Helping a friend to get a new layout going with a NCE PH Pro and PSX breakers set at 1.27 amps.
It works as expected with some Athearn engines he's had for awhile. But he has some new BLI P2 diesels that act as follows: one will start up with F9 as per the manual; however, after a momentary short somewhere causing the PSX to shut off for 2 secs or more, the engine acts completely dead with power restored. Eventually, it will start working agiain, but what this takes (time or resets) is unclear. Anybody?
Hal
Why is the PSX set to such a low Amperage? Increase it to 3 Amps trip current and the Paragon2 won't trip it, but it will still be protecting the NCE PowerHouse Pro, whose output is 5 Amps.
If you don't have the documentation for a PSX you'll need to download it for the instructions on how to reset the trip current. There's a jumper on the board that has to be set to the "program" mode, then a certain address that needs to be selected by a throttle, then a certain CV value to write to the PSX to change the trip current.
http://dccspecialties.com/products/pdf/man_psx1.pdf
Thanks for the suggestion, and I'll try a higher setting. However, my experience is that a single HO sound decoder or even two will work fine with this setting. If the decoder(s) don't trip the PSX in the first place or keep it tripped, why would a larger trip current setting be needed? For example, my own PSX's can reset and run at least five QSI engines with the 2.54 A setting.
The point is that the PSX does seem to properly reset, and the engine has power to it - it just plays dead. There may be something about timing with the P2 that is unusual compared to QSI and Tsunami.
It's probably the inrush current keepign it from resetting. Nexttime, try tipping the loco so the wheels on one side are off the tack, let the PSX reset, and then set it back down and see if it comes alive right away.
There is also probably a CV setting to handle what to do on a restart - when it does restart now, is it goign through the entire startup sequence, like the engine startup and all, or does it just pick up where it left off? There are also packet timeout issues with NCE, because it doesn;t constantly send packets to a non-runnign loco, so if you set the speed to 0 when a short happens, it won;t get any commands until you move the throttle or activate a function.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
I had the friend try 3.81 A. setting on his PSX. It seems to bring the BLI back alive most times, but not always. Think I need to talk to BLI and/or DCC Specialties, because it is unusual behavior in my book to require this high a setting for only one engine.
We have conducted more tests, with both early production PSX's and recent ones, all set at default 3.81 A. On a short test track, the BLI's will usually come back to life, but not always. On a district of the layout, the BLI's usually will play dead after a reset. Tipping the loco does not fix it. Only letting some seconds go by without power seems to do it. We talked to a BLI tech and to Tonys Trains/DCC Specialties, but neither has heard of this problem. DCC Specialties may ask for one of the BLI's to test.
My friend ordered an NCE EB-1 to see if it handles the N Gauge BLI Paragon II's correctly, and it does. He can have multiple BLI's in the district, and all reset OK. His best solution seems to be to return the PSX's and buy EB-1's.
Has anyone else out there tried the new N gauge Paragon II's with PSX circuit breakers, and what was the result?
Enable the "low power system boost" option on the PSX. That's what it's there for - aid in restart with inrush current.
Kinda too late for locos already made, but all it really takes is a couple of cents for a resistor and diode and the inrush problem goes away.
We also tried that, so unless we did it wrong, it was no help.
We sent one of the new locos to Tony's and they came up with a fix. If capacitor C1 on a PSX board is removed, the Paragon 2 N gauges work Ok. This cap is located near the circle at the seven o'clock position.
Apparently the BLI decoder generates a transient that fools the PSX into ignoring it. The PSX-AR does not have this cap. Thanks to Tony's guys for a quick response.