Is my DB150 toast?

[selector]

Was running trains with normal control. 

Lifted a BLI steamer off the tracks because it was lurching and I wanted to check it out.  Looked, seemed fine, placed it on another part of the track but oriented so I could watch the 'far side' running gear.  It wouldn't make sounds.  The little 0-6-0 in the yard was making sounds.

Took up the second DT400 and attempted to move the 0-6-0.  Nothing.  No whistle, no bell, just neutral noises, hisses, pumps.  Powered down, removed the tethers to both throttles, reinserted the connectors and also removed and reinserted the multi-pin block with the bus wires and power supply for the DB150.

Took up the throttle, acquired the 0-6-0 on another encoder to see what would happen, and then attempted to run the engine.  No response, just the same neutral sounds. 

Placed the 0-6-0 on my 'programming track' so that I could do a Paged Mode burst to reset the Tsunami, which seems ot have taken place.  Upon restoring power to the tracks, the loco did its light blinks, and resumed making neutral noises but at the default volume.

Acquired the adress "03" on the throttle and I got no response.

Meanwhile, the 'dead' other steamer hasn't emitted a peep.  It has a QSI decoder which won't start up with sounds until I acquire it on the throttle.  So, since both displays on both throttles say they are monitoring and doing what I ask, I think there is something wrong with the DB150.

Thoughts?

Crandell

[selector]

Now it is working.  I couldn't get the larger locomotive with QSI to do anything, so I went through the motions of a QSI three-step reset.  Nothing happened.  I powered down, then up again, acquired the reset address "03", and the loco came back to life.  Except, it didn't respond to address "03".   I returned to its old address and it continued as if nothing had changed...all volumes and settings the same as before.  Not only that, but three attempts to reset the 0-6-0 back to its old address didn't 'take', but it did on the fourth try.

Now I'll be looking over my shoulder until the next glitch.

Crandell

[retsignalmtr]

I have a couple of Proto RS27's with the QSI decoders. When I removed them from the powered track to clean the wheels, I replaced them in the opposite direction. One of them would not respond to the cab address or the default 03. No sound either. I did the factory reset to 03 with success then reprogrammed the cab address and all was well after that. It's happened several times with the same loco, so now i'm careful not remove it or replace while the track is powered up.

[selector]

Thanks for sharing your experience.  I probably did the same thing.  I do normally press "power" and "N" to cut off power to the rails before I do any rerailing, short correction, and removing locomotives...it may be that I didn't this time, and I did for sure reverse the loco to see if the rods were problematic.

I was able to go to bed last night contented that whatever it was is now an historical event, hopefully not to be repeated (soon), but mainly the locomotive is back in good order and responding well to commands.

Crandell

[rrinker]

 When all else fails, plug the DT400 right into the DB150 and set the mode switch to Op. Select switch address 39 and close it to do a full reset on the DB150 (yes, this DOES apply to the DB150 as well as the DCS100). Turn off the power (input power supply, not just track power), reset the mode to Run, and start back up. Then start with a known working loco and see if that operates properly. If it does, then it's the loco. If known good running locos don;t work even after resetting the DB150, then there's a problem with it.

                              --Randy

[richhotrain]

Crandell,

I have seven BLI Steamers, and that kind of stuff happens to me all of the time.

I have lost count of how many times I thought the BLI decoder was toast, often for no apparent reason.  No derailments, no shorts, no nothing.

Now, when it happens, I either do a total reset of the decoder or, sometimes, turning the DCC power supply off and then on again does the trick.

Rich

[Lake]

An other thing to try is to dispatch the local and then reenter it. I have done this many times with good results when I have gotten no response.

Don't know why it works, but it dose.