BLI Alco RSD-15

[C855B]

Did BLI email confirmation of your order and despatch? ...

Yes. I have tracking, and at last check it appears that it will be in my mailbox tomorrow, a day earlier than estimated.

[mrp]

I had 2 show up earlier this week. Both run fine out of the box. Just had to turn down the volume.
And they look great. Only real gripe is no painted handrails.
I have an NCE 5 amp system with no programming track booster, and didn't have any trouble configuring CV's.
I think I will break the bank and get a couple more.

Michael Pennie

[spookshow]

Been running mine around in circles for the last 48 hours - no problems so far.

-Mark

[wes_sutton]

Yes. I have tracking, and at last check it appears that it will be in my mailbox tomorrow, a day earlier than estimated.

Thanks  - they got back to me quickly with a tracking number and it's making its way slowly Down Under.

[kiwi_al]

Thanks  - they got back to me quickly with a tracking number and it's making its way slowly Down Under.

My order is following the same route more or less, I'm hoping they don't route it through Japan - adds about 4 days

[C855B]

Mine arrived this morning. I unwrapped one early - Christmas present to myself, you know - and gave it a go.

First impression is it looks great. Very nice, and a far cry from the old Mehano attempt to model this prototype. Runs smoothly with great control up and down throttle settings as long as the track is pristine. A little bit of even mildly oxidized track that doesn't affect other locos in the fleet is stall city with the RSD, even after cleaning the wheels.

Sound, I guess, is OK if you're into that. I am not. After about a minute of mainline running and tooting the horn a couple of times I'd had my fill, and programmed the master volume to zero.

I could not get it to take a new road number using my DT402 and DCS240. However, it programmed just fine under JMRI Decoder Pro with the DCS240 once I realized that it would accept but not acknowledge the commands. Is this normal for Paragon 4 decoders?

Anybody figure out how to get the shell off yet? I found click tabs behind the coupler boxes, but couldn't get it to budge with gentle prying. Mark @spookshow ?

[C855B]

Removing the shell is relatively easy. First remove the couplers by unscrewing and then pushing the coupler box from behind. Removing the body is accomplished by pushing a plastic latch tab behind each coupler box location. Once unlatched, the body slides off with minimal jiggling. There are no wires to the body.



I favor MTL True Scale Couplers; the short shank version is a drop-in replacement for the stock BLI couplers (MTL 1015 clones). I did have to slightly chamfer the corners of the box to press into the shell pocket.

[peteski]

Another BLI Paragon4 decoder where I don't see any of those additional keep-alive caps. Just a "regular" quantity of multilayer ceramic caps (each is probably around 47uF or less).

[C855B]

It certainly ran like there was no keep-alive. As I mentioned above, it was fine on recently-cleaned track, but the moment it hit a spot with even light oxidation, stall city. At least it didn't have "restart disease" like BLI's earliest decoders.

I have LokPilot 5s on order and get to rewire four of 'em. Oh, joy. 

[peteski]

It certainly ran like there was no keep-alive. As I mentioned above, it was fine on recently-cleaned track, but the moment it hit a spot with even light oxidation, stall city. At least it didn't have "restart disease" like BLI's earliest decoders.

I have LokPilot 5s on order and get to rewire four of 'em. Oh, joy. 

Maybe that is what confuses people?  On power dropouts Paragon3 had to reinitialize which took a second or two, where you mention that Paragon4 restarts much faster.  I suppose that can be mistaken for added keep-alive.

[rrjim1]

My track is far from clean, I have 195' of single track mainline so I only clean it once every 2-3 months and it's due.  My three locos ran just fine even threw some yard ladders that have peco insulfrog switches. When my track needs cleaning even Atlas and Kato locos will stall.  Programmed just fine with decoder pro, sprog II and acknowledge the commands. 

[Kentuckian]

Looks like there’s room for at least an ESU PowerPack Mini in the nose of the RSD-7. I plan on reprogramming my “Paragone” 4 the same way @Jim Starbuck did, with an ESU decoder!

[C855B]

My track is far from clean, I have 195' of single track mainline so I only clean it once every 2-3 months and it's due.  My three locos ran just fine even threw some yard ladders that have peco insulfrog switches. When my track needs cleaning even Atlas and Kato locos will stall.  Programmed just fine with decoder pro, sprog II and acknowledge the commands.

OK. I'll break the seal on one of the others and see if it exhibits the same issues. Thanks!

[spookshow]

I'm not having any pickup issues (AFAIK), but mine is definitely exhibiting some strange behavior. Every once in a while (say, every 10-15 minutes) it will gradually slow to a stop and turn on the cab light. Then, after sitting there for a couple of seconds, it will start moving again, turn off the cab light, and return to its original speed. Sound isn't cutting out, so it's not like it's losing power. Basically it's acting like I'd used the throttle to slow it down to speed step 0 and then sped it back up. Anybody else run into anything like that?

-Mark

[rrjim1]

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