# New engine won't run



## CraigS (Feb 2, 2021)

I just received my Kato Power By Our People engine with a DC board. I removed the board and the little plastic piece underneath and added a Digitrax decoder (DN163K1C). I added kapton tape to three places where the decoder could possibly touch. Put it on my main track, used DecoderPro to configure it, just the basic information. Made sure all sheet were written. Enter the address of the engine in my NCE power cab and nothing. The lights won't come on in either direction. The engine will not move in either direction. The motor is not hot, nor did I see a short in the power cab. In a effort to make sure the decoder was working write, I had DecoderPro read the decoder and all information came back correctly. I am not sure how to test this further.


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## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

Did you try it on straight DC before you took it apart to see if it runs at all?


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## CraigS (Feb 2, 2021)

No I did not try that first. Hindsight, I guess I should have.


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## bewhole (Dec 31, 2016)

Here is some good reading. just scroll down and read how they install it.(Yes it is a different decoder but the same install) 





| Train Control Systems







tcsdcc.com





This may help.


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## DonR (Oct 18, 2012)

Craig

Did you change loco address from 03?


Since your Pro could read the decoder it would seem it is
correct on the track side. That, to me, says you must have
put the wrong color code wire on the wrong thing. (but make sure
your red and black wires from the wheels are correct anyway).

Recheck your motor and light wiring. Note: the Blue wire is
Positive for the lights. If you don't see anything awry then
remove the wires from the motor and the lights. Use a DC source (9 volt battery will work) and
use it to test that the motor runs. If it does, Test the motor wires from the decoder
Multimeter set to DC volts...loco on track, (not program track) set controller to loco address and try to run FW or REV
and check the readings. If no reading it would appear the decoder is bad. The maker will likely
replace it under warranty, even if you damaged it during installation. Contact them.

Don


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## CraigS (Feb 2, 2021)

The address is set to 1111 which is the engine number. The decoder is a plug an play. No wiring or soldering needed. I put the original DC board back in, put the engine on the main and I hear a buzzing sound. Turned off the DCC system, put a 9 volt battery on the track, lights work both directions and ran like a champ. Now I am thinking my decoder might be bad. Is there a way to test that?


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## bewhole (Dec 31, 2016)

CraigS said:


> I put the original DC board back in, put the engine on the main and I hear a buzzing sound.


That don't sound good. Can you take your finger a spin the motor or is it stuck. Check out the trucks to see if the wheels turn or not. You may have to do a exchange with it from where you bought it from.


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## bruferrit (Dec 29, 2020)

maybe it needs a good cleaning?


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## CraigS (Feb 2, 2021)

bewhole said:


> That don't sound good. Can you take your finger a spin the motor or is it stuck. Check out the trucks to see if the wheels turn or not. You may have to do a exchange with it from where you bought it from.


That was with the DCC system running.


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## bewhole (Dec 31, 2016)

You should not do that. You could "Burn out" the dc Board and the wiring on the loco. DCC should only be used with decoders installed. Do you have a DC transformer handy you could use??


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## 65446 (Sep 22, 2018)

You didn't mention if this is your only loco..If others run, then fine.. But if it's the only one, perhaps the problem lies within the PowerCab, not the engine ?...


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## CraigS (Feb 2, 2021)

telltale said:


> You didn't mention if this is your only loco..If others run, then fine.. But if it's the only one, perhaps the problem lies within the PowerCab, not the engine ?...


I have a bunch of other loco's and all of them run fine. I am starting to think it might be a bad decoder.


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## 65446 (Sep 22, 2018)

One more: Contact wipers on the wheels V frame, or wiring to them ?


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## Wooky_Choo_Bacca (Nov 13, 2020)

I messaged Craig with a fix on this issue as I had the same problem with a new loco and decoder board. Mine wasn't making good contact with the front contacts, assuming the grounds of the board since the power comes in elsewhere. My fix, and it's been working fine since, was to cut a small piece of the thick foam from the Kato case and wedge up under the board at the very front. I pulled my hair out trying to figure this one, even after sending the decoder to Digitrax and they sent it back.


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

Well, I hope you're right, because a loco that runs fine in DC (in this case, provided by a 9v battery) and doesn't in DCC usually means a bum decoder. It happens, even from the industry leaders.

Not a lot of mileage in testing wipers, motors, etc, when these are all involved in DC or DCC running.


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## Wooky_Choo_Bacca (Nov 13, 2020)

CTValleyRR said:


> Well, I hope you're right, because a loco that runs fine in DC (in this case, provided by a 9v battery) and doesn't in DCC usually means a bum decoder. It happens, even from the industry leaders.


Again, same situation, mine ran fine with DC board and DC controller but even to program the decoder the Zephyr controller said Program Track Empty. Take a look in the pictures in what bewhole posted, one pic shows exactly what I did


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## MichaelE (Mar 7, 2018)

I had a bad ESU Loksound IV right out of the box. It was replaced immediately. It happens.


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

Wooky_Choo_Bacca said:


> Again, same situation, mine ran fine with DC board and DC controller but even to program the decoder the Zephyr controller said Program Track Empty. Take a look in the pictures in what bewhole posted, one pic shows exactly what I did


Right... my point was that a lot of the suggestions being made seemed to be blind alleys, given that it ran in DC...


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## Wooky_Choo_Bacca (Nov 13, 2020)

I have two SD70ACe locos and two identical boards but only had the trouble with one, both are fine now. Even swapping the troublesome board, "fault" followed it


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## Railtwister (Nov 5, 2015)

You are using the flat cable to connect the handheld to the plug in panel, and it’s in the proper socket, right? If the loco ran OK with the DC board on the 9v battery, and the system was able to read back the decoder with the DCC board installed, your installation should be all right. During the programming and decoder readback process, did the loco creep along ever so slightly in tiny surges (it’s normal)? If you are able to read back the decoder using the NCE, I would suggest doing a decoder reset to factory default settings, which if successful, should reset the address to engine address #3. Try to run it on the default #3 address before making any changes. Also, if the reset was successful, the decoder should be “DC enabled”, so you might try disconnecting the NCE system from the layout or test track, and try to run the loco on straight DC, either by hooking up a DC power pack, or trying your 9v battery (sketchy). If it runs on address “3”, try programming a different address such as “11” or “111” (not “1111” this time) and see if it will accept it. If all of this fails, call DIGITRAX and get an r/a to exchange the decoder.

Good Luck,
Bill in FtL


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## CraigS (Feb 2, 2021)

Railtwister said:


> You are using the flat cable to connect the handheld to the plug in panel, and it’s in the proper socket, right? If the loco ran OK with the DC board on the 9v battery, and the system was able to read back the decoder with the DCC board installed, your installation should be all right. During the programming and decoder readback process, did the loco creep along ever so slightly in tiny surges (it’s normal)? If you are able to read back the decoder using the NCE, I would suggest doing a decoder reset to factory default settings, which if successful, should reset the address to engine address #3. Try to run it on the default #3 address before making any changes. Also, if the reset was successful, the decoder should be “DC enabled”, so you might try disconnecting the NCE system from the layout or test track, and try to run the loco on straight DC, either by hooking up a DC power pack, or trying your 9v battery (sketchy). If it runs on address “3”, try programming a different address such as “11” or “111” (not “1111” this time) and see if it will accept it. If all of this fails, call DIGITRAX and get an r/a to exchange the decoder.
> 
> Good Luck,
> Bill in FtL


I am using the curly cable connected to the PCP panel. I have made sure other loco's ran ok and this one ran ok with the 9v battery with the DC board installed. Have not tried resetting the board, but did notice when I had Decoder Pro read the decoder when it was first installed, it returned with a different manufacture. There is not indication from Decoder Pro that there is an issue. When I read back it does provide the programmed information. So it looks like Decoder Pro is not having and issue talking to the decoder. The Power Cab does not indicate a short, but the loco will not respond to any commands from the Power Cab nor the throttle in Decoder Pro.


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## Railtwister (Nov 5, 2015)

Are you using an NCE PowerPro or a PwerCab? Your post indicated a PowerCab, but some of the answers related to the NCE PowerPro. 

In my PowerCab’s instruction manual, the correct cable for the PowerCab handheld to be in control mode is with the FLAT (6 wires) wire. If the PowerCab handheld is plugged into the curly coiled cord, then it is a 4 wire cable used to make the PowerCab just a dumb controller to be used in a Power Pro System, or in a case where there is another PowerCab handheld being used as a master. If your system has only one PowerCab handheld connected, then according to my manual, it should be hooked up using the flat wire (which has six wires). The four wire curly cord doesn’t connect the “system brains circuitry” in your handheld to the layout. Check with NCE to be sure before you send anything off anywhere to be repaired.
Are you using DecoderPro on a separate program track with your computer and a DCC interface (I use a SPROG II)?


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## CraigS (Feb 2, 2021)

I am using the power cab on a short piece of track with my computer and nce usb interface. This is the normal configuration for when I am testing locomotives and it works for all of my other ones.


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## Railtwister (Nov 5, 2015)

I don’t use the NCE usb interface with my PowerCab so I’m unfamiliar with it. I do know that using just the PowerCab alone (handheld, PowerCab plug-in panel, and power supply) requires the throttle to be connected with the flat cable rather than the coiled one. In that situation, using the coiled cord will result in no response from the loco. I would be tempted to disconnect the USB interface and the computer, and test with the minimum amount of hardware (just the PowerCab alone) just in the interest of simplicity. I would also do a decoder reset to defaults just to be sure it hasn’t accidentally gotten into “standby mode”. Good luck, and be sure to let everyone know what the problem actually was once you get it sorted out.


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## CraigS (Feb 2, 2021)

I was tired yesterday when I wrote back. The NCE Power Cab is connected to the PCP with the flat cable and plugged into the left side. The curly cable is connected to the USB device and plugged into the right side of the PCP. The configuration is correct per NCE. Sorry for the confusion. Issue it not with the setup.


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## CraigS (Feb 2, 2021)

So I just spent some time working on the loco. I think the decoder is bad as CV8 = 123 instead of 129 which is for a Digitrax decoder. I am going to send it in for repair/replacement.


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## Railtwister (Nov 5, 2015)

I hope that’s it. I’ve only ever had one bad decoder fresh from the box (out of over 50). Oddly enough, it was an early NCE, and it had to be returned twice before they got it fixed. It turns out they had a glitch in the factory settings and had to run it through the factory programmer again. Once they had wiped it clean and reprogrammed it, it was fine. Good luck!


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