best to get us the product we want at an affordable price! I truly believe that when a manufacture makes thousands of copies of a product there has to be a few lemons. As with any thing else in this world, Everything can not be perfect.
Ask your questions and leave the bashing on your side of the keyboard please.
Sorry had to say it.
Pete
Whoa, your hostility towards me isn't needed, nor am I wrong is stating my personal opinion of Blueline engines.... While they are cheap, there's no way around the fact that the dual motor and sound control setup is difficult, the engines basically all sound 90-100% the same no matter the model, and the decoders features/sound files are third-rate behind others in the industry.
Respectfully, I always appreciate everyone's help on this forum, love BLI engines, and will be entitled to my reasonable opinion.
NYCentral1The Blueline stuff is actually kind of pain if you ask me.
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!
My Roundhouse and Spectrum steamers all use the tender shell as a baffle just fine. I have to turn down the volume also.
Rich
If you ever fall over in public, pick yourself up and say “sorry it’s been a while since I inhabited a body.” And just walk away.
davidmbedardThe BLI Mike uses a reed-magnet assembley to tell the decoder when to chuff. The problem is that the BLI decoder is looking for 8 or so revolutions of the flywheel (where the magnet is kept) before letting out a chuff. The Tsunami is looking for an electrical short between the chuff lead and one rail to give you one chuff. Yes, you can hook it up to the BLI detector, but you will get 32 chuffs or so per revolution, making your Mike sound like a Shay!
I figured it would be off, but I still hoped I could use it with the Tsunami as it is a nice feature. The speakers look good, but there's no enclosure. Did you just keep the speakers as is on the bottom of the tender floor, or add some kind of baffle/enclosure to them?
Thanks for your response, and thank you for reminding me about needing a resistor for the headlight.
Well, I guess it is as I feared... no one else knows either if the Blueline sound decoders have a way to work in other engines, or if there is any way to use the BLI chuff sync electronics with a Tsunami decoder.
I guess I can try wiring the sync electronics into the Tsunami cam input, but I would think it won't work the same as a driver installed cam.
If the Blueline decoders had some sort of "auto chuff" like other sound decoders, at least I could give the Blueline decoder to someone else to use. Unfortunately I don't find any evidence to suggest it works that way. I hate to basically have a decoder like that just sitting around because it only works in one brand/type of locomotive.
Ok, I've got a bit of a different project I've decided to do on a Blueline engine. I have a Blueline Mikado that I'm relettering and detailing for a specific road. Of course when I got it it had the BLI Blueline sound, with two smallish speakers just placed on the tender floor. I've run the engine some before starting to redetail it, and have decided I don't like the Blueline electronics or sound quality (horrible bell, generic unplayable whistle, etc). I kind of expected this would happen, because I actually traded for the engine with someone for a Blueline F7AB set that sounded even worse. I've decided I'm not a fan of BLI's new Paragon2 or Blueline sounds, and don't plan on buying any more of them
So, I have a Tsunami Medium Steam from an engine I sold off since it didn't fit my final RR roster, and would like to put that excellent running and sound decoder in this engine. The main issue is that the Blueline Steam engines use some electronics on the actual motor/flywheel that sync the chuff (this is the decoders only positive feature). I'm trying to figure out what to do with that. I suppose I could leave it disconnected, and use the Tsunami's automatic chuff and get it close enough... but I wonder if somehow that flywheel counter could be put into the Tsunami's cam input? Anyone know if that has any chance of working?
Besides this, I'm trying to figure out what to do with the extra Blueline electronics. Since it seems to only play the chuff with the motor/flywheel counter connected to it, I don't think it could be used in any kind of engine but a Blueline.
The Blueline stuff is actually kind of pain if you ask me.