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Will not run

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  • Member since
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Will not run
Posted by hwolf on Monday, February 22, 2016 12:12 PM

I have a EMD NW 2 from Broadway Limited.

Yesterday it decided not to run forward or reverse. It will play sounds Horn, bell etc.  You can even here the engine reeve up.

 

I reset the decoder back to the original setting.  Same result.

Any ideas.

Harold

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Posted by richg1998 on Monday, February 22, 2016 12:30 PM

After you did the reset, did you cycle the track power off and then back on? The headlight should flash a number of times if successful reset. Then the loco should run on address 3.

Rich

If you ever fall over in public, pick yourself up and say “sorry it’s been a while since I inhabited a body.” And just walk away.

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Posted by gmpullman on Monday, February 22, 2016 4:59 PM

Try running it on plain DC to be sure the motor and drive-train are OK. Even if you don't have a DC power pack you can use a DC wall wart transformer connected to a piece of test track, even a 9V battery will do.

Just be ready to grab the engine before it runs out of track!

Good Luck, Ed

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Posted by rrinker on Monday, February 22, 2016 6:59 PM

 Is this a new one, Paragon 2, or is this one of the old ones with a QSI decoder?

If it's the QSI version, you may be in shutdown or disconnect, hit F6 4 times (double click it). If it's a Paragon 2 version, they don't have that feature.

                            --Randy


Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's

 

Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.

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Posted by richg1998 on Monday, February 22, 2016 7:23 PM

After Randy answered I found this. Looks more for steam though.

Look for a reset button. I searched and found a couple BLI pages with a diesel that say EZ reset button.

http://www.broadway-limited.com/faq.aspx

Rich

If you ever fall over in public, pick yourself up and say “sorry it’s been a while since I inhabited a body.” And just walk away.

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Posted by richg1998 on Monday, February 22, 2016 7:56 PM

BLI is a little weird. Here is their homepage. Check support.

http://www.broadway-limited.com/index.aspx

The reset button for steam is in the tender. Maybe you have to pull the diesel shell.

Rich

If you ever fall over in public, pick yourself up and say “sorry it’s been a while since I inhabited a body.” And just walk away.

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Posted by hwolf on Tuesday, February 23, 2016 6:02 AM

Sorry for the delayed answer.  I had to go out.

It is a Paragon 2

Ans to other questions

I used CV 8-8 and took it back to the default setting.  All funtions worked except to engine going forward or reverse.

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  • From: Dearborn Station
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Posted by richhotrain on Tuesday, February 23, 2016 6:54 AM

A couple of questions to get us focused on the problem.

Which DCC system are you using?

How do you normally program your locos?  POM? Programming Track?

Is the balky loco using a long address?

Rich

Alton Junction

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Posted by hwolf on Tuesday, February 23, 2016 7:03 AM

1. Prodogy Advance ( sq )

2. Program on both.  This was on the track.  As I stated it did program back to default.

3. Long address.  The problem started on a club layout.  I noticed the engine not reacting properly and the it just stopped.

Harold

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  • From: Dearborn Station
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Posted by richhotrain on Tuesday, February 23, 2016 7:40 AM

For whatever the reason, the Paragon 2 decoder has a tendency to go "dormant" even with a long address programmed into the decoder. Light and sound functions seem to work, responding to throttle commands, but the loco won't respond to movement commands.

BLI says that there are two ways to reset the decoder on a dormant loco.

1. Using your programming track, reset CV8 to 8. 

You will hear the coupler crash sound as confirmation the reset was successful.

2. Locate the manual reset button on the main circuit board. 

Place the model on unpowered track. 

Press and hold the button. While holding the button, apply power to the track. 

After you hear confirmation that the reset was successful, you can release the button and re-assemble your model. Loco address is now 03.

Don't know if that will get your loco moving, but worth a try.

Rich

Alton Junction

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Posted by MisterBeasley on Tuesday, February 23, 2016 9:40 AM

Can you read back the locomotive address, or set it to a different address?  If you set it to a different address, do the horn and bell respond to those?

If you can program/read CVs, that tells us that the motor is connected properly and it should run.

Mute the sounds (normally F8) and try to run the engine.  Can you hear the motor turning, or trying to turn?

The next step is to remove the shell.  Look for burnout spots, like small black pimples, on the decoder itself.  Those are a good indication that part of the decoder is fried.

Put the frame (without the shell) on the track and try to run it.  Does the motor turn but not engage the wheels?

I've had similar issues with other BLI engines and QSI decoders.  On one, the engine had run across a badly-manufactured crossing and shorted out.  This put it into an odd shutdown state, but there were neither sounds nor motion on mine.  My BLI Hudson had a loose press-fit between the flywheel and driveshaft, so the motor was running (very quietly) but the shaft was not turning.  A drop of CA fixed that one.

It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse. 

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Posted by richhotrain on Tuesday, February 23, 2016 9:48 AM

MisterBeasley

Can you read back the locomotive address, or set it to a different address?  If you set it to a different address, do the horn and bell respond to those?

If you can program/read CVs, that tells us that the motor is connected properly and it should run.

Mute the sounds (normally F8) and try to run the engine.  Can you hear the motor turning, or trying to turn?

The next step is to remove the shell.  Look for burnout spots, like small black pimples, on the decoder itself.  Those are a good indication that part of the decoder is fried.

Put the frame (without the shell) on the track and try to run it.  Does the motor turn but not engage the wheels?

I've had similar issues with other BLI engines and QSI decoders.  On one, the engine had run across a badly-manufactured crossing and shorted out.  This put it into an odd shutdown state, but there were neither sounds nor motion on mine.  My BLI Hudson had a loose press-fit between the flywheel and driveshaft, so the motor was running (very quietly) but the shaft was not turning.  A drop of CA fixed that one.

 

All good suggestions, Mr. B., and I will be interested in Harold's response.

But, in my experience with Paragon 2 decoders, when this sort of thing happens, I can read back the long address on the programming track.  Changing the long address seems to make no difference. The motor is not turning.  It is asleep, dormant as I refer to it.

You just need to do whatever you can to wake it up. The decoder is likely not fried, but it is a manufacturer malfunction.

Rich

Alton Junction

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Posted by hwolf on Tuesday, February 23, 2016 3:09 PM

Well guys

As I explained in the other treads I now have tryed all suggestions to no avail.

Thanks for all the good advise.  I spoke to BLI and the unit is going into the shop.

They seem to think after I explained all the step I took that it has a gear problem.

Harold

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