BLI SD40-2, anyone got one?

[diezmon]

So, I got one of these recently.  I was a little reluctant due to my experience with their E8(choppy performance, and terrible pickup).   It was a decent deal, so i got one.

Anyone else have one of these guys? I saw a past discussion about them, but didn't see much on the topic of performance.  The sound is pretty great, but it's got the same apparent pickup issue.  it stalls out almost randomly, and on many of my switches.  Kato and Atlas run over the same switches, no problemo.  The wheels are in gauge and clean, track is clean, so i'm at a loss.   

Any tips on how to tune these up?  It's a decent looking unit, aside from a few oddities.   Front free-standing grabs, but molded in the back??  Can't remove the ditch lights without screwing up the walkway.  And what's with the light IN the cab??   It's cool that the numberboards and headlights are on different functions, but so far don't know how to toggle the numberboards on/off independently.

I mostly wish the thing would run without me tapping it. 

[spookshow]

Track has to be pristine clean or it's going to be an iffy runner. Par for the course for most DCC-Sound locos, IMO.

-Mark

[Mark5]

I have two undecs that run great when I tested them. Ditch lights will be removed (doesn't look difficult to me).

I will have to do something about the cab lighting -  it's so bright that it looks like a poltergeist is at the controls.

These are the best SD40-2s in N scale in my opinion in terms of appearance (I kept one of my Kato SD40-2s to model a mid production version, despite the inherent flaws in the model - it's the only option currently)

Eventually I expect that I will remove the BLI sound and replace with ESU (the BLI isnt that bad, it's just that ESU is better).

Mark

[tehachapifan]

Track has to be pristine clean or it's going to be an iffy runner. Par for the course for most DCC-Sound locos, IMO.

-Mark

While I don't own any BLI units, I respectfully disagree with the part about being par for the course with most DCC-sound locos. I have about 20 locos now that I've installed sound in (mostly LokSound) and I am surprised at, and very pleased with, how few sound dropouts, etc., I experience (at least now after adding more feeders...see below). When I do, I find the track where it occurred is really dirty. And I still haven't even installed any caps in any of my locos.

I still have a theory that too few track feeders and/or long distances from the nearest feeder(s) might be a contributing factor with stutters and sound dropouts. I had a couple of spots on my layout, which has a scale 5 mile doubletrack run and admittedly far too few track feeders, where sound locos (especially while in-consist) would studder or even stall. Adding feeders to these areas seems to have resolved this.

[diezmon]

While I don't own any BLI units, I respectfully disagree with the part about being par for the course with most DCC-sound locos. I have about 20 locos now that I've installed sound in (mostly LokSound) and I am surprised at, and very pleased with, how few sound dropouts, etc., I experience (at least now after adding more feeders...see below). When I do, I find the track where it occurred is really dirty. And I still haven't even installed any caps in any of my locos.

I still have a theory that too few track feeders and/or long distances from the nearest feeder(s) might be a contributing factor with stutters and sound dropouts. I had a couple of spots on my layout, which has a scale 5 mile doubletrack run and admittedly far too few track feeders, where sound locos (especially while in-consist) would studder or even stall. Adding feeders to these areas seems to have resolved this.

I have a couple of other retro-fitted sound units, with MRC sound decoders.  They run fine, they just don't sound that great  

Interesting about the feeders, although my test area is about three feet of track.   My other BLI(E8) is the same way.  I had a shelf switching layout a few years ago, and the E8 was worthless on the switches.  all my other stuff ran fine.  I'll mo defly have to keep these on mainline runs. 

[diezmon]

I have two undecs that run great when I tested them. Ditch lights will be removed (doesn't look difficult to me).

I will have to do something about the cab lighting -  it's so bright that it looks like a poltergeist is at the controls.

Mark

The ditch lights can be cut off, but you're left with a wound there.    I may just 'trim' the wires to the cab light and be done with it. 

[peteski]

I don't own any of these, but looking at Mark's review, I there could be few possible culprits.

To quote Mark: The axle ends insert into holes (as opposed to dimples) in the axle wipers. Vertical extensions on top of the axle wipers contact flexible metal strips firmly mounted inside the chassis. Wires soldered to the tops of said metal strips transfer current to the decoder board..  So, the way the axles contact the bearings might cause spotty pickup (this is simple a design flaw).

Then the fingers on the truck's pickup plates contact flexible brass strips - that could also be one of the problematic areas.  Cleaning/polishing the contact ares might improve the conductivity. Also making sure the contact strip is contacting the finger inthe truck at all times will eliminate this area as a possible problem spot.

Then the wheels themselves: they could have some sort of coating on them (or maybe even the darkening layer) is not very conductive.  Polishing the wheel treads to bare metal should eliminate the possibility of a problem there.

I suspect that it is a combination of a problems, rather than a single bad area.

[rrjim1]

Remove the trucks and clean and adjust the frame to truck contacts, these need to stay clean. I use Caig DeoxIT, best stuff I have found yet! Makes sure that each frame contact has there wire solder securely.  Disassemble the trucks and clean the axle ends and the holes in the contact plates. Again the holes and the axle ends need to stay clean. Cleaning and Adjusting new locos is nothing new I have had to do this with every brand, even my high speed Kato locos.

[larry p mahoning division]

i currently own 2 of the locomotives. the sound also stops intermittently. I have checked the wheel guage and made adjustments. That did help a little. I have a large layout with 53 locomotives actively running at all times with no issues. I did run a scale trains locomotive across the same spots and have no issues. Does the BLI not have a  keep alive capacitor? As far as the cab light turn CV 208 to 0, the cab light will stay off.

[MK]

53 locomotives actively running at all times????  Geez, how big is your layout?   

[diezmon]

Looks like I'm doing some tuning up today

Thanks fellas