Hi Ed: Do you have a wiring diagram that labels all the wires in the BLI steam locomotives ? I want to replace several BLI steam locos with Loksound decoders.
Tnx Ed
Dan D
You shall find that it runs and sounds immeasurably better if you upgrade to Loksound. When I improved a friends 2-8-2 I found I could also add a sugar cube speaker to the boiler instead of the ridiculous smoke unit.
Earlier this year I witnessed my BLI PRR Q2 go up in smoke while it was just sitting on a roundhouse storage track.
Once I diagnosed the problem I decided to replace the decoder with a TCS WOWsound steam decoder and I am plenty satisfied with the results.
For some reason, even though the smoke unit was physically switched OFF it somehow cooked itself and the resulting short circuit took out the decoder along with it!
All of THIS got ripped out of the smokebox!
I have no idea what caused the smoke unit to fry. I did discover that even with the slide switch set to OFF there is still track power at the smoke unit. I do not use them and as soon as I get a locomotive that has one I run it until the factory smoke oil has been used up then switch it off.
It takes a little careful ringing-out of the wiring since BLI uses black wire for just about all the circuits but once you get a grasp of what goes where it is pretty simple to direct-wire a replacement decoder.
ESU has some recent steam sound project updates that include Full Throttle and I'll be replacing more of my Paragon decoders with Loksound Select decoders soon.
Good Luck, Ed
You should contact them if you don't wish to use a newer/non-OEM decoder because they will either agree to sell you a Paragon decoder (???) or give you authorization to send it in for repair. It also depends on its warranty status as well...of course.
If it is outside of their warranted period, you will have to cough up the shipping one way and a nominal fee for repairs and parts...I think it must be close to $45 by now.
I have a BLI steam engine with a fried decoder can I purchase my own decoder and replace it with the one the engine came with or do I have to contact BLI for help?