I just bought my (first) DCC system, the Lenz Set-90. My track is half laid and to test it out, I connected the two power bus wires via alligator clips to an open end of rail.
My son’s Thomas DC locomotive ran well at address zero. I now know what people mean by “singing.”
When I placed my Bachmann 2-8-0 locomotive on, it sang as well. I know it has a decoder; I opened the tender and saw it myself. It also has two plugs from the engine to the tender which I made sure were secure. The engine’s road number is 2360 and I entered that address.
Nothing happened. The engine would only run on address zero.
“Most” new loco’s are shipped with the default address of 03. With “most” DCC systems you just enter the 3 for an address (no leading zeros). Try that.
I agree, you must have the paddle or controller with an address of “00” on it, which sends a signal for operating any DC motors on the layout. I believe that if you were to change the paddle address on the throttle to “03” you will find your locomotive will respond as it is meant to in DCC mode. If that doesn’t work, then I would only conclude that your system is somehow only outputting DC to the track, which seems odd unless you have DC output terminals on your system and have them wired to the rails.
Are you sure it really has a decoder? Some (maybe all) Bachmann’s DC steam locos have a circuit board in the tender that might look like a decoder, and 6 wires from the loco to the tender, with two plugs that fit the back of the loco.
There’s also a small “jumper” board on top, with 8 little pins. When that little jumper is removed, a decoder with the NMRA 8-pin plug can go there instead, although some of us remove the Bachmann board entirely and connect the decoder directly to the wiring.
If the engine runs on address zero, it apparently does not have a decoder, and is running in DC mode, just like the Thomas.
Where did you buy it? Do you have the original box (with an item number)? Any paperwork?
I bought one of the DC versions in 2001, and it now has a SoundTraxx Tsunami decoder in it. I know Bachmann does now make the 2-8-0 Consolidation equipped with DCC, but I don’t see road number 2360 for it in Walthers online catalog.
This may sound stupid, but are you positive that the loco has a decoder installed? The link above (if it really is the loco you have) says that it is only “DCC ready” not “DCC equipped”. DCC ready only means that you can add a decoder in the future if you want. DCC equipped means that there is a decoder already installed. You may have confused the factory installed DC chip (or whatever it’s called) with a decoder. They look very similar, especially if you are new to DCC.
The loco shouldn’t “sing” if you have the wrong address, it will be silent and not respond to anything.
Edit: [#oops] Pondini beat me to it. We must have been typing at the same time.
CSX Fan: that’s my model. I picked it up last year at a train show from a fellow NMRA division member. It’s in the orginal box and was unrun (I think) but I don’t recall any documentation.
Pondini: Here is the tender - and there is the “jumper” board:
So, my engine is DCC ready only. Looks like my next purchase will be a decoder!
My Spectrum 4-4-0 has a circuit board with the decoder plugged in. The decoder has a plug with eight colored wires going to a package covered with black shrink tube. It can be unplugged and a dummy plug inserted for DC operation. The pc board is only for headlight operation with the dummy plug inserted. You may have DCC ready. If this is the issue, you are not the first one to be fooled.
