One of our club members has a BLI 4-6-4 Hudson (CNR 5701) that runs smoothly in both directions at all speeds on his DC-powered layout. On the DCC-powered club layout the loco runs smoothly at low speeds but runs jerkily in both directions when the speed is increased. The decoder settings have not been changed from factory settings other than service programming the four digit address-5701.The DCS200 and the PM42 do not indicate any problem.
Before we begin tinkering with any CV’s we’d appreciate any comments from alert readers.
I think the answer might actually be in the question. I have a couple of BLI that were running jerky - lurchy?. Someone pointed out that if I turned the DC option totally off this would stop. He might want to try that and see if that fixes the problem. If it doesn’t, at least that “cause” is eliminated. If it does, since he is running DC at home, he would not want to forget to turn DC autoswitch back on before it leaves the club to go back home.
I have the BLI Hudson and can’t say I have experienced this problem. I have heard that the DC operabililty can interfere, but… Could it be that the speed steps are too few, and that the momentum CV 3 is not set? If so, throttle inputs would cause discrete and sharp increases in motor speed, I would think.
I’ve got one of the original Hudsons, operated only on DCC. It used to be difficult to start smoothly at low speed, even with Regulated Throttle Control on, but at higher speeds it’s fine. It’s MUCH better at low speed now that it has the QSI upgrade chip. Can you clarify three points: is it jerky while running at the same speed step, or when changing steps? And roughly which steps? And does it have RTC, and if so, is it on? Either way, I’d recommend first resetting the decoder. As a previous post suggested, the speed table may have been changed accidently. If the problem persists, I’d contact BLI directly. They’re quite good at helping you track down problems, You may also want to get the QSI upgrade chip ($30 from Tony’s, Litchfield, etc.)
Funny you should mention this. I am having the exact same problem with my BLI Heavy Mike. It was one of the original 2-8-2’s that they produced. I have contacted BLI over and over and over to get it fixed, but to no avail. I keep getting the run around on getting the thing fixed.
Not sure if I will ever buy another BLI just because their customer support sucks!
The jerkiness occured at speed steps above 10 while running without changing the speed step. Not sure about RTC.
This AM we reset the decoder to factory default settings in accordance with the BLI manual (three CV’s) and reprogrammed its four digit address, following which the loco now runs smoothly throughout its speed range, with a nice bit of momentum at work on starting and stopping. The various sounds are excellent.