BLI FEF Woes


D&J RailRoad

D&J RailRoad

Professor of HO
I posted in the RPO the issues I had in getting this loco from Broadway Limited to my dealer.
Got the loco home and put it on the test/programming track. Set the track to no input so I could get all the wheels of the loco and tender onto the track without shorting things.
Flipped the input knob to track power and I thought I saw the rear light flash. Dialed up my throttle to 03 to select the loco. Nothing. No roll, no sound, no lights. Nothing responded to throttle input.
Toggled the track to programming, set throttle to program and read address, no decoder. Fire up the JMRI and read again. No response from decoder.
I did a CV8=8 reset, still no response except the rear light flashes once when I go to programming track or run track.
Hmmm. I open the tender to see if there is a decoder. Yep, a Paragon 4 and the plugs are all seated properly.
I try the tiny reset button on the decoder board, still no joy.
Decided to go get a samich and think about this.
A New York Reubin.
 
Shucks. Doesn't sound very promising. I would call BLI in the next day or so, or send them an email, both?, and chat with their tech/repair guy/gal. They have been helpful to many and might be able to set it right. If not, get an RO, package it up, and you'll have it back with new parts and tested inside of about 3 months at most.
 
Can’t help you Ken sorry, I dumped all my BLI locos.
I do like the idea of toggling the power off tho, might incorporate that into my system.
Good luck with it!
 
OK, had a good samich.
Went back to the test track. Tried the reset button again. Still no joy. Looked at a few pages of the JMRI and nothing really jumped out at me. I decided I had enough and thought I would try the reset one more time before packing this up to send back to my dealer.
Whap, what was that? The back light flashed two times. That was different. I dialed the throttle to 03 and the loco responded with chuffing and moving. Hit the whistle and thick smoke comes outa the whistle and smoke starts pluming outa the stacks.
Wow, this is cool. I put the lid back on the tender then put it back on the programming/test track. I bring up the JMRI app and change the address to 831. Set the track back to test and the loco responds to the new address. I put it on the mainline and run it up the hill to the main level of the layout. Whistle sounds, bell, lights. All good except now the smoke isn't pluming. I run it a few miles around the layout then bring it back to the programming track.
I can't get the smoke to come back on. I decided to do the reset again. That works. Address 03, it smokes. I change the address to 831 and it won't smoke.
I tried this a few times and nothing makes sense of it.
OK, I'll take it to the club tomorrow and run it on address 03 then do some more reading to find out way the smoke issue.
 
It will be interesting to hear how you sort this out in the long run? (perhaps these model trains are getting a little too complicated like our modern cars)
 
Yeah. Sorry should have posted the result.
Got the loco back several months ago, all fixed.
It diesn't track as well as the rest of my locos. The front pilot truck jumps the tracks very easily. Haven't taken time to look at it closely yet.
 
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