Just received an F7 A/B (B dummy) from the BLI Reconditioned Locomotives Sale. Looks great, sounds great, won’t move. Started out resetting factory defaults. Able to read address as 3. Start, mid and max volt settings were all 0. Went back to program track and programed in a long address. Was able to read it back. Programed CV2 at 5, CV5 at 250 and CV6 at 50. Was able to read all back as re-set.
Still won’t budge. Am I missing something? Sytem is PA Wireless. Could this have anything to do with being disconnected that was mentioned in another recent thread? Certainly was connected enough to program on program track.
I will say that, in spite of some early trepedations, and road blocks like this, messin’ around with DCC is fun.
Is this a QSI decoder, or is it a BlueLine DC engine. If you performed a proper reset and long address setting, including programming CV29 to a value of either 34 or 38, I don’t see why the engine shouldn’t move. The only possibility, other than a problem decoder (unlikely if just reconditioned, but stranger things have happened…) is that it is a sound only decoder and it won’t respond to the address you dialled in for motive purposes. Again, why did you get the address confirmation if there is no motive component?
Do the sound all work, and the engine rev up as you advance the throttle? Then you’re in ‘disconnect’ mode and a double click of F6 should get you going again. Read the manual under the heading “Three stages of shutdown”, page 14 of the small manual PDF that’s on the Broadway web site, in case they didn;t send one with your loco.
mreagent stated that he reset the decoder to factory settings. Assuming that he did it correctly, wouldn’t that negate needing to double-press F6 to wake the decoder up?
My question would be: After the reset, did the locomotive ever move on address 3? mreagent said he could “read it” but didn’t say if it moved or not; only that it didn’t budge at the longer address. I could be wrong but I didn’t want to assume that.
Sounds like a Blueline F7 that doesn’t have a motor decoder in it. If I don’t have the motor decoder installed in mine, it will play all of the sounds and sit there, programmed to address 3. It may not be moving because it has no decoder that allows it to.
O. K. Just down from the train room, and the F6 trick didn’t work. To make this clear, it has not moved at all after factory re-set, or re-programing to long address. Would a Blueline without a motion decoder accept not only an address re-set, but speed step re-set as well? Box had a sticker that said it needed to be re-set to factory defaults (CV8=8).
I’m certainly willing to pull the body and see, but I assumed from the read back on the programming track that it was behaving like it had a motion decoder. Does the Blueline sound system accept re-programming for CVs it does not use?
By the way, on the PA Wireless, pushing #6 twice first turns F6 on and then turns it off—unless I’m doing something wrong.
Yes, because the Blueline sound decoder works on DC or DCC, so it can be programmed to take an address, be reset, and respond to function commands. You need a motor decoder to make it move on DCC.
You didn’t say the first time it was a Blue Line. BLI made F7’s before that had QSI decoders. [:D]
With my very limited reading and understanding, I believe you have it right.
Would it be imprudent of me to ask you to think about what you paid for this engine, and if you thought you had paid for a DCC decoder at the same time? I am not intending to embarrass you, just alerting you to check your invoice and any still-accessible advertising for the item to see if you are due a partial refund.
Crandell, the question is perfectly appropriate and I don’t mind sharing the information.
I paid $139 plus SH for the loco which is a SF Warbonnet F7 A/B–A powered and B dummy. The deal came through an email ad from Broadway-Limited about reconditioned engines and I asked via email (because the web page link was not clear) if the item was DCC and sound. Response was basically–Yes.
As you can see, much of the discussion in this thread was based on my assumption that their response about being DCC and sound meant that it had a DCC motion decoder as well as Blueline sound. I could have save everyone some time dealing with my initial question if I had disassembled and looked, but I didn’t.
Bottom line for me is that this is an absolutely beautiful locomotive. Individually painted engineer and fireman, working roof fans, excellent paint, and, when I get it moving, I will expect it to run as smoothly as my other Blueline diesels. Also, ATSF Warbonnet F7s have sold out at Factory Direct Trains and most other places I’ve looked so I considered this a real find.
Do I think I got ‘cheated’ because it had no DCC motion decoder? Not remotely. I’ll pick a decoder up for less than $30 and for a total well below $200 it will be a great addition to the layout. I’m not even sure you can still buy B dummy units from BLI, but for my needs, that works great.
Good, I am happy that you are okay with it. It happens that my friend and decoder installer got a refurbished Hudson from them, but not the TH&B that he had asked for. It was a box with the label claiming it held a TH&B Hudson, but the shipping person must not have checked inside. It was an NYC engine. When he contacted BLI, they immediately shipped the correct engine, and the two passed in the dark of night somewhere.
The Outlet store at BLI is supposed to sell (or always advertises) that their returns/refurbished engines are 40% off, so it it works out mathematically, all’s well that ends well. Both my Niagara and J1 2-10-4 came from that store, and I love them.
It’s unfortunate that there was some mis-communication regarding whether or not this set came with a decoder. The web-site ad seems quite clear regarding the powered A and dummy B set: http://www.broadway-limited.com/dieselho.aspx. On the other hand, they are also showing a powered A and powered B set that does have a decoder, so I can see how there might have been some confusion.