My LHS has had a number of P2K Berkshires on the shelf for a long time with few takers. I noticed last month the asking price had been reduced from $292 to $219. When they held their annual 20% pre-inventory sale on top of that, I had to grab it. I knew it didn’t have sound and figured the price reduction was because of the introduction of sound equipped locos. I assumed it was DCC equipped. Well we all know what happens when you assume. It turns out it is a DC loco, no decoder. I wasn’t too upset at that discovery since I plan to install a Tsunami and speaker anyway but then told myself I didn’t get that great a bargain after all. Then I saw the same DC loco in Walthers sale catalog and the asking price is still $310. I do believe I got a pretty good bargain after all.
Then a curious thing happened after I discovered I had a DC loco. I tried to run it at address zero but apparently the power draw overloaded my Lenz system and it shut down in a matter of seconds. Does that make sense to those of you who are a little more knowledgeable about the electronics involved.
It could be the wya they have the light board wired, but I don’t know why a P2K steamer would be any different than their diesels. All my P2K diesels ran fine as an analog loco running on address 00. Definitely try it on regular DC before throwing in the towel, also check to make sure nothing is jammed. I’ve sene steam locos where it was possible to somewhat force one of the drivers around a bit so the side rod was on the wrong side of center for the position of the rest of the wheels. Jams up the mechanism real good. You should be able to wiggle each set of drivers back and forth. If you don’t have a DC power pack handy, try a 9V battery.
If there’s nothing wrong with the loco, your Lenz system should run it on address ‘0’ without a problem. I use a cheap Bachmann Ez Command system and it can run 3 DC locos at once. The Lenz unit should be able to at least match that.
And it damages the motor windings…and if left sitting or at low speed, the smoke will escape from the motor windings, and you’ll have to install a new motor.
Did the engine come in the blue PK2 box? If so I have the same problem with my E-6’s. Sit them on the track, power up the DCC and with in a few seconds shut down! I think it has to do with the power cap’s they have to store power.
My Proto 1000’s and older BL2 and FA2 that do not have the power caps work fine on it. Add a DCC board and I sure the probem will be gone, well I hope so.
Is this locomotive DCC ready? If so, it may have a jumper inside. I have a P2K GP30 that was DCC ready. It would run on DC track just fine but put it over on the DCC track and bring it up on address 10 (EZ Command runs DC locos on address 10) and it wouldn’t do anything. I had no idea what was going on so I read the instructions that came with the loco (and yes, it was in a blue box). Turned out that a modification had to be made to the circuit board.
No, this one came in the brick red box. I haven’t opened up the tender but I assume it is DCC ready but I’ve already assumed one time too many so I’ll wait and see. The instructions have already told me to put in a different headlight if I want to convert to DCC so I need to get one before I do a conversion. It does have the two small plugs running from the engine to the tender which tells me it will probably take a plug in decoder. I haven’t checked Tony’s yet to see what Tsunami I need to order for it.
Yeah, I was the same way until I got my first sound loco two years ago and I got instantly hooked. The funny think is I didn’t even know it had sound when I ordered it on the internet. It came as a total surprise when I put it on the rails. Now I have to have sound in everything. I was happy for many years with my silent running locos but now I can’t go back. Do yourself a favor and stay with no-sound.
i dont evn have a layout yet. my mom wont let me build one cause we will be goin back to lousiana in a month. i dont like it here. when we get back ill hook up wit a freind there and get to buildin a layout with dcc. bachman dcc locos run on dc an dcc right?
Im totally confused[banghead]. How do you run a DC loco on DCC track? I know that in MR for the Black River Junction it says you can run a DC loco off their Digitrax, but how does that work isnt the voltage constant?
Im totally confused[banghead]. How do you run a DC loco on DCC track? I know that in MR for the Black River Junction it says you can run a DC loco off their Digitrax, but how does that work isnt the voltage constant?
I don’t know if I have the electrical expertise to explain it but most if not all DCC systems reserve one address for running non-decoder equipped locos in DC. Most system use address zero for this purpose.
The Digitrax system uses address ‘0’. The Bachmann system that I have use address ‘10’. I’m not sure about the others. I’m pretty sure the Lenz system uses ‘0’ as well.