Problems with DCC

[Hawghead]

Welp,

Looks like I got snookered twice.  My Power Cab is just fine.  I just received my NIB Blackstone C-19 and it works like a dream with my Power Cab.  All the sounds work and the throttle response is fantastic at all speeds.  So it seems I did purchase two used lemons, I'll have to pull them apart and see if I can find out what is wrong with them.  Anyway thanks for all the help,  I'm sure I'll be back when I open them up with questions like, Is this supposed to be all black and melty looking like this? 

P.S.  For you Power Cab users, when you push the mute button (F5 I think) how do you then get the sound to come back on?  Tried pushing F5 again but no joy, I had to unplug the throttle and plug it back in to reboot, then sounds are back.

Thanks again all,
Scott

[davefoxx]

Wow.  What are the odds that you would have bought two bad locomotives at the same time?  Sucks.

As for the F5 question, I don't use NCE anymore, so take this advice with a grain of salt.  I thought that F8 was sound/mute and F5 was for dynamic braking.  The sound should come back on by pressing F8 again.

DFF

[Hawghead]

Wow.  What are the odds that you would have bought two bad locomotives at the same time?  Sucks

Actually for me it's about par.    Unfortunately, when it comes to Blackstone, the previously owned market is getting to be the only source.  When I found the C-19 online, I only found one other NIB at another online hobby store and I've yet to find a NIB K-27 (although even if I did I think the CFO wouldn't think much of it  )

As for the F5 question, I don't use NCE anymore, so take this advice with a grain of salt.  I thought that F8 was sound/mute and F5 was for dynamic braking.  The sound should come back on by pressing F8 again.

On mine I'm pretty sure it's the 5 key, but either way the sound doesn't come back when I press the button again, I've had to unplug the throttle to reboot the system.

Thanks,
Scott

[Steveruger45]

The sound on / off function is decoder specific and not to do with the type of cab used.
For ESU decoders it’s F8 for other makes would have to check the decoder manual.
Of course someone before (on a used loco for example) may have function mapped things a little differently.

[John]

As for the F5 question, I don't use NCE anymore, so take this advice with a grain of salt. 

@davefoxx what are you using now?

[davefoxx]

@davefoxx what are you using now?

ESU CabControl with a LokProgrammer and ProtoThrottle.

DFF

[Mike C]

Welp,

P.S.  For you Power Cab users, when you push the mute button (F5 I think) how do you then get the sound to come back on?  Tried pushing F5 again but no joy, I had to unplug the throttle and plug it back in to reboot, then sounds are back.

Thanks again all,
Scott

 I use a PowerCab also . All the Blackstone locos so far use a Tsunami 1 decoder that is set for mute on F8 . F5 should be waterstop . If I were you I'd run them all through JMRI and get a baseline for the decoders as they are now . Guessing that P.O. did something to the K27 decoder to jack it up ......Mike

[Hawghead]

I use a PowerCab also . All the Blackstone locos so far use a Tsunami 1 decoder that is set for mute on F8 . F5 should be waterstop . If I were you I'd run them all through JMRI and get a baseline for the decoders as they are now . Guessing that P.O. did something to the K27 decoder to jack it up ......Mike

I don't know what I did before, but I went back and tried again and the f8 button mutes the sound and turns it back on when pressed again. 

Thanks,
Scott

[Hawghead]

Eureka!!

Well I got the K-27 running.  I pulled off the boiler to check if any of the wires had come of during shipping.  Well as expected all the wiring appeared fine.  I was about to pack it up and ship it to Blackstone when I happened upon @LIRR post about having trouble running locomotives individually after having been part of a consist.  Well it worked, changed CV19 to zero and the engine started responding to the throttle.  Initially it would "cog" in that it would move the drivers about 1/8th of a revolution, pause, move another 1/8th revolution, pause etc.  Well it was moving and producing a chuffing sound.  I continued to let it run and soon it was a 1/4 of a revolution between pauses.  It finally "broke loose" and started running without pausing at all.  I cleaned all the tender wheels and the drivers with a small stainless steel brush in my dremel, and now it runs really well.

Anyway I just wanted to update this thread with the resolution and say thanks to all those that provided such helpful input.

Thanks,
Scott

[peteski]

Thanks for the followup Scott.
A decoder reset would have cleared CV19. That was suggested back in reply #26 of this thread ( https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=47823.msg631542#msg631542 ), but it seems that you never tired that, because in the next post you decided to ship the DCC system to NCE instead.  Actually looking back at this thread, someone (including me) should have suggested a decoder reset much earlier.

But what matters is that all the gremlins seem to have been dispatched.

[Hawghead]

Thanks for the followup Scott.
A decoder reset would have cleared CV19. That was suggested back in reply #26 of this thread ( https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=47823.msg631542#msg631542 ), but it seems that you never tired that, because in the next post you decided to ship the DCC system to NCE instead.  Actually looking back at this thread, someone (including me) should have suggested a decoder reset much earlier.

But what matters is that all the gremlins seem to have been dispatched.

Pete,

Yeah looks like I missed that one.  I'm now wondering if I should still reset the decoder to eliminate the possibility of the previous owner having left anymore surprises in there or just leave well enough alone.

Scott

[peteski]

I would leave it alone for now. There might have been some other customization done, to which you are used to by now, and unwittingly accepted them.  But I would put a note somewhere in the model's box to do a decoder reset if you find some other problems down the line.