BLI C e n t i p e d e

[bnsf971]

I did some horse trading last week, and got a new one of these, in SAL colors. I got it primarily to run at our club layout, since their focus is more on CSX/NS and their predecessor roads. Which very quickly brings me to my problem with it. It runs fine at home, on my little 4x8 layout that's powered by a Zephyr DCC system, and will pull a train around the layout that looks like a snake chasing its tail. At the club layout, however, it will barely move itself. As soon as I hook a single car behind it and try to move the car with the locomotive, it overloads/shorts out the DCC system. The club system is a Digitrax DCS100 with 2 boosters. We tried removing all other locomotives from the layout, it still happened. I thought maybe something had gotten knocked loose on the ride over to the club, so I tried it on our programming/test track. It works fine there. The test track is also powered by a Zephyr.
It does everything really well, as long as I don't try to use it... .
Does anybody have any ideas?

 

[Espeefan]

Well since it runs and responds at home and on the test track and misbehaves on the layout there's something about it your club's system doesn't like. To clarify: does it overload or short out the system? This sounds like the old LL P2K PA issue where the inrush current shut down the system. How old is the Chief your club is using? Does the Centipede have sound?

I'm thinking if it was an issue with the loco, the problems would occur everywhere.

 

[bnsf971]

Well since it runs and responds at home and on the test track and misbehaves on the layout there's something about it your club's system doesn't like. To clarify: does it overload or short out the system? This sounds like the old LL P2K PA issue where the inrush current shut down the system. How old is the Chief your club is using? Does the Centipede have sound?

I'm thinking if it was an issue with the loco, the problems would occur everywhere.

Yes, the centipede has sound. It will function on the club layout as long as it pulls nothing but itself. The Chief is supposed to be about the same age as the club's Zephyr, bought in 2007.
My Zephyr is from 2005-2006.
I've forgotten about the inrush problem with those PA's, I'll do some research on that. The Chief was "installed by comittee", so I don't know how it was wired. From the way it runs unless pulling something, I would say it's overloading the system rather than a direct short.
I can call BLI, but they'll want me to try solutions while I'm on the phone with them. The DCS 100 is locked up at the ckub except on operating days, and BLI is closed at those times.

 

[Selector]

What else is run on the club's tracks, and how do they do pulling a decent train?

Something is definitely weird. Obviously there's nothing wrong with the Centipede, but it sounds like the information packets it is receiving from the DCC base is defective. The drive isn't being provided with the right voltage. I wonder if the DCC system has that address in memory from another locomotive and someone set it up to run that address in a specific way? I know, that sounds stupid because the decoder is what stores the speed tables and such....or does it?

Crandell

 

[bnsf971]

What else is run on the club's tracks, and how do they do pulling a decent train?

Something is definitely weird. Obviously there's nothing wrong with the Centipede, but it sounds like the information packets it is receiving from the DCC base is defective. The drive isn't being provided with the right voltage. I wonder if the DCC system has that address in memory from another locomotive and someone set it up to run that address in a specific way? I know, that sounds stupid because the decoder is what stores the speed tables and such....or does it?

Crandell

Many things are run on the club's tracks, including a BLI Y6B with sound. The decoders are what store the special info, not the decoder.
I talked to BLI today, they suggested turning off the BEMF and "motor control", and see if that helps. They said if that doesn't help, it is almost certainly a system problem, not the locomotive.
I'll try it next Sunday and see, it's too bad I have to try something and wait a week to see if it is fixed...

 

[bnsf971]

Update:
I turned off the BEMF, as BLI suggested. It did no good. We were all standing there looking at the layout, and I noticed one of the boosters was wired backwards from the others. We unplugged the boosters and isolated them, and the Centipede ran. I then turned the BEMF back on, and it immediately started doing the overload thing again. I turned it back off again,and it ran, albeit very slowly without the two boosters in the system. I connected booster #1, and it overloaded again. I disconnected that, and connected booster #2, and it again overloaded. We ran the Centipede for a while, then turned everything back to the way it was.
This is the last time I get a brand-new, several hundred dollar locomotive with the intent of operating it anywhere but my own layout. It's way too big for my layout, and it won't run on the layout I got it to run on. It's not the fault of BLI, or the locomotive, it just seems to be one of the 2% that won't run on our club's layout.

 

[bnsf971]

Update:

Well, the problem was definitely the club layout. Today was a nightmare trying to run anything anywhere on it. There were so many problems I can't even begin to describe them all, from not one part of the DCC system working, to kinks in the rails, to dips and rises all over the place. Both the latter caused huge derailments when I finally got a couple of trains to move, using my trusty UT4.
Any change in throttle setting or pressing any function key caused the system to immediately overload and shut down, just like it was doing previously with my Centipede. I finally got two trains to run, using Geeps and about 4 40 foot boxcars each, by dialing up a unit number on my UT4, setting direction and speed, then plugging the throttle into the Loconet plug. The loco would take off and run until something overloaded the system. It was beeping and bleeping the whole time I was there. There will be an emergency work session this coming Thursday to fix the problem. It gives a new respect for engine crews trying to get over the road with locomotives acting up... And of course there was a crowd of people there wanting to see trains run.
I'll let you know what, if anything, is found, in case this ever happens to anybody here.