HO Fox Valley GP60 Aux Function Issue

Model Railroader Electronics and DCC
1

Hello,

I have put an ESU Lokpilot into a HO Fox Valley GP60 and I am trying to get the Strobe light to work on DCC. It works fine on DC I even swapped out the DCC decoder and double checked on DC. But with the Lokpilot I cant get it to come on. I have CV 115 which is AUX1 F1 set to 159 and nothing. Even at 15 which is default for on does nothing. I even tried AUX2.

I have put these in Athearn Genesis Santa Fe locos with the same process and have had no problems.

I also tried a different Lokpilot with the same results.

What am I missing.

Thanks, SB

2

I should add this decoder is the Standard Lokpilot not the V4.0.

Also the beacon does not light with the decoder in DC mode on DC.

Thanks

SB

3

“Also the bacon does not light…”

Yikes! I wouldn’t be happy either if bacon lit up![:D]

Anyway, have you tried a decoder reset? Also, have you contacted ESU and asked for help? I would try those first…

4

I am far from an expert on DCC, but I wonder if maybe the way Fox Velly wired their beacon is not the way the lokpilot supports a beacon? I‘m really not giving you much info so I’ll just let other do that. I’m sure there are others who are much more knowledgeable in DCC problems than I am.

Oh, and FYI Bacon doesn’t ”light” very well! [;)] I love typos sometimes! [:D]

5

Ahhh, BNSF UP posted while I was typing! Yes, decoder reset is my default (and only) meathod for fixing Decoder issues.

6

Yes, not lighting the bacon can cause very bad digestive issues.

I have sent an email to Fox Valley but I am not holding my breath from what others have said about their customer service.

After looking at the the board it is actually a Bowser board as it say so right on it. After following the tangle of wires it looks like the Beacon LED shares the same plug as the headlight and tail light ground. Which might explain why it can’t be controlled independently on DCC. But it would not explain why it does not light with the headlight on DCC.

Ill go up and try the reset in a bit. Although I did get the same results on another new identical Lokpilot.

Thanks

SB

7

I suspect the problem is in the wiring, not the decode, because as you said the same thing happened when you tried a different decoder.

Of course it could be the decoder is incompatible with Fox Valley (or Bowser’s) wireing methods. From what I understand the LokPilot is a more basic decoder.