Yep, 4 weeks ago it would run. This a BLI DCC loco (K4). Sound works, lights work, smoke works. The thing will not move. Whats going on? Digitrax DCC.
Have you tried resetting the decoder. On my BLIPacific, it is in the tender. Follow the instructions that came with the loco. It resets everything, so the primary address is 3 and all other functions return to their original settings. If that does not do it, send BLI an email. They were prompt responding to my questions.
Good luck,
Richard
Are you sure you don’t have it in partial shutdown? Is it a BLI wiht QSI or Paragon2 decoder? Check the documentaton and see what it says about bringing the model back to life after a shutdown.
I’ve had some QSI decoders that needed to be reprogrammed to wake them up after going through a shutdown sequence. Fortunately, all the decoder settings were saved to a hard drive.
Try hitting F6 a few hundred times…you are in disconnect mode.
David B
I haven’t looked it up, but what product line is it? Paragon, Paragon 2, or Blue Line?
Which factory installed decoder?
Rich
My old buddy Rich. How are you doing. We just went thru an issue with adding new track and you helped me by pointing me to the AR 1 reversers. After installing these, I still had a short. So, I completely disconnected the new track from the old layout. I then decided to run on my old layout to see if it was still working. With no trains on the track the Digitrack DCS50 reads normal. When I apllied the quarter trick I get walking o’s, which is an indication of a track short somewhere. The original train I posted about is a Broadway Limited Loco with the Paragon system. I tried an older DCC train and it ran in fits and jerks. I suspected the issue is where I added turnouts on either side of the existing layout to attach my new track. Once I get the original layout going, I will reconnect the additional track and see if it works OK.
Moses, doin’ fine, sounds like I am doing better than you.
What’s going on with that layout?
Sounds like some crossed feeder wires.
Rich
Since the whole layout was showing a short, I decided to disconnect the new part and see if my old layout worked. It worked until I “improved” it to add on the new trackage. I added a couple of turnouts to the old layout to connect to the new part and this has to be the source of my error. Going to have to go back and check every feeder. I guess it could even be a bad connector between sections. The two tunouts I added lead to nothing now, so I doubt the problem is there.
OK, let’s walk through this process one step at a time.
The old layout was working fine, no shorts, correct?
Then, you added those two turnouts to begin the extension to the new layout, and the short appeared, correct?
The turnouts that you added are not connected to the new portion of the layout yet, correct?
If this is all correct, then you cross wired the feeders when you added the new turnouts.
If you didn’t add any feeders when you added the new turnouts, then what kind of turnouts did you add?
Rich
I agree with David, but twice on the F6 button should be sufficient.
Rich
I didnt add feeders. The only turnouts that had a 22’ turnout, with a straight main were Atlas. I am wondering if it isnt the DCS50 as this happens with more than one train. The trains wont move on the old layout, new layout or programming track. One train will move a lttle bit and then it short circuits.
Moses, if you didn’t add feeders and only installed a pair of Atlas turnouts not connected to anything, then there would be no shorts if ther weren’t any shorts before.
So, if the old layout was running fine and then you simply added two Atlas turnouts, it doesn’t add up. Something had to be wrong before you added the turnouts.
Once you disconnected the new portion of the layout from the old, what makes you think that you have a short on the old layout?
Rich
I know it doesnt make sense. But, there you have it. The old layout worked fine until I added more track. So I decided to try the old track. My command station sent me a “walkin o” which indicates a short. So, to break it down into smaller bites, I disconnected the new addition and that left only the old layout. I tried to to run a train on the old layout and got a walking o again. So I tried to run the train on just a 6 ft. section. It shows a short also. So I tried another train on the 6 footer. Still showing short. Then, I tried it on the new layout. It shows a short.I find it hard to beleive all my trains suddenly have shorts and all track arrangement s have shorts. I think the command station may have gone south on me.
That could be, but it would not be my first option.
Last week, I powered up my layout, NCE PH-Pro, and I had an immediate short. After some preliminary investigation, I was stumped. I began to wonder if my command station or booster was acting up. So I disconnected the bus wires and ran a pair of temporary bus wires from the command station and then added a pair of feeders from the bus wires to a 3 ft section of flex track on my work bench. That proved that the command station/booster were fine, so I reconnected the main bus wires and went on from there to find the short on the layout. You may want to do the same. If there are doubts or concerns about your command station, do what I did.
Rich
You are right about that. It doesn’t make sense. And, it is too coincidental to suspect the command station. If you did not add feeders when you connected the new section, then you did something wrong on the old section.
Let me ask you this. When you connected the new to the old, you added those two turnouts. But what did you disconnect on the old section in order to add those two turnouts? Was there a curve at the bottom of that old section that you removed?
Rich
I also disconnected my command control and used alligator clips to connect to a track section in the old layout, the disconnected new layout, an isolated programming track that I have used for some time. I also did it to 2 pieces of flex track that I assembled just for test puposes. A short came up in every case. I also switched different trains on these seperate tests. Got a short every time. The section that I removed was a 22 or 24 inch curved piece. I replaced both with atlas turnouts that looked just like a standard #6 , but had a curve that matched the missing section. It seems hard to believe that all of these track sections and all of my trains went bad at the same time. I tried all combos of tracks, connections and trains and got failure every time. The one thing they had in common was the Digitrax command.
There is just way too much going on here.
This thread started with a loco that wouldn’t run, progressed to a short on the new section of your layout, morphed to a short on the older section of your layout, now suspicions about the status of your command station.
We gotta go back to basics here.
First and foremost, you need to satisfy yourself that your Digitrax DCS50 command station is operating correctly. From what you are reporting, it is not clear exactly what you are doing to test your command station. You need to disconnect it entirely from the layout. Disconnect the wiring that connects from your command station to your layout. Then, connect the two wires from your command station to a piece of flex track, not track on your layout, rather a separate single piece of flex track. Then, turn on your command station and reset it to factory defaults. To reset the DCS50, set OpSw39 to “c” (closed) to reset the unit. Now, try to run a loco on that section of flex track. If all works well, there is nothing wrong with your DCS50. If it shorts, then you have a problem with the command station.
If there is no short, then the problem is on your layout.
With the new section disconnected entirely and no feeders from the new section connected to the main bus, is there still a short? If there is an indication of short on the older section of your layout, you are going to have to find it and fix it.
In one of your replies on this thread, you said “after installing AR-1 reversers, I still had a short”. What bothers me is the word “still”. Do you mean that you had a short before installing the AR-1 reversers?
You also stated in one of your replies that "When I applied the quarter trick, which is an indication of a short somew
I have already connected my command to a single piece of flex and reset to closed. The loco placed on it shorts the system. One of the frst things I did was disconnect the new track physically and removed feeders from the the bus. I get a short. You will recall that I added ar 1’s because I had reverse loops and didnt realize it. This caused a short. After putting thr rversers in I still have a short. You are right, I misunderstood the quarter trick and my command center does respond correctly. Remember, I get these same results from 2 different locos in all of the scenarios you have suggested.
Suppose you reset the command station and don’t place the loco on that section of flex track. What happens?
Rich
Can you connect your command station to a single piece of flex track and test the voltage to track? If you have the proper voltage and then put the loco on that track and it shorts, guess what, its the loco.
Frank