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Strange happening to a well running engine

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  • Member since
    January 2019
  • 158 posts
Strange happening to a well running engine
Posted by wolfman hal on Friday, February 3, 2023 9:12 AM

I have a BLI EMD NW2 Switcher that decided it did not want to run. All funtions worked except for running. I finally changed CV8 to 8 and reset to the orignal settings. The engine ran well. I reprogrammed it back to the engine address and it did not run well. Speed would not increase properly and it kept stopping as if it was dirty track. I have no clue why.  Any ideas?

  • Member since
    March 2011
  • From: Westford MA
  • 542 posts
Posted by Tophias on Friday, February 3, 2023 9:47 AM

do you have more than one throttle for your layout?  Could a second throttle have the engine number address open at the same time?

Regards, Chris

  • Member since
    January 2019
  • 158 posts
Posted by wolfman hal on Friday, February 3, 2023 9:54 AM

Yes . I have another throttle but it is not connected to the layout.

  • Member since
    December 2004
  • From: Bedford, MA, USA
  • 21,483 posts
Posted by MisterBeasley on Friday, February 3, 2023 12:29 PM

I have a BLI Hudson that first wouldn't run in forward, then reverse became intermittent.   It was the worm gear on the motor shaft.  It had gotten loose.  A drop of CA glue fixed it.

If you are running the engine with sound,  you might not hear the engine and think it stalled.  Keep the headlight on to check if power is getting from the track to the decoder.

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

  • Member since
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  • 158 posts
Posted by wolfman hal on Friday, February 3, 2023 2:11 PM

All funtions work fine and the engine runs perfectly on 3.

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    November 2013
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Posted by snjroy on Saturday, February 4, 2023 7:12 AM

What DCC system do you use?

Simon

  • Member since
    January 2019
  • 158 posts
Posted by wolfman hal on Saturday, February 4, 2023 8:29 AM

MRC Prodigy Advance

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    March 2008
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Posted by ba&prr on Saturday, February 4, 2023 12:45 PM

What address won't it run on? Did you make sure it's a 2 or  4 digit address? 

Check the manual for the address span for 2 digit. IE: 01 to 127.

 Plug in your other throttle to make sure the address wasn't on it as well. 

  • Member since
    May 2021
  • 56 posts
Posted by dennis461 on Saturday, February 4, 2023 8:12 PM

what brand decoder
I've had MRC decoders forget their long address and stop dead.

 

 

tsd
  • Member since
    September 2021
  • 55 posts
Posted by tsd on Sunday, February 5, 2023 8:12 AM

dennis461

what brand decoder
I've had MRC decoders forget their long address and stop dead.

 

 

 

 

The OP did say BLI, but I agree, it would be helpful to know what series the engine is. Because if its the orginal Paragon, or Precision Craft model, then it would most likely have a QSI decoder. If it is a Paragon 2, 3, or 4, then it is a BLI designed and manufactured decoder. It would be helpful to know, so as to know what to potentially recommend. 

  • Member since
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Posted by John-NYBW on Sunday, February 5, 2023 9:17 AM

Check the value of CV29. Bit 5 must be turned on to allow the use of a long (4 digit) address. Bit 5 is actually the 6th bit from the right since the right most bit is numbered Bit 0. It is a numbering convention that goes back to the earliest days of data processing. If the value of CV29 is less than 32, it is an indication that Bit 5 is turned off. Add 32 to whatever value is in CV29 to turn on Bit 5 and allow for a long address.

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Posted by snjroy on Monday, February 6, 2023 9:51 AM

dennis461

what brand decoder
I've had MRC decoders forget their long address and stop dead.

 

 

 

My understanding is that the OP is saying that the loco is not "dead", it runs erratically. So it does not appear to be a four-digit address issue. If this was a Digitrax system, I would say that there is an address release issue. But MRC does not seem to work the same way... Very confusing.

Simon

  • Member since
    January 2019
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Posted by wolfman hal on Monday, February 6, 2023 10:16 AM

Simon is correct. At factory setting 3 the engine runs fine. The address is 1094. The engine has run well for years.  As it run fine on 3 it is not a dirty track issue. The engine is a BLI Paragon 2 Series.

Sorry for the long delay in this answer but I have been dealing with a power outage for the last 30 hours.  Fixed now.

Harold

tsd
  • Member since
    September 2021
  • 55 posts
Posted by tsd on Tuesday, February 7, 2023 12:49 PM

wolfman hal

Simon is correct. At factory setting 3 the engine runs fine. The address is 1094. The engine has run well for years.  As it run fine on 3 it is not a dirty track issue. The engine is a BLI Paragon 2 Series.

Harold

 

 

Could you read CV7 and let me know what it says (its value is what tells us what software version is on the decoder)? And have you tried a hard reset, using the button on the decoder?

The version it has currently will help me to know if its maybe a bug on it, as I have their change log handy, to know what was fixed in every revision of code, etc. and it looks like there may have been some relating to programming long address. For example, fixed on revision 8, Long address fix; NCE writes sometimes just CV17 and sometimes just CV18; NMRA says CV17 then CV18; Write on CV18 only

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