Hi,
I had an incident today on my HO layout with a Digitrax Super Chief operating system and I'm not sure what happened...............
I was operating a BLI 2 UNIT F7 Consist - all units powered and with sound - and one of the B units derailed, causing a short. It turns out a wheelset was binding, and I fixed it, put it back on the track and all was fine (with that unit). However, the A unit would not run.
I turned off the power, and then back on again, but still it did nothing. I pulled the shell and checked what I could, and all looked OK. I figured I "blew" something and would have to send it to BLI. Then I thought that maybe the I.D. number got messed up. I put it on the programming track, punched in its number (37) - which is the same number I use for the A unit - and put the B unit back on the mainline - and it worked!
Is it possible/probable for a DCC loco to lose its I.D. ? In any case, what happened???
Thanks,
ENJOY !
Mobilman44
Living in southeast Texas, formerly modeling the "postwar" Santa Fe and Illinois Central
It did happen to me a few time after a short circuit with low end decoders.
Jack W.
Yes, it's possible that it lost its address because of the short circuit. You may need to reset the decoder to factory default settings and then reprogram it to the address you had it on.
Try running it on address 3 and see if it perhaps reset itself to factory defaults.
Yes. Absolutely. I have had some strange things happen to decoders that were not even near the short that caused the problem. I have a P2K E7 with a Tsunami that went maximum momentum after a short caused layout shutdown. I have also had decoders scramble CV29 and change direction all by themselves. I have also had a consist of 4 locos that ran a closed turnout. The lead loco was fine after the short but the three consisted with it forgot they were consisted. Shorts can do some weird things to a digital signal.
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!
mobilman44 Hi, I had an incident today on my HO layout with a Digitrax Super Chief operating system and I'm not sure what happened............... I was operating a BLI 2 UNIT F7 Consist - all units powered and with sound - and one of the B units derailed, causing a short. It turns out a wheelset was binding, and I fixed it, put it back on the track and all was fine (with that unit). However, the A unit would not run. I turned off the power, and then back on again, but still it did nothing. I pulled the shell and checked what I could, and all looked OK. I figured I "blew" something and would have to send it to BLI. Then I thought that maybe the I.D. number got messed up. I put it on the programming track, punched in its number (37) - which is the same number I use for the A unit - and put the B unit back on the mainline - and it worked! Is it possible/probable for a DCC loco to lose its I.D. ? In any case, what happened??? Thanks,
mobilman44,
Just to clarify, when you say "I.D.", I presume you mean the loco's long address.
There is a similar thread on this forum from a few days ago that you should take a look at.
http://cs.trains.com/TRCCS/forums/t/188588.aspx
The BLI locomotives have become somewhat notorious for locking up and going dead on the layout after a short. There are times when nothing will work except to do a hard reset by resetting the jumper or the magnetic reed switch. You were fortunate in that you merely had to reprogram the long address. When a reset of the jumper or the magnetic reed switch is required, not only the long address but other CV values need to be reprogrammed as well.
I have long ago overcome the initial panic you probably felt yesterday when you might have thought that you fried a decoder. Now, after a short, if there is silence or lack of movement of a BLI locomotive, I just start the recovery procedures as you did. Turn off the power and turn it on again. Take the offending loco off the layout and put it back on again. Reprogram the long address. Finally, if necessary, do a hard reset.
One thing to try the next time that happens is to call up a new loco with a short address of 3. In my experience, when a BLI loco misbehaves as yours did, the short has caused the loco to lose its long address but it still retains its short address. That procedure will at least calm your fears that the decoder has been fried.
Rich
Alton Junction
Thanks guys!
Knowing that my problem is not uncommon, and how to fix it, makes it all very liveable. The locos are running just fine now. I have to say that in the middle of all this I thought about just putting them on Ebay "as is".........................
Thanks again!
What usually causes this is an inadequate number of feeder wires. If a short occurs and the controllers surge protection doesn't kick in, a low voltage condition results. This can cause a decoder to lose it's address or other programming.
Do a quarter test at the farthest point on your layout. Just place it on the rails. If the controllers protection doesn't trip you need more feeders. You should have them place every 6 feet of track or so. For a quick fix start by placing at least one feeder at the farthest point from the controller.
Springfield PA
Thanks for the info, but if nothing else, my layout is not "feeder challenged".
I heard and read so much of the importance of them that the max distance is 4 feet between them. All feeders are 18 or 20 awg, less than 12 inches in length, with 14 awg buss wires (longest less than 25 feet. The layout has two 5 amp power supplies, each feeding into a psx-4 set of breakers - yielding 8 power districts. To some, its "overkill", but to me its adequate.
The other thing to verify is the AC power source rating. I had a PHPRO that I had stationary decoders losing addresses on during shorts. Turned out that the AC source I was using was only rated at 4 amps. As a result the surge protection wasn't tripping because there wasn't enough power to activate it.
A couple of other things to try:
Make sure analog is disabled in the decoders and the command station. On most decoders, CV29 should be 34 for 4-digit addresses, 2 for 2-digit. On Digitrax DCS100, Op Switch 20 should be thrown.
When there is a short, and the system comes back up, sometimes there might be a stray analog voltage spike thrown into the mix. The decoder might see this, then get the regular DCC signal, and do goofy things, especially if analog hasn't been disabled in the decoder.
Mike WSOR engineer | HO scale since 1988 | Visit our club www.WCGandyDancers.com
I had a similar problem once, a loco that would not respond to its address. My problem was I had been running it in a consist previous but had forgotten and I hadn’t cleared the consist address from the loco, once cleared it was back to normal. I hope your problem is equally simple.
I have had this problem it seems for me it was caused by static build and causing it to zap the loco when I touched the rail or loco. I now try to grab something metal when I first go in and do it every so often, I have a step stool in my train room/ garage, and since then, I have not had any troubles