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Help, weird BLI C30-7 with QSI issue

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  • Member since
    January 2008
  • From: Shalimar. Florida
  • 2,622 posts
Help, weird BLI C30-7 with QSI issue
Posted by Packer on Friday, January 17, 2014 3:32 PM

I have an older BLI C30-7 with the QSI that had worked very well until just recently. I upgraded to a version 7 chip and had customized the sounds to the correct horn, DB sound, etc.

Then about 5 months ago, one of the speakers died. They were wired in series, and when one died the other one would work. So I just rewired it to one speaker. Worked like a champ, for a while.

About a month and a half ago it started acting up. If the loco was off mute and either F6 or F2 were pressed; the sound for the functions would play for a split second and then the loco would stop and shut down, then start back up. If mute was on, it worked fine. So I turned up the mute volume to max and ran it that way; which worked fine for about a month.

A few weeks ago it started doing the same thing on mute. (hitting F6 or F2 would cause it to play the sound for a second, stop, shut down, then start back up). Confused, I did some work to see what was the issue.

I tried all the following:

  1. Reprogrammed the version 7 chip
  2. Went back to the oringinal chip
  3. Changed to a different speaker
  4. Pulled the board out of my P2K U28B (Same board), and installed it into the C30-7
  5. Disconnect the motor from the board
  6. disconnect all the lights from the C30-7

All of those yielded no luck. The U28B ran fine when I tested it before and after the board swap. But the C30-7 did the same thing with both the version 7 and default chip with the U28B board.

The U28B runs fine with either the U28B's chip, the version 7 chip, or the C30-7's chip. The C30-7 doesn't work right with any combination of boards and chips. The U28B worked fine when connected to either it's speakers, the C30-7's speaker, or the other speakers I have. The C30-7 runs fine with no speaker

So far I've ruled out the board, chip, speaker, and motor. But then that's everything. I'm so lost on this one...

Does anyone know of a way I could fix this, short of getting a new sound decoder?

For the record, This is the 3rd QSI/BLI loco I've had that has started acting up on me in the past year. I've had an NW2's electronics fail on me within a few days of use, and an RSD-15's electronics fail on me after I didn't run it for a while. As of now, I'm probably not gonna buy anymore QSI-equipped BLI locos (My P2K and Atlas ones work fine)

Vincent

Wants: 1. high-quality, sound equipped, SD40-2s, C636s, C30-7s, and F-units in BN. As for ones that don't cost an arm and a leg, that's out of the question....

2. An end to the limited-production and other crap that makes models harder to get and more expensive.

  • Member since
    July 2006
  • 3,312 posts
Posted by locoi1sa on Friday, January 17, 2014 6:36 PM

Packer
So far I've ruled out the board, chip, speaker, and motor. But then that's everything. I'm so lost on this one...

  You didn't mention trucks, pickups, wires, wheels, and bearings. It sounds like a pickup problem or wires that are just hanging on by a thread.

               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!

  • Member since
    January 2008
  • From: Shalimar. Florida
  • 2,622 posts
Posted by Packer on Saturday, January 18, 2014 8:03 AM

locoi1sa
 You didn't mention trucks, pickups, wires, wheels, and bearings. It sounds like a pickup problem or wires that are just hanging on by a thread.

               Pete

It even does it when stationary, but I'll check those later.

Vincent

Wants: 1. high-quality, sound equipped, SD40-2s, C636s, C30-7s, and F-units in BN. As for ones that don't cost an arm and a leg, that's out of the question....

2. An end to the limited-production and other crap that makes models harder to get and more expensive.

  • Member since
    January 2008
  • From: Shalimar. Florida
  • 2,622 posts
Posted by Packer on Saturday, January 18, 2014 4:47 PM

I am happy to announce that the problem solved.

I ended up hooking up 2 of the laptop speakers together in series. I had to modify the inside of the fuel tank to get them to fit but the new speakers work nicely. They aren't as loud as the original ones, but I think they may have more base...

Vincent

Wants: 1. high-quality, sound equipped, SD40-2s, C636s, C30-7s, and F-units in BN. As for ones that don't cost an arm and a leg, that's out of the question....

2. An end to the limited-production and other crap that makes models harder to get and more expensive.

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