I came into posession of an older BLI EMD FA that was converted to DCC with a Digitrax DZ123 Decoder. The sound mother borard is a Preceison Draft Model with HO-100-C printed on it. My problem is that while I get movement, I can not get the sound to come alive. I have programed it thru Decoder Pro, with not sucess. The I tried OPS mode programing on the main track via a Didgitrax DCS51 Zephyer. Any suggestions as to what I should try next?
Dumb question. Does it have a speaker?
I have one NYC Blueline Niagara that I purchased 10+ years ago. As I remember it BLI had a "recommended" decoder list of motor-only decoders on their website that they confirmed would "play nice" with the proprietary sound decoders of their Blueline locomotives - i.e. each would work separately but simultaneously when programmed to the same address.
This may be a case where the Digitrax decoder isn't compatible with the Blueline sound decoder. I would check the BLI website to see if they still have that list posted. I would imagine, however, that a majority of those recommended decoders on the list are now obsolete.
Tom
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
Welcome to the wonderful world of Blueline!
The most important thing about Blueline is that it is a DC locomotive with a sound and lights board "decoder". It can easily be converted to DCC by adding a motion decoder. So, it becomes, in effect, a dual decoder locomotive. To operate effectively, both decoders need to be programmed to the same address.
Let me ask something. Besides no sound, are the lights working? If not, then the sound and light decoder is probably programmed to a different address than the motion decoder.
Rich
Alton Junction
No sound but the headlight works, and seems to get brighter, the faster the loco moves. No mars light or number plates lights work. Any idea how I discover what the address of the light and sound decoder?
Leave the loco on the mainline and change the address to 03. Let us know what happens relative to sound and movement.
OK, before we get too deep into this, let me ask a few basic questions.
From your initial description, it seems that you bought the loco used and the previous owner installed a Digitrax DZ123 decoder. Correct?
Have you ever got the loco to make sounds?
Can you read the CV values? If you can, what are the values of CV15 and CV16?
The fact that CV15 and CV16 both equal zero means that the two decoders are unlocked. That is crucial to programming a Blueline locomotive. If the two decoders were locked, it would be extremely complicated to program both decoders individually.
It is possible that the speaker could be bad. I have no experience with testing speakers to see if they work or are fried. That said, what I would do is to remove or disable the Digitrax decoder and run the loco on a section of DC powered track. Without the Digitrax decoder enabled, the sound should definitely work, as well as the lights, unless the speaker is shot.
Do you have a DC power pack to test the Blueline decoder?
HudsonRRI just disabled the DZ123 by removing it from the loco.
Keep in mind that if you remove the motor decoder you have to replace it with a "dummy" plug that effectively shorts or "jumpers" the rail pickups pins 1-2-8 and 4-5-6, to the motor inputs.
Maybe you did this? Maybe the previous owner put the dummy plug in the box?
Good Luck, Ed
The fact that both decoders are unlocked means that you should be able to program both decoders simultaneously.
If you reattach the Digitrax decoder, both locos should have an address of 03 since you previously programmed that address in OPS mode on the main. To be sure of that, first try to run the loco using the prior long address. The loco should not respond to commands. Then, call up address 03 in OPS mode on the main. Verify that the loco responds to commands.
Reset both decoders simultaneously to factory default using CV8=8. That is the Blueline reset command, and it is also the factory reset on Digitrax decoders. Then, program a new long address which should affect both decoders. See if that works to provide motor power, sound and lights.
At a minimum you could jumper pins 1 + 8 and 4 + 5 to get the motor to work.
A short length of brass wire or even a paper clip might work. "Some" dummy plugs simply look like three-leg bent staples (2 req.).
More to see here:
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/744/t/274494.aspx
Good luck, Ed
gmpullman At a minimum you could jumper pins 1 + 8 and 4 + 5 to get the motor to work. A short length of brass wire or even a paper clip might work. "Some" dummy plugs simply look like three-leg bent staples (2 req.).
HudsonRR No sound but the headlight works, and seems to get brighter, the faster the loco moves. No mars light or number plates lights work.
No sound but the headlight works, and seems to get brighter, the faster the loco moves. No mars light or number plates lights work.
Function key F7 controls the Mars light.
Not sure why the number boards are not lighted. Need to research that more.
The Digitrax DZ123 is a 7 wire decoder without an NMRA 8-pin connector. The red and black wires connect to the power pickups. The orange and gray wires connect to the motor. The white, blue and yellow wires are for the lights.
When I converted my Blueline locos to DCC, I used the NCE N14IP decoder which had the NMRA 8-pin plug, so installation was easy. You will need to trace those four Blueline wires (two black, two white) to determine which two control the power pickup and which two control the motor. Then, you need to find the correct lighting wires on the chassis.
HudsonRRWould love to send a picture of this, but attempts to include in this message have failed.
The way to include an image is to put the image on a photo-hosting site that can assign it a valid URL, and then either provide that URL as a link, provide a link using a feature provided on the hosting site to do so (we have had several threads over the years to do so, including stickies), or use the Kalmbach 'photo' tool (button above the post text-entry window next to the chain links).
If you pick a particular hosting site, members here can give you detailed steps to follow; some may volunteer via PM to put the image up for you if you e-mail it to them.
HudsonRRBLI documentation recommends a Digitrax DZ143PS decoder. Currently, a DZ123 is installed. Might need to upgrade the decoder.
Steve,
The more cost-effective route would be to just completely remove the BLI sound decoder and upgrade to a single DCC manufacturer's sound decoder for controlling both your sound & motor-control. Any of the big 3 - i.e. Loksound, TCS, and Soundtraxx - will have an EMD 16-567B prime mover sound file that should make your F7 both operate and sound great.
As this thread progressed, it became apparent that the original owner hardwired a motor decoder to the Blueline wiring. Out of the box, the Blueline is equipped with a sound and lights board with an NMRA 8-pin plug for a motor decoder. Had the original owner installed a DZ123PS with the plug instead of hardwiring the DZ123 without a plug, there wouldn't have been any issues.
The Blueline can operate in DCC with two decoders. The key is to program both decoders with the same long address. The issue that I ran into with my pair of Blueline F7s was consisting the two together. I wound up programming both locos and all four decoders with the same long address.
I agree with Tom that at this point, rip out the Blueline sound and lights board and install a sound decoder or just buy a new loco with sound.
This thread may be helpful to you.
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/744/t/258359.aspx
I will leave it to others to suggest a sound decoder, but tstage listed the best of them in an earlier reply.
Ed (gpullman) has done the conversion. He talks about it in that linked thread.
Any standard sound decoder will control sound, lights, and motor. Of the big 3 mentioned earlier, here's some specifics...
HTH some...