Problems with BLI Decoder

[gdelmoro]

Well that's a new thought. So basically i should F9 ON then F9 off each time I run the loco So that the last thing I do each time is power off?

[rrinker]

 That may just be how it works. I don;t have any to test with a different DCC system, but there also are some slight differences in the way various systems refresh function status when a loco is running. It seems that as long as the last thing you do is F9 to shut off the sound, it then stays off through the next power cycle, but then starts all over again. Also F8 is supposed to mute all sounds except the horn and bell, that might work as well.

                                  --Randy

 

[gdelmoro]

Get this ... after all this I sent the last few posts to BLI. Here is what I got from Tech Support;

That does sound correct if you are completely powering down your NCE station and then powering it back up.

The reason for this is that when the NCE system "boots up" it sends the F9 command to the loco. Here in the service bay we leave our NCE system powered up, and then use a toggle switch to feed power on/off to the rails.

If you have a setup that does not completely shutdown your NCE system then the loco would not startup everytime - alternatively you could shutdown the loco via F9 after each session, or remove the loco from the rails and then power up your NCE system and then place it on the rails.

You could also try re-mapping startup/shutdown from F9 to another function key that NCE might not send a command to upon boot up (I don't know what NCE sends at boot up and what it doesn't other than F9 - you would have to experiment).

Hope this helps.
WHY didn't they say that in the first place?

[gdelmoro]

One of the posts above talked about an NCE SoftStart module.  NCE did not know anything about it.  Turns out it is a "Turn On" module from Litchfield Station not NCE.  It intended use is to control the power DRAW from multiple decoders on a layout.  If anyone was looking for it go to the link below.  PS Tam Valley also has one.

http://www.litchfieldstation.net/product/turnon-module-soft-start-circuit/ 

[gdelmoro]

Here is the NCE response to the BLI information;

That does not make a whole lot of sense really. The NCE system doesn’t send a particular command to a particular loco when the system starts up. Allow me to explain more:

 

The NCE system remembers the last known settings it used for  a particular loco and stores them in memory. When the system is turned on AND that locomotive is currently selected on a cab is then sends those commands to the loco. Note that this is an ASSUMPTION that the loco will come back on in the EXACT state it was shut down in. Depending on the decoder it may or may not be the case.

 

Also something to remember is the behavior of a locomotive might change based on its exact status on the NCE cab.

1.If it is selected on a cab but idle.   2. Not selected on any cab.  3. Selected on a cab but idle for a long period of time.

Each of the three scenarios might get a different response from decoder.

 

We have a feature in our command stations called “Function Refresh Enable”.  That might help in your situation. This is useful for locos that require a constant stream of information regarding the current status of a particular function output. It is also useful for locomotives that have spotty or bad track pickup. It does send out more data on the rails but unless you have very large amount of locos the extra data load is not relevant. Read this article: https://ncedcc.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/201642989-Function-Refresh-Enable

 

After rereading all your emails again I am wondering if the person who mentioned the “soft start” was in fact thinking of a startup delay in a circuit breaker? This has absolutely nothing to do with the sound behavior in locomotives mind you, but it is the only thing I can think of that comes close  to what a soft start would be.

 

In my opinion the “soft start” sounds like a feature in a locomotive decoder designed to deal with, describe, and control what and how a loco starts up. 

 

Back to you.

 

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Ed Wilson - Technical Support Engineer

NCE Corporation

[DigitalGriffin]

And this answers all.  It is as designed. 

When I programmed command packets for the lenz xpressnet they worked in a similar fashion.  The Function packets are sent out to the track once power is restored.  So if your last command was power down, I can see why it is coming on as powered down on power back up the booster.

[gdelmoro]

So I'm better off NOT powering down? 

[rrinker]

Two trhings to do. Check and see if you have that Function Refresh Enable option turned on. If it's on, try turning it off and see how it bahaves. Or if off, turn it on. And just make sure the last thing you do before shutting down is make sure you shut down the loco since per your previous messages if you shut the loco down then power off, when you turn it back on it stays off.

 I don't know what BLI means when they say NCE sends and F9 when you select a loco. I don't know any system that does that, or why it would be doing such a thing. It should only do that if F9 is already on for that loco (or any other function - so if you left the lights on, they should come back on).

                     --Randy