Hi everyone, I recently purchased on ebay a J1 Blueline 2-10-4. When I got the locomotive, the locomotive sound comes on but the locomotive does not run. I am certain that the motor decoder needs to be programmed with the sound decoder (the manual states that). The person I purchased it from said that a dcc decoder was installed. I dont know which brand decoder it is in order to program it to get it to run. My thinking is that I can purchase another motor decoder and then I will be able to get it to run by uninstalling the existing decoder. What are ALL of my options that I can do in order to get it running so that I will not have to send this in to Broadway Limited to have them get it running for me or will this be my only better alternative. I run my dcc locomotives on a MRC tech 6. Thanks
What address are you trying to run the loco on? Did the person you bought it from give you a clue that he might have set it to run on address 3? The number on the side of the cab?
I think those Blueline locos came with some instructions about which brand decoder was recommended to be installed, either NCE or Digitrax if I remember correctly. I'd look up the reset instructions for NCE and Digitrax decoders first and try resetting the decoders before I went down the replacement route.
And of course I might want to open up the tender and see if there was really a DCC decoder installed. Wouldn't be the first time that someone got misled.
I tried to get the locomotive to run on address #3 but it would not run. Only the sound would come on since all locomotives should operate on address #3. Factory Reset: Set CV8 = 8.
Lots of possibilities here.
Since you use an MRC Tech 6 power pack, is CV29 set to allow DC operation? The former owner probably operated in DCC and may have turned off DC mode in CV29.
Check CV15 and CV16 to make sure that the loco ID is not locked. You want the LOCK feature off.
Set the loco address to the short address (i.e., 003). Reset to factory defaults. Then set the long address.
Rich
Alton Junction
Locojunkie I tried to get the locomotive to run on address #3 but it would not run. Only the sound would come on since all locomotives should operate on address #3. Factory Reset: Set CV8 = 8.
Locojunkie,
Have You read the Operational note on the MRC Tech6 ? Here is a PDF of it, if You have not read it:
http://www.modelrectifier.com/resources/railroad/0001201operationalnote.pdf
You should try to find out what motor decoder is in it. I know they both must be programmed at the same time. You will also find that, in a PDF free file.
http://www.modelrectifier.com/resources/dc-ac/Tech%206%206.0%20%200001201.pdf
Take Care!
Frank
Thank you everyone. Problem Solved. I reset the locomotive following the MRC Tech 6 recommendations in my Tech 6 Manual (Shift 99) and was able to get it to reset and run. I had to do that to another Broadway Limited locomotive once that I got on ebay and forgot about doing that. However, I was told by the guy that I purchased the locomotive from that the headlight does not work. Any suggestions on what to do about this problem? Could the CV for the headlight be turned off? do I need to replace the headlight bulb and circuit board that it is plugged into?
Is the headlight an incandescent bulb or an LED?
Im not certain, its orangish in color so Im guessing incandescent bulb.
In a Blueline? It's an LED.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Locojunkie I was told by the guy that I purchased the locomotive from that the headlight does not work. Any suggestions on what to do about this problem? Could the CV for the headlight be turned off? do I need to replace the headlight bulb and circuit board that it is plugged into?
I was told by the guy that I purchased the locomotive from that the headlight does not work. Any suggestions on what to do about this problem? Could the CV for the headlight be turned off? do I need to replace the headlight bulb and circuit board that it is plugged into?
If the headlight were turned off, CV33 would have a value other than 1, so CV33=1 would turn on the headlight. CV33=0 would turn off the headlight.
The next step would be to pull the headlight and test it. I am not familiar with how to remove the LED headlight on a Blueline diesel, but if you examine it closely, it is probably somewhat obvious. If you can remove it, you can test it on a 9 volt battery, but you need to protect the LED by adding a resistor to one leg of the LED before touching the two LED legs to the 9 volt battery terminals. Try it both ways on the battery in case the legs are swapped, just to be sure if you have a good LED. If it doesn't light, it is fried and needs to be replaced. If it does light, then something is amiss on the decoder itself, probably the function output tab or the wiring connected to it.