BLI Steamer stopped working - decoder problem?

[Anonymous]

My beloved BLI 2-8-2 Milwaukee has stopped working... and I am sad.

The sound still works on it, but the loco won't move at all. Also, my Digitrax system will program the decoder (i.e. address), but won't read it back... And it used to...

Has any of you out there had any repair/support experience from BLI? If so, how did it all turn out?

[Anonymous]

In VA they were great, I haven't talked to them since the move to Fla.

Bob

[MisterBeasley]

This might be a decoder problem. You might want to edit the title of your post to

BLI Steamer blew up - decoder problem?

to attract the right people to your post. When I read the title, I had visions of a ruptured boiler and hissing steam all over the place.

[Anonymous]

Good point, MisterBeasley. Sorry to disappoint you :)

[simon1966]

Just for fun, try unhooking the drawbar from the loco, keeping the tender connected by the wire harness and see if the loco performs correctly. I had a short develop at the pivot point of one of the tender wheelsets which then caused a short between the chassis of the tender and the loco. The symptoms were a loco with sound but no movement. I was able to fix it, by adjusting the plastic insulation piece thru which the tender wheel pickup is passed thru the tender chassis. Anyway, may not be your problem, but worth a look.

[rrinker]

Have you tried the reset? Use the reset jumper and clear everything out that way and see if it works then. Yours wouldn't be the first one I've heard of that got a little scrambled somehow.

--Randy

[Anonymous]

The reset was the first thing I tried, as I had that decoder get a little funky on me before... Unfortunately, it didn't help this time.

Simon1966, I'm a little unclear as to what you're talking about... I see the springs between the tender body and the decoder board, one on each side, which I assume are for the rail pickups left and right... I also see on my back wheelset that there is a black metal screw that sticks down far enought that I could image the wheelset would hit it... The screw goes up into the tender body and sticks through the tender floor but doesn't look like it connects to anything... What is this screw for, and could it be the problem? If you could possibly provide more details on your situation, I would appreciate it, as I am a little slow :)

[Anonymous]

Are all the rail pickups done from the tender on this loco? If so, I would assume that I can do everything without having the loco hooked up... I.E. test for shorts.... and if the thing is working fine, when I crank up the throttle, even without the motor there, the chuffing should start up... Maybe that's where Simon1966's situation is different from mine - Simon1966 did your's chuff and not move, or not move and not chuff? Mine makes all the sounds, except for the chuff.

[DigitalGriffin]

The chuff is synced to the wheel turn on the BLIs. That's why there's no chuff for you.

~D

[Anonymous]

Interesting. My Digitrax control won't read back info from the decoder any more... So either the decoder is broken somewhere or there is a short. I was putting a meter to the tender, and don't really see a short anywhere... And if the tender was shorted, I wouldn't think I would be getting any sound at all.

I talked to BLI and they are sending me a label to ship it back to them, as they don't have any of these in stock... So it looks like I will be w/o this loco for a while...

[selector]

To put you at ease, I described my problem to them in an e-mail several weeks back, and they directed me to send it in for repairs (with $7.00 for postage). It turned out to be the tender pickups (I had no response to commands, nada, and also did a reset). It came back about 21 days after I handed it to the postal clerk, with a note saying they had replaced both pick-ups. Placed loco on the track, and the rest is a big smile............
and an 'attaboy' for BLI...in FL.

[simon1966]

QUOTE: Originally posted by petejung

The reset was the first thing I tried, as I had that decoder get a little funky on me before... Unfortunately, it didn't help this time.

Simon1966, I'm a little unclear as to what you're talking about... I see the springs between the tender body and the decoder board, one on each side, which I assume are for the rail pickups left and right... I also see on my back wheelset that there is a black metal screw that sticks down far enought that I could image the wheelset would hit it... The screw goes up into the tender body and sticks through the tender floor but doesn't look like it connects to anything... What is this screw for, and could it be the problem? If you could possibly provide more details on your situation, I would appreciate it, as I am a little slow :)

The sympotoms were if I remember correctly as follows. With the engine and the tender correctly hooked up, there would be planty of sound at idle. As soon as the throttle is cranked to move the unit it would not move and the sound would stop. If I disconnected the draw bar, the loco ran fine, just pulling the tender along by the wires. The short was in the screw that secures the truck on the tender. These screws bring the current from the wheel pickups up to small rectangular plates in the base of the tender under the decoder. These metal plates are in a black rectangulr plastic spacer that is supposed to isolate them from the metal tender chassis. I found that I was getting a short where the screw came thru this plastic spacer as the screw can touch the tender chassis. You have to remove the decoder to see this. Anyway, by more carefully placing the spacer, I was able to eliminate the short. Having said all this, I am not sure that this is your problem.

[Anonymous]

Selector - I guess I should be thankful that they are picking up the postage charges for my repair...

Was your loco running OK for a while and then all of the sudden stopped?

This is the 2nd steamer that I've had problems with. One was an MRC sound-equipped IHC that I put together - it worked about 1/2 hour and then stopped all of the sudden. Sent chip to MRC and they replaced it...

So we bought this BLI thinking that having everything "built in" from the factory would be the way to go... But this loco has maybe an hour of run time on it and it's blown up.

I have 6 other diesels (no sound in any of them) that have been working perfectly since I put the chips in them...

Is there something with these sound decoders that causes them to be more finicky? Maybe I just have a dark cloud hanging over my head with the dcc sound stuff... Is bad luck better than no luck at all? :)

I'm happy that BLI is going to fix the problem, but am disappointed that it broke so soon, and that I'll be w/o the loco for several weeks... But at least if I don't have it in my possession, I cannot break it again!

[Don Gibson]

"Blew Up" - I don't think so. 'Stopped Working' maybe.

REDESCRIBE.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Don Gibson

"Blew Up" - I don't think so. 'Stopped Working' maybe.

REDESCRIBE.

As you wish...

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by simon1966

QUOTE: Originally posted by petejung

The reset was the first thing I tried, as I had that decoder get a little funky on me before... Unfortunately, it didn't help this time.

Simon1966, I'm a little unclear as to what you're talking about... I see the springs between the tender body and the decoder board, one on each side, which I assume are for the rail pickups left and right... I also see on my back wheelset that there is a black metal screw that sticks down far enought that I could image the wheelset would hit it... The screw goes up into the tender body and sticks through the tender floor but doesn't look like it connects to anything... What is this screw for, and could it be the problem? If you could possibly provide more details on your situation, I would appreciate it, as I am a little slow :)

The sympotoms were if I remember correctly as follows. With the engine and the tender correctly hooked up, there would be planty of sound at idle. As soon as the throttle is cranked to move the unit it would not move and the sound would stop. If I disconnected the draw bar, the loco ran fine, just pulling the tender along by the wires. The short was in the screw that secures the truck on the tender. These screws bring the current from the wheel pickups up to small rectangular plates in the base of the tender under the decoder. These metal plates are in a black rectangulr plastic spacer that is supposed to isolate them from the metal tender chassis. I found that I was getting a short where the screw came thru this plastic spacer as the screw can touch the tender chassis. You have to remove the decoder to see this. Anyway, by more carefully placing the spacer, I was able to eliminate the short. Having said all this, I am not sure that this is your problem.

Thanks!

This seems to be the same symptoms I'm having, so when I get home from the office today, I'll check it out.

[selector]

I had a de-coupling right in front of me, so I slowed my J1 down and went to reverse it. Silence. Pushed it a few inches to see if I had a dead spot or dirty track. Silence. cleaned the tender axles (broke one tine)...silence. Tried a hard reset. Silence.

E-mailed BLI, and the rest you know.

I suspect that Simon is on to something, though, so be brave and have a good look. You can't lose because BLI will fix it anyway.

Good luck.

[simon1966]

This problem had happened on my first 2-8-2 as well and I sent it back to BLI for repair. No problems, but I did not want to wait the few weeks on the second one, so set about finding the problem my self. I traced it using a multimeter and worked my way thru the system removing bits until I localized the short. I have to say, the design for the truck pivot leaves a lot to be desired and seems to rely on a coat of paint to stop the screw short. I would think it will inevitably fail on any of these locos. Anyway, I hope it is your problem as it is a really easy fix.

[Don Gibson]

I sugget phoning BLI.

At 5 - 10 cent's a minute that's cheap. If they're busy, the service guy's won't get to E Mails - which will probably be screened by non-technical people anyway. (They work for less) and it's a business.

1. are you under warrantee?. 2. Did you make any modification's? Sound's like something need's to be reset. A Service Tech is what you want.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Don Gibson

I sugget phoning BLI.

At 5 - 10 cent's a minute that's cheap. If they're busy, the service guy's won't get to E Mails - which will probably be screened by non-technical people anyway. (They work for less) and it's a business.

Dons right. I'm still waiting for an e-mail reply from them, 3rd request.

[Anonymous]

I have found that on some of the BLI engines that it just may have lost its programming. I had a K4 Pacific do the same thing the other day. I tried a system reset, which didn't work. I then put the engine onto the programming track and reprogrammed the decoder. It has been fine since. Best of luck.