I bought a Union Pacific Bachmann GP40 (DCC On Board) Cat # 60301 this weekend at a train show. The price was right and my son and I made a good compromise on selecting the loco (he wants a BIG U.P. engine, I have an 18" radius). It won’t run. But it should run. I can put it on my programming track and read or set any CV. On the mainline - nothing. The lights won’t even turn on or off with the F key. I dug out my old DC transformer and powered up a length of spare track and it ran fine. I have a LENZ DCC system and I believe BACHMANN uses Lenz for their decoders. Either way, the product had the NMRA DCC approval stamp on it, so there shouldn’t be any problem. Any ideas? I having a hell of a time taking the shell off. There are no apparent screws on the underside and I can’t find what tabs keep it on. Thanks.
Are you sure sombody didn’t dupe you and sell you jst a DC engine? Get the Shell off and that will tell the tale!
Are you sure you have the correct address?
Try resetting the decoder.
No. As I’ve mentioned, I can read and set any CV on the programming track. Therefore, it obviously has a decoder.
Out of the box the decoder is going to be on address 3 – that is the NMRA standard default decoder address that they all come with when new. Try running it on that address.
If you have tried to reset it to a long address, you must also set CV 29 to a value of 34 in order for the decoder to recognize the long address. Some DCC systems do this for you automatically, and others don’t. Even if the decoder accepted the long address and CV 29 was not changed, the loco should still run on address 3.
If programming CV 29 doesn’t cure the problem, perform a decoder reset and start over.