I just wanted to share a story of an experience I just had troubleshooting an electrical issue with a BLI Blueline Niagara.
I bought my Blueline Niagara earlier in the year. It’s been a very good runner (especially with the Lenz Silver-MP decoder installed into it) and I really like the sound. However, I had a consistent inconsistent front headlight that would randomly flicker on and off.
When I initially investigated the problem a while back I thought the issue might stem from the Molex connector on the small light board, because the wires seemed to be pinched as they made the 180 degree turn from the left side to connect to the light board. With the front cover off, whenever I wiggled the connection the light would “sometimes” cut in and out.
After procrastinating contacting BLI, a couple of nights ago I finally decided to knuckle down and tackle the issue myself. I unsoldered the Molex socket and pins from the board and wires and hardwired the wires directly to the light board to see if that made a difference. No change.
I next tried replacing the LED. However, instead of attaching it to the light board, I just soldered the gray and black wire to their appropriate pins on the LED. No matter how I moved the LED and wires around, the light would NOT flicker. Aha! We are making progress.
I then soldered the LED and the gray and black wires back on the light board. BINGO! - the light flickered. So, that says to me that the light board is the culprit.
FYI: The postage stamp-size light board is nothing special electrically. It neatly holds the Molex connector and LED, with a trace running up from each pin on the Molex connector to the appropriate pin on the LED. There are also two additional holes near the center of the board so that the board can be fastened to a plate inside the boiler. This positions the LED so th
Thanks, Crandell. Thanks, Rich. At least the Niagara ran properly. Now the engineer can see rather than guess what’s coming up the line. [(-D]
Also, I got word from Mark Rice @ BLI this morning that my light board is on its way. [Y] So, I’m guessing that they had no discrepancies with the findings that I relayed to them. I’m sure they’re glad to have one less locomotive in the queue, too.
I have had nothing but good experiences with the BLI Tech Department (aka Customer Service). However, I always had quicker response times via the phone versus email. Good to hear that email is just as effective nowadays.
I find with situations of this sort, it’s best - for me - to describe the problems in written form rather than trying to relay it over the phone verbally. Inevitably I’ll end up leaving some important point out. If I write it out, I can read and re-read everything before sending it off. And the tech department then has the e-mail to refer back to, if needed.
I do the same them when bringing in my car for servicing. The top half of the 8-1/2 x 11 sheet of paper includes both car and personal contact information. The other “half” includes the problem, when the problem occurs, my observations, etc. I’ve had service departments tell me on several occasions after reading through my “fact sheet”, “This is GREAT!! I wish all our customers did this.”
I always admire those who are able to verbally express themselves well.
Not sure I would have gone to the trouble of getting a repalcement, once it worked with the wires and LED soldered on. Direct hard wired connection beats an extra mechanical connector int he chain any day. Next step, once the new board is in place, check continuity of the traces ont he old one. Seems odd that anything could actually fail on a board that is two traces from one set of holes to another. Even if a trace delaminated during the sodlering of either the molex connector or the LED, unless the copper is torn it would be a stable connection. If it flips sides via a through-hole, it’s possible the internal plating wasn’t done properly, causing a poor connection. It’s also posisble there is a microsocopic crack across one of the traces, so if the board flexes it stops making contact. That’s somethign you might feel with a fingernail or see with a magnifier.
Now that you narrowed it down to the board, I’m curious to knwo what’s wrong with it. ANd if the replacement has been changed at all to maybe address a flaw they found out after the fact.
Here’s pics of the Blueline Niagara light board to give you an idea of what it looks like, as well as how big it is:
As you can see by the pictures above, the board is a bit beat up from all the soldering and unsoldering. You can also see how each trace connects a through-hole on the Molex connector (removed) to its corresponding pin on the LED. Although a 4-connection Molex connector is used on the board, only the left two pins are utilized. The “GB” label (standing for “gray” and “black”, for the wires) were added by me.
I did check the board for continuity with a multimeter and I found no problems. However, I did NOT test it connected to the locomotive; nor did I try and flex the board to see if the traces were cracked internally. Visually, I didn’t see any problems with either of the traces, as seen in the last backlit picture.
So, Randy, at this point I really can’t come up with anything definitive about the board. What I do know is that the homemade look-a-like light board I installed last night is working fine. And I’ll be curious whether or not the replacement board coming from BLI performs the same.
After explaining my findings to BLI, I would hope that Mark would have said something if there had been a problem with the original light boards. Even so, they aren’t charging me for the replacement. The only cost to me was the time typing up my findings to send to BLI and the stamp to send it.
I wanted to update everyone on the light board swap out on my Niagara.
Some of you may remember that the headlight on my Bluelline Niagara flickered intermittently and, through the process of elimination, I narrowed it down to what I thought was a faulty light board. Mark from BLI was kind enough to send me a replacement light board in the mail a few weeks ago.
The upshot is that last night I finally got around to installing it in my Niagara. I briefly tested the Niagara out on my layout and the headlight didn’t flicker at all. I also ran it at an open house this past evening for 10-15 minutes with nary a flicker. (I love happy endings. [8D])
Anyway, so far, so good. [:D] Wanted to report back on how things fared with the replacement.
I had a similar problem. The molex connector on my Blueline T-1 failed after 2 weeks of use. The molex connector board itself went bad. I did some soldering directly to the pins bypassing the board. I got the motor working, but then the light board failed.
BLI didn’t have a replacement board. So I sent it back to them for repair. It’s been six weeks and counting.
Wish I had your perserverance. I would have had it fixed myself by now.
