You did not mention the brand of motor decoder installed in these units and what system you use for programming. CV2 is the starting voltage to the motor and has nothing to do with resetting the decoders. Either way the Blueline decoder will ignore any changes to CV2 because it does not drive the motor. There is also a plug on the Blueline decoder that can be switched to another location to have the motor decoder work the lighting also. You also have to press F8 to wake the decoder or move the loco to wake it. BLI recommends locking the decoders using CV15 and 16 but that is wrong. If they are locked then CV19 the consist address will not be able to change. Never lock the decoders!!!
Have you tried the locomotives regular 4 digit address to wake it? The Bluelines I have had always been taken out of consist before they are shut down. I surmise that the Blueline decoder is looking for the regular address and ignoring the consist address and will not wake up until it sees it.
We have a club member with a Blue Line ALCO RSD-15 that periodically loses its sound. After a lot of e-mail exchanges with BLI they sent a list of CVs to program AFTER the motor control decoder is removed and the jumper plug is put back into the engine, to get the sounds working again.
We have learned by having to go through this several times that a Blue Line decoder cannot be assigned an advanced consist number without losing all sound and light controls.
I don’t have the CV listing here, but one thing I do remember is that the NCE PowerPro Radio throttle has to be set to DIRECT programming mode or nothing works with the Blue Line decoder…
I am operating with NCE PH-Pro, 5 amp system. The decoder is an NCE N14IP installed by Factory Trains Direct when I bought the locos new. They are HO scale, for what that’s worth.
I have not Locked the decoders.
I had the two F7’s (long address 381 and 382) in a consist number 100.
When I started the consist up, the Mars lights lit up but not the headlights and no sound.
So, I removed 382 from the consist, then I cleared the consist. Both 381 and 382 run as single locos with the Mars lights on, but neither loco will produce sound, and I cannot turn on the headlights.
What DCC system do you have? Just don’t used advanced consists, I guess the Blueline sound unit doesn;t support CV9. Use command station assisted conisting, which is the default for Digitrax and availableon NCE (they call it “old style” consisting). Since the decoder(s) are controlled by their normal addrsses when consisting that way, it should work fine.
Yeah, it sounds like advanced consisting is the problem.
When I bought the two Blueline F7A’s (and two Blueline F7B dummies), both F7A’s were numbered 38, so I set the long addresses as 381 and 382. When I get the lights restored, I could renumber both long addresses to 38 and run them together without consisting.
Right now, though, my problem is trying to restore the headlights and the sound.
I have had the exact same thing happen to my blueline F-7. it was running along fine and suddenly the headlight and the sound quit. Didn’t do anything fancy to cause it, it just quit. Have not investigated anything, not one of my favorite engines so it just sits most of the time. I should contact BLI but haven’t so far. I did reset the default settings but that’s about it as far as investigation.
Using my NCE Pro Cab, I Programmed on the Main in the Ops Mode.
First, referencing the long address (381 in my case), I reset the decoder to factory default (CV8=8). The loco lurched. Then I activated the short address (003). That got the sound going and the headlights working. Then, I activated the long address (381). Everything is working.
Then I followed the same procedure for the other loco, long address of 382. Everything is working.
I have not tried to set up a consist at this point, either an advanced consist or an old style consist. But, when I do, I am not sure which way to go, advanced consist or old style consist. or whether to simply make both locos the same cab number and forget the consist numbered approach.
I will decide tomorrow what to do and let everyone know the results.
POM CV8=8 after you remove all the other decodered equipped equipment. The NCE decoder will ignore the reset because they use CV30=2 for reset. After that call up address 3 and hit F8. This should enable the sounds. The motor decoders will still be on the long addresses. Then POM the new address using the standard pro cab address system.If you have a Power Cab it has the oomph to program the Bluelines on the program track.
Although I have no Blueline diesels I have 6 Blueline steamers that I advance consist all the time without any hitches.
What I have come to realize is that if you have a short occur anywhere on your layout, it can adversely affect the lighting and sound on BLI locos, particularly Blueline.
Like you, floridaflyer, I did nothing to the Bluelines, no derailments, no shorts, yet the lights and sound stopped working. Go figure.
Using an NCE PH-Pro system, I set up the two locos in an advanced consist… That worked but, curiously, the headlights on the lead loco were very dim. The sound worked. However, when I turned off the DCC command station, and then turned it back on, the consist ran but no headlights or sound.
So, I killed the consist and reset each loco to factory defaults. With that, each loco had bright headlights and sound.
Then, I set up an old style consist. The headlights were very bright, and the sound worked. I turned off the DCC command station, and then turned it back on. The consist ran, the headlights on the lead loco were very bright, and the sound worked.
In conclusion, an advanced consist with Blueline locos does not work properly, at least on my NCE PH-Pro system.
Good news rich. after reading your post i thought i would try resettting cv8 to default again, and it worked I have sound and headlight. can’t figure why it didn’t work before but i won’t look a gift horse in the mouth.
Good news for you too, floridaflyer. Let me ask you, do sound and lights return immediately upon resetting the decoder to factory default? Or, did you need to reset first to the short address?
When I reset to factory values, I needed to then reset to the short address and then the sound and lights came on. Then, I reset to the long address once again, and the sound and lights remained on.
After a reset you must cycle the power off to the decoder. This is especially important when programing on the main. The Bluelines have glitches but 99 percent of the problems are self inflicted. BLI recommended to lock the decoders after programing and that was a big mistake. Another was poorly written instructions that made setting them up more confusing and difficult for users. I have found that keeping it simple is the best approach. All together there must be 20 to 23 Blueline locos on our clubs layout at any given time. Except for the ones bought with motor decoders already installed I was the one setting up the rest. The ones I have set up use TCS MC2 or the more common T1 decoder. They also have the motor decoders work the lighting also. I instal the decoder and program both together on my program track like there is only one decoder for motor, lights, and sound. Very few CVs with the same number will be conflicting. Most will have the same value no matter what decoder uses that function.
I will also add that to have functions work properly in an advanced consist using CV19, you need to set CVs 21 and 22 to indicate which functions are active in the consist - so you can set the pair so that the whistle blows only on the lead loco, no headlight on the second loco shining on the back of the tender, etc.
Rich, I only have short addresses, so yes it came on with the short address. When I changed the default address back to the address I wanted it quit again, Went back to 03 and it worked, went back to the desired address and it worked, go figure. It will be interesting to see how it performs over time, so I will run it quite a bit to see how she does
Blueline is manufactured by BLI with only a sound decoder. That means that if you want to run it in DCC, you need to add a motor decoder. That is at the heart of the problem. There are two decoders trying to work together. These decoders may need to be reset to factory defaults using different CV’s and different CV values. I try to maintain the same long address in each decoder to make adjustments and resets easier.
Ive had good luck with Bluelines and my NCE Powercab with advance consisting by programming into CV19 of the Blueline loco(s) the Consist address that the NCE system generates. When Im done with the consist, I clear both the consist and then reset CV19 for the Bluelines to 0.