I’ve found myself in quite a pickle here. Here’s the exact details,
HO scale
4 engines- all steam
4 different brands of decoders used between them- NCE, Digitrax, MRC, and Bachmann.
All of them were left sitting on the same piece of track for nearly a year. When they were left there all were in running order and worked fine. I pulled them out of the track today as I was intent on running steam again on the layout and none of them will run. All that they will do is the rear light will turn on and off with every engine and the loco number can be reprogrammed. The motor will not run.
The track that they were left sitting on was not electrically connected to the rest of the layout, it was isolated by having on rail hooked to track power and the other rail controlled via a switch.
Was this a mistake? Has anyone ever had this happen to them before?
It’s likely that oxidation has interrupted the current path. 4 out of 4 is pretty bad luck, but it’s not uncommon for a loco that sits a long time to not want to get up and go.
I don’t think it’s anything you caused.
I check them individually on the Programming Track. If still deadish, then get some contact cleaner and clean up the current path, wipers, whatever, along with the wheels. Between those two things, you should see some results.
I’m using MRC’s Prodigy Advance. I’ve tried sitting an engine on the programming track and reprogrammed the number and have done the same on the mainline with the same result- the number change is successful but there motor still doesn’t turn.
I have cleaned the wheels, rolled them around and still no luck on any signs of life… You’re right, 4 out of 4 is bad luck.
Is there any possibility that you somehow consisted them? Take one of the engines and set CV19 to zero. If that doesn’t work, then put that engine on your programming track and reset the decoder. When reset it should run on address 3. If it runs, then give it your desired long address. Repeat with the other locos.
Were these locos ever consisted together? Not sure how MRC does it, but try Browse Consists to see if that’s the case. Usually setting CV 29 to 0 will solve that. If not try for a full factory reset to see if you can get one to response.
Check the decoder documentation for a “reset” capability by loading a value into one of the CVs. Get’s the decoder back to default values (such as address 0003). It would clear out any problems that have crept into the programming.
I’ve had this problem before. When a loco sits for a long period of time without use. I had to reset the decoder back to defaults and it solved my problem.
Or the outside chance that the oil/grease has dried up and clogging the gears up. Clean and lube the locos with fresh oil/grease.
Same issue with me that happened to Michael. Just this past week I had a BLI Dreyfuss Hudson that hadn’t operated in about a year. Had to do a complete decoder reset because it wouldn’t do anything. Once I reset the decoder everything worked as it should. I just reprogrammed the long address again.
I found what the problem was a corrected it, thank you all for the help. The real choo choo’s have had me working pretty good here lately but I had some time the other day to figure it out. The loco’s were indeed consisted together.