sschnabl Well, as it turns out, it was a short after all. I never would have thought that an engine could run if it was shorting out. I ended up putting some Kapton tape along the bottom between the frame halves and now the engine runs just fine. In fact, I also installed a decoder in another GP7 over the weekend, put on the Kapton tape, and got the same result. So I finally have two new Geeps to add to the fleet. One more geep and two RS3's to go. Then we'll see if I have the nerve to tackle my Kato 2-8-2's that are waiting for decoders... Thanks to all that replied. Scott
Well, as it turns out, it was a short after all. I never would have thought that an engine could run if it was shorting out. I ended up putting some Kapton tape along the bottom between the frame halves and now the engine runs just fine. In fact, I also installed a decoder in another GP7 over the weekend, put on the Kapton tape, and got the same result. So I finally have two new Geeps to add to the fleet. One more geep and two RS3's to go. Then we'll see if I have the nerve to tackle my Kato 2-8-2's that are waiting for decoders...
Thanks to all that replied.
Scott
Thanks, as I have an atlas GP7 to put a TCS split decoder into.
Ken G Price My N-Scale Layout
Digitrax Super Empire Builder Radio System. South Valley Texas Railroad. SVTRR
N-Scale out west. 1996-1998 or so! UP, SP, Missouri Pacific, C&NW.
Just a thought. I had the same problem with my RS3 install and I knew the wiring was correct. I loosened just a small amount, the body half screws and that solved it. I surmise that a wire was pinched some on the frame slightly to much. It is a hard install and took me awhile to find the problem as there is little room. I filed in two slots for the wires to go around the motor. Kapton tape is also important. Doug
Thanks to both of your suggestions. I will try them.
rrinker - yes, this is the split decoder. I clipped the metal tabs from the motor and soldered the orange wire to the bottom tab and the gray wire to the top tab. Then I took a piece of Kapton tape and wrapped it around both ends so they wouldn't touch the frame. Then I soldered the blue, black and yellow wires to the back half of the decoder.
I did receive an email back from TCS and they suggested it still might be a short. So I will have to tear apart the loco again and ensure the only thing that is touching the frame are the pads of the decoder.
Thanks again for your repsonses, I appreciate it.
Ops Mode won;t program on the program track, that's for programming on the main. And it's all a matter of faith because there is no readback on the main. The throttle will always say good.
Also, you can;t generally do the automatic address programming in Ops Mode, you need to use one of the many calculators to get the values for CV17, CV18, and then CV29 to change the address. Also in many cases you can only program the other type of address - if the decoder is currently set to short address like 3, you can program a long address. If it currently has a long address like 1234, you can only program a short address (in CV1).
First thing I would do is reset it. Set CV30=2, either on the main with the address that sort of works, or on the program track.
If it doesn;t work on the program track, then there's probably something wrong with the decoder or the installation. It may not be properly making contact with the frame for pickup, or with the motor contacts. That's the one that comes in 2 pieces, isn't it? You DO have the wires in place going fromt he front half to the back half, right?
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Turn off DC operations mode and run the decoder only on DCC by programming CV29 with a value of 34, and see if that corrects your problem. This will also set the decoder to run only on the long address of 1523, so it will no longer recognize address 3.
I just installed a CN-GP decoder in my Atlas GP7 today and a couple of things aren't working correctly and am hoping some of you can help me out. First, when I went to test it on my DC track, it wouldn't start up until the throttle was at half, then it took off like a jack rabbit. When I went to switch directions, it kept moving forward. I even switched the track leads around, and it still went forward.
So then I decided to put it on the programming track on my layout (Digitrax). Tried to program the address in Po mode (I couldn't get any repsonse from the other modes) to 1523. My throttle said "GOOD" but when I went to run it, nothing. Dialed up 03, and nothing. Put the loco on the main, and it took off like a jack rabbit. I had to pull it off the tracks because I didn't know how else to stop it.
Any ideas what I need to do to correct this problem? I have 4 more loco's to do, and I would like to figure out what's going on with this one before tearing apart another.
Thanks,
P.S. I have emailed TCS tech support, but I guess I am an impatient person