Broadway Limited AC6000

[rrjim1]

Are the ones that a frying on DCC still have the DC option enabled? Or is that even able to be turned off on BLI locos? Any time I do an install I turn that open off as I’ve been told by people that it could cause issues if somehow the loco or layout shorts and spikes voltage.

Against my better judgement I did decide to go ahead with a UP variant but am prepared for the worse.

Chris

There will always be a few duds even with so call good electronic components. The two I received run great and now have over 8 hours on them.  BLI has a great warranty, if yours does happen to be a dud, they will supply you with a free shipping label,  install a new board and send it back ASAP.

[ek2000]

That's true with the modern decoders, quirky decoder induced behavior has become more common. The ESU loksound decoder in different brands/locomotives behaves differently and that's not the locomotive manufacturer's fault.

 But I do  think BLI locos are extremely finicky to track power. The slightest drop in power, they stall. Again, not consistent, my Centipede is better than my E8.

[peteski]

There will always be a few duds even with so call good electronic components. The two I received run great and now have over 8 hours on them.  BLI has a great warranty, if yours does happen to be a dud, they will supply you with a free shipping label,  install a new board and send it back ASAP.

Sure, that is true, but when was the last time you have seen so many people (and just on one forum with a fairly small users pool) indicate that they all had this type of a problem with another brand sound-DCC-equipped locomotive?  I don't know about you but for me this is a first. Um, wait - I do recall the first run of the Athearn articulated steam locos with MRC decoders having problems and burning up, but IIRC, those started occurring more slowly (not all pretty much at once).  As we all now know Athearn no longer uses MRC decoders. So I take it back, this is the 2nd time I recall seeing such a problem. And to put your statement of duds in perspective, when have you heard for example of Atlas sound-equipped S-2s having a decoder failure?

[wmcbride]

Sure, that is true, but when was the last time you have seen so many people (and just on one forum with a fairly small users pool) indicate that they all had this type of a problem with another brand sound-DCC-equipped locomotive?  I don't know about you but for me this is a first. Um, wait - I do recall the first run of the Athearn articulated steam locos with MRC decoders having problems and burning up, but IIRC, those started occurring more slowly (not all pretty much at once).  As we all now know Athearn no longer uses MRC decoders. So I take it back, this is the 2nd time I recall seeing such a problem. And to put your statement of duds in perspective, when have you heard for example of Atlas sound-equipped S-2s having a decoder failure?

True about the Atlas S-2.

All my BLI Paragon 2 engines (E8s and PAs) can be twitchy. I use spray-on electronic contact cleaner on my track (track cleaning car and those Woodland Scenic pads one attaches to a truck) and also clean my engine wheels regularly. That said, BLI are twitchier and need to be cleaned more often than say my FVM engines into which I've installed Loksound.

I was sorely tempted by the AC6000 but I'm still not sure if this "DC" problem is the whole problem since DCC operated engines have been frying, too. I think I'll just put my money towards some Atlas sound engines (and hope the speaker upgrade, a la the Im SD40-2s, is do-able (or maybe not required).

[ek2000]

You're right on the money on Atlast S2's, they are mint. SOmetimes I wonder what's better, a 90 day warranty from a manufacturer that sell's quality stuff (Atlas) or a 2 year Warranty from a manufacturer that seems to have problems again and again (now it's 1 year). I'm going to stick with ESU -  Atlas, IM, Rapido and now Scale trains are all on the ESU bandwagon. I won't miss those manufacturers still on other decoders that seem to fall short.

[rrjim1]

You're right on the money on Atlast S2's, they are mint. SOmetimes I wonder what's better, a 90 day warranty from a manufacturer that sell's quality stuff (Atlas) or a 2 year Warranty from a manufacturer that seems to have problems again and again (now it's 1 year). I'm going to stick with ESU -  Atlas, IM, Rapido and now Scale trains are all on the ESU bandwagon. I won't miss those manufacturers still on other decoders that seem to fall short.

I don't care what brand of decoder it is they all have a dud once in a while. Of course with BLI it's different, they received the wrong parts. Yes, they should have checked them but were all human aren't we.
AS far a ESU not having problems tell that to my Kato SDP40F that had to go back for a new ESU sound decoder.

[nstars]

It’s important to note that any decoder can have problems. The first Tsunami 2 we got went bad after reading the CV’s for the first time. The decoder had to go back to Soundtraxx. In contrast to this, none of the Paragon and Paragon2 decoders in our locomotives ever had a problem.

It’s also necessary to identify exactly what the problem is. As mentioned before we never had problems with Paragon decoders. However, we have had twitchy BLI locomotives like a couple E units and the Centipedes. When we analysed the problem, it turned out to be the blackening of the wheels. After a thorough cleaning of the wheels, the problem was gone and the units remain operating perfectly. The problem with the blackening on the BLI loco is something I think BLI should improve (would save a lot of discussions), but it is certainly not a problem of BLI only. The Atlas S-2 can show the same problem. Fortunately the blackening on the S-2 wheels can be cleaned quickly (much quicker than with BLI).

Marc

[peteski]

True about the Atlas S-2.

All my BLI Paragon 2 engines (E8s and PAs) can be twitchy. I use spray-on electronic contact cleaner on my track (track cleaning car and those Woodland Scenic pads one attaches to a truck) and also clean my engine wheels regularly. That said, BLI are twitchier and need to be cleaned more often than say my FVM engines into which I've installed Loksound.

As I see it the "twitchiness" can be contrinuted to bot mechanical design of the model and to the electronic design of the decoded.  If the model doesn't have a very reliable pickup system (which is a mechanical design) and the decoder is not designed to handle short power interruptions well then you'll  have a twitchy model.

I don't care what brand of decoder it is they all have a dud once in a while. Of course with BLI it's different, they received the wrong parts. Yes, they should have checked them but were all human aren't we.
AS far a ESU not having problems tell that to my Kato SDP40F that had to go back for a new ESU sound decoder.

Sure, but BLI doesn't have very good track record with their DCC models.  My Centipedes were so tightly gauged that they would not run through Atlas c55 turnouts at all.  Others confirmed that this was a common problem on their locos.  Their assembly was really sloppy to (unlike Kato, but I'm not ever again picking that fight with you    ). At least the Centipede decoders weren't frying. Granted, to their credit BLI did admit to a bad batch  of decoders and they are fixing the problem.

[nstars]

Sure, but BLI doesn't have very good track record with their DCC models.  My Centipedes were so tightly gauged that they would not run through Atlas c55 turnouts at all.  Others confirmed that this was a common problem on their locos.  Their assembly was really sloppy to (unlike Kato, but I'm not ever again picking that fight with you    ). At least the Centipede decoders weren't frying. Granted, to their credit BLI did admit to a bad batch  of decoders and they are fixing the problem.

I don’t see what this has to do with their ‘DCC’ models .

It’s clear that there will always be people who do like Kato better than BLI, but I can tell you I’m quite happy with the different BLI eninges (M1 and centipedes) I acquired recently. I can also tell you that I haven’t bought a Kato engines since the GG1 first came out (about 9 years ago). Not because I think they are bad, just because nothing interesting came out from Kato. And that’s important for me. I’m glad BLI fills some of the gap.

Marc

[basementcalling]

So, after ten pages of discussion, I'm still left pondering the same question: Can the Idaho Belt shops afford to buy a couple of potential shelf queens that, when serviceable, can replace 4 units currently used in helper service?

[Scottl]

Come back in ten more pages 

[LarryN]

All,

I received my new decoder board (and detailed instructions) from BLI. The unit now works! The performance though, leaves something to be desired. No action till track voltage is close to 9.8 V. Then engine noises of different types (cool!). But throttling up yields a lethargic response at best. An increase give a tepid response, throttling down cause a brake application (with sounds of squealing). When it is cruising, the mechanism is a smooth at any KATO. In this state, I do not see how it would MU with anything. I just run DC, so after all is said and done, I will probably have to figure out a way of removing the board, and integrating the lights and motor in a sane way. I will probably secure an additional mechanism for a U50C project.
Lastly, there was a return label for the old, blown decoder....good thing I had not yet started to "hack it"!

Larry N

[LarryN]

Folks,

Well my new replacement decoder has failed, and in the same way as the first. I was running the loco to see if by cleaning track, wheels the performance could be fixed. All the sudden, nothing. I run just DC, so I am returning the two bad decoders and building a shunt between the existing connectors on the shell, so I can run it as a straight DC loco. (need to add some resistors, diodes etc to handle the lights) I posted an inquiry as to connector availability in another column here on Railwire.
I wish they would sell the unit without any of their fancy electronics added. The mechanism is pretty fine, really.

Larry N

[peteski]

Folks,

Well my new replacement decoder has failed, and in the same way as the first. I was running the loco to see if by cleaning track, wheels the performance could be fixed. All the sudden, nothing. I run just DC, so I am returning the two bad decoders and building a shunt between the existing connectors on the shell, so I can run it as a straight DC loco. (need to add some resistors, diodes etc to handle the lights) I posted an inquiry as to connector availability in another column here on Railwire.
I wish they would sell the unit without any of their fancy electronics added. The mechanism is pretty fine, really.

Larry N

Not good! Can you see/smell the damage again, or it just silently stopped working?  Maybe it is a programming program this time (the decoder lost its settings)?

[mu26aeh]

Folks,

Well my new replacement decoder has failed, and in the same way as the first. I was running the loco to see if by cleaning track, wheels the performance could be fixed. All the sudden, nothing. I run just DC, so I am returning the two bad decoders and building a shunt between the existing connectors on the shell, so I can run it as a straight DC loco. (need to add some resistors, diodes etc to handle the lights) I posted an inquiry as to connector availability in another column here on Railwire.
I wish they would sell the unit without any of their fancy electronics added. The mechanism is pretty fine, really.

Larry N

Well that certainly is not good news.