I think I may have discovered why I've been having issues with a few "older" (NOS) Broadway Limited Blueline locos.
These locos came with a BLI decoder that allowed some basic sound when running on DC. There is a "DCC Plug" circuit board that goes into the DCC socket (where a future DCC motor decoder would go).
I have replaced the "DCC Plug" with a Digitrax DN146IP decoder.
The problem is that when I set up my Roster in JMRI, I assumed that the Digitrax DN146 would simply "piggyback" off of the BLI sound decoder/light board. It appears that is not the case.
I've gone back into JMRI and created a new roster entry for the same loco, using Digitrax DN146IP for the decoder to be programmed (so I can adjust BEMF).
I guess my question is, am I on the correct track by creating a new roster entry for this loco using DN146, instead of BLI? Do I need to maintain two roster entries for each of the BLI Blueline locos I have? How do I know that both are using the same address so as not to cause interference between the two decoders?
Regarding a second issue (other than BEMF), one of the loco's prime mover sound goes out when the horn button (F2) is pressed. Not sure if this can be corrected/changed. Might be a NOS issue as in the original DC sound/light decoder will not allow this on DCC?
You're starting to see why they stopped making Blueline locos. And why most evey sound decoder offered for sale is a sound AND motor decoders - two decoders in the same loco is nothign but a great big hassle.
If you program the address on the program track, that's a broadcast and both decoders will be set to the same address.
Yes, you need 2 roster entries (though I thought there was an option added to JMRI at some point to handle dual decoders, but as I never had any, I have no idea). Motor control CVs won't over lap with the Blueline sound decoder, so that should be fine. Function mapping and control may overlap so if you change a light CV on the Digitrax decoder to get a special effect, it may put garbage in the same CV inthe Blueline decoder and cause odd sounds. There's no reason the prime mover soudn should stop when blowing the horn - it's possible the Bluelien decoder had the shutdown remapped to F2.
Your best bet woudl to just put a modern all in one decoder in teh loco and avoid the issues completely. By the time Broadway came out with those, the dual decoder install for sound had pretty much already gone away, but I guess enough people wanted sound and DC (never mind that sound and DC is a less than ideal experience) so Broadway obliged and made a few runs of locos as the Blueline series. Seems like a strange business decision, since when it comes to sound decoders, the sound part is the most expensive piece, so by leaving out the motor portion they couldn't have saved all that much cost per loco. They have rightfully gone to train heaven as a product. More likely, the warmer place, not heaven. I don't have any because the only loco they offered as a Bluelien that I would want was also offered as a Precision Craft model with Loksound (I have 2 of those) and is currently offered as a Paragon 3.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Randy, yes, I see.
When I called my hobby shop yesterday and talked to my DCC friend to see if he could help he said "You might want to bring a hammer". LOL
After taking a look at it on their test track I said maybe I should just ditch the BLI sound decoder and install a Loksound. He smiled and said "You won't be the first to do just that"
I did get all four of these at very good prices, and I like the GE C30-7. I was still on DC when I purchased these. They did what I bought them for. It's just that the transition to DCC with "DCC Ready" locos wasn't nearly as smooth and easy as I expected. C'est la vie
Mainly because "DCC Ready" is meaningless marketing speak. It can mean anything from just plugging a decoder in to having to modify the wiring. Unlike the actual DCC stndards, the term was never formalized or even used in a common manner by all manufactures as some sort of de facto standard.