# LOCO NOT RUNNING



## spikedrivingblues (Dec 11, 2018)

I haven't checked in with the forum for a while (I missed it) or worked on the layout in months. Just too much going on recently. I have run the trains from time to time though.

I have a BLI Paragon 2 SD40-2, lights and sound work but it doesn't move when throttle is applied. According to my NCE Power Cab display it starts to draw too much then the DCC system shorts.

I set cv 8 to 8 and did a hardware reset but nothing. I've already sent an email to BLI but I was wondering if anyone has run into this before and had any thoughts.

Thanks!


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## D&J Railroad (Oct 4, 2013)

Have you taken the shell off to check for obstructions in the drive train?


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## spikedrivingblues (Dec 11, 2018)

D&J Railroad said:


> Have you taken the shell off to check for obstructions in the drive train?


Yes, I took the shell off to do the reset but nothing was obviously obstructing anything, at least not to this beginner's eyes.


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## bewhole (Dec 31, 2016)

Well if the lights and sound work then it is getting power. Try taking the shell off and putting your head really close the it and apply power if you hear a "Hum" then the grease(Lubricant) has setup. just clean that off and reapply. If you do not hear a hum give it a light "Tap" with your finger on the top of it sometimes that works.
hope you can get it running soon.


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## spikedrivingblues (Dec 11, 2018)

bewhole said:


> Well if the lights and sound work then it is getting power. Try taking the shell off and putting your head really close the it and apply power if you hear a "Hum" then the grease(Lubricant) has setup. just clean that off and reapply. If you do not hear a hum give it a light "Tap" with your finger on the top of it sometimes that works.
> hope you can get it running soon.


Thanks. I'll check for that. Unfortunately my schedule beckons again so I'll have to get back to you tomorrow. Thanks again for the help


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## spikedrivingblues (Dec 11, 2018)

I just read the "Let Users Know" thread and see this is an example of me forgetting to follow up. I'll fix that right now.

Things got worse. The engine being on the track causes the dcc system to short! Also my Power Cab displays that it is drawing much more than when just the other two engines are on the layout. It will be shipped back to BLI next week for repair.


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

spikedrivingblues said:


> I just read the "Let Users Know" thread and see this is an example of me forgetting to follow up. I'll fix that right now.
> 
> Things got worse. The engine being on the track causes the dcc system to short! Also my Power Cab displays that it is drawing much more than when just the other two engines are on the layout. It will be shipped back to BLI next week for repair.


Does sound like a mechanical bind. Maybe the tie rod are damaged?

One other thing to check: have you ever cleaned your track or anythi g close to the layout with steel wool? If so, the little metal fibers can get up into the innards of your loco and wreak havoc.


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## spikedrivingblues (Dec 11, 2018)

CTValleyRR said:


> Does sound like a mechanical bind. Maybe the tie rod are damaged?
> 
> One other thing to check: have you ever cleaned your track or anythi g close to the layout with steel wool? If so, the little metal fibers can get up into the innards of your loco and wreak havoc.


Thanks. I don't use anything but alcohol to clean the tracks and I can't think of using anything like steel wool near the layout. 

I was more convinced it was mechanical before the dcc system shorted out just by putting it on the track. That leads me to think it's electrical but I really don't know too much about this stuff


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## MichaelE (Mar 7, 2018)

Did it do this out of the box or is this something that just developed?

I would check to see that the decoder card is seated correctly and that nothing under the shell is touching the top of the decoder.


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## spikedrivingblues (Dec 11, 2018)

MichaelE said:


> Did it do this out of the box or is this something that just developed?
> 
> I would check to see that the decoder card is seated correctly and that nothing under the shell is touching the top of the decoder.


No, it ran fine for a while after I bought it.

I will check to see if something is touching the top of the decoder (I assume you mean something metal that is causing the short?) but what is a decoder card and how do I know if it's seated correctly?

The loco ran fine for quite a while but then I noticed it running a little "jerky". This was easy to see because it was consisted with another engine which ran fine. I speed matched the two engines pretty well and they ran great together for a while.

Then the loco would not respond to throttle (the sound would but it wouldn't move). Later when I turned on the layout it would jerk forward a couple of inches, stop (this is when I noticed the display showing it was drawing way more than it did) then the dcc system would short.

The engine in question is a Paragon 2 and it was consisted with a Paragon 3 but I can't think that is a problem.

Thanks for the advise, please advise about the decoder card.


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## MichaelE (Mar 7, 2018)

The decoder card is what makes the locomotive operate with DCC. When you remove the shell you should see a small circuit board mounted on top of the locomotive chassis.

Make sure nothing is hanging from the underside of the shell to make contact with the card, and that the card is pushed firmly onto the connector.

If it uses a harness and plug, make sure the plug is seated on the connector.

I don't think this has anything to do with the shorted condition, but make sure you have cancelled the consist with this locomotive if running as a single unit.


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## spikedrivingblues (Dec 11, 2018)

MichaelE said:


> The decoder card is what makes the locomotive operate with DCC.


Thanks. I will check all that before sending it back. Maybe I'll get lucky!

So when you say "decoder card", is that what I just call the decoder?

Thanks for the help!


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## spikedrivingblues (Dec 11, 2018)

Just took the shell off again and had a look. I didn't see or feel anything that appeared to be touching the decoder or that seemed loose. Of course, I don't really know what i should be looking for either 

Beats me! I will probably have to send it back for repair. BLI told me it could be 11 weeks (wonder if this means they have a lot of engines coming back). I will let everyone know when it comes back and what they did to it.

Thanks again


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