Help! I just got my Athearn Challenger and when trying to program it on my programing track of my Digitraxx Superchief, when I enter the loco address it gives me a "NoPg" error. The loco does not then respond when I put it on the track. It does not respond to address 03 either. Do I havea dead loco? I called Atherean and they informed that the ONLY person at Athearn who could help me was on vacation and I was out of luck till he got back. Talk about a complete lack of customer service! very frustrated, Kevin
I can understand your anticipation, but I guess the guy was completely fashed by the problems they had with quality before any of them shipped at all. He probably spent quite a few weeks up in the middle of the night talking with reps in China to get the repairs done. Did you try and get an exchange from your hobby shop? Explain that Athearn is backed up at the factory and see what they can do for you. Your shop can buffer the locos, and get the unit repaired when available. Curious, did you check another engine on the track? Perhaps the board inside shook loose?
Kevin, can you test the loco using DC power? Would be interesting to know if it runs there. You might determine if the problem affects only the decoder. Strange but the Challenger apparently can only be programmed by Digitrax on the main using Ops mode, or using Dir mode on the programming track. Unlike LokSound decoders that can be programmed in Page mode on the programming track. Ben
Don't Panic here is what you do put it on the programing track and make sure you are in DIR mode program CV125 to a 1 this will restore it back to factory defaults. Now the bad news I have two of these in HO as well as a BigBoy they use the same decoders that are in the N Scale models they are the MRC decoders. These decoders have there little quirks and from time to time they totally forget who they are just like yours has. This does not happen very often but does happen. Programing these locos in paged mode does not work very well at all DIR mode works best. Also if reseting CV125 does not work you may have to reset the decoder using a DC power pack and the remote control that came with the loco I have had to do this once as well, the instructions on how to do this should be in the book that came with the loco. By no means are these decoders bad you just have to know how to talk to them. Hope this helps.
Yep, I knew there was a reason to wait and see. I'm wondering if the unit will run on straight DC and maybe you need to add the decoder, as in DCC ready. I did look at the big wheeler, at our LHS, Busy Bee, San Berdu, CA., but I didn't get stung. To many unanswered questions. I knew if I waited long enough, I would soon hear reports of it's performance here on TB. Most reports have been positive... so that's a plus for you. I wonder what's up with Athearn these days? Used to be you could call and someone would be able to answer your question. Typical of many companies...sadly. I do hope this can be worked out for you. That's a fistful of dollars/boo-koo money across the table just to have it sit... and look pretty. It's no good to you that way. Let us know how you solved the problem.
I beg to differ with a few posters here about the Challenger. Do you have one to know about the problems??? I do and the unit runs great and looks great - DCC or DC. Sound is a new beast for most N scalers including yours truly so it may take a little while to learn the quirks which have nothing to do with Athearn. I definitely feel that the bar has been raised for steam locomotives in N scale. I was very impressed. The only issue that I can see and have addressed directly with Athearn is the oversized flanges that are on the tender, pilot and cab trailing wheel sets. They do not like Atlas code 55. Not going to get into the NMRA standards thing but somebody made a boo boo here and Athearn has had more than several phone calls this morning on this subject. I am going to give them an opportunity to figure this out before commenting any further but please enlighten me about the other "problems" that I should be made aware of. I don't know of any..... Kevin, With regard to your programming problem - thier is an issue with not getting feedback on sound decoder equipped units as they draw a lot of power off of the programming track. You might want to check out Litchfied Station (I don't have the URL handy). I am also looking into the programming details as well. Brian
Couldn't wait until Sunday to get mine, so I went to Caboose Hobbies this morning! My disappointment currently is, my Challenger will NOT run in DC mode.. I get sounds, and whistle/bell function from remote, but no movement. I can't find my DCC stuff right now, so I'm unable to check that part of operations. What DC power supply are folks using? I'm thinking that might be my problem. I've tried an MRC 280 dual cab power supply. Have not tried anything else, yet. Have an MRC Tech 2, but it's in with DCC stuff. And the instructions do NOT indicate what kind of DC power supply is recommended. Darn it..... Oh well.....I'll try again at a later time. Gotta get to bed now. Information appreciated.
I just attended a clinic by Bruce from Litchfield Station and I believe he would recommend the following booster from Soundtraxx for you situation. http://www.litchfieldstation.com/xcart/product.php?productid=678829002&cat=165&page=1 He suggests that one over the PowerPax. http://www.litchfieldstation.com/xcart/product.php?productid=110012&cat=165&page=1 You can E-Mail him for the reasons, he is usually very helpful. Jason
Ben, What other problems do you have? Although I didn't see that you were suggesting that you did so why would you and I differ?... The MRC decoder is a whole seperate issue as far as I am concerned. I didn't know that repairs were being made prior to delivery and based upon my first hand experience so far I don't see any huge problems that can't be overcome. (I just talked with Bruce at Litchfield Station and tried it myself) Kevin after trying to reset the decoder , you can put it on the main and take your 400 throttle and put it in PO programming mode (have the throttle set for the 03 address). You can then dial up the AD2 or AD4 for 4 digit addresses and program it to what you want. Other than a few others, I haven't tinkered much past that. I have heard that "sometimes" the MRC decoders can cause fits as they get stuck and don't like to cooperate.
Many DCC decoders will have difficulty running on pulsed DC power. The wave form confuses the decoder and it cannot determine if it is getting a poor DCC signal or DC. I have run decoders with an old pulsed DC supply, but they ran very poorly with jerks and stops and jack-rabbit jumps. Does the MRC 280 supply pulsed DC? If you have a clean DC source, try that and see if it runs.
High end of the throttle. I got a little worried too when I got mine on the track and began to turn the knob on my MRC 280. The Challenger began to make sounds, the light went on... but no movement. Finally... at about 80% of the throttle... it started to move. That didn't leave much range for speed control using only the throttle. I put it at 90% of full throttle and left it there. The handheld device was the actual controller to both increase or decrease the speed & change directions. The direction switch on the MRC 280 will not change the direction of travel... only the handheld device.
Whoa, sounds like I'm going to wait a while on these. The guys in our local Ntrak club are having problems with the addressing.
I have no problems. None with the Challenger anyhow. I wasn't being a smart aleck. Just unsure who was included in your question. Ben
Thanks all, I'll try to reset the decoder and then try ops mode. If that does not work I'll pull by old Command Station out of the loco net and try programming with that. Kevin
I received the first of my Challengers this afternoon. It is one fine loco and definitely raises the bar of N scale steam to new heights that previously haven't been acheived in N scale. The detailing and paint are crisp. I was able to program the loco for DCC with no major problems. The sound is good, but doesn't compare to Lok-Sound or Tsunami decoders. I tried to program CV 3 and CV 4 to maximum numbers in acceleration and deceleration but nothing happened. I'll work with it later. All the other CV's seem to function properly. I'll go into more detail when I take some photo's of it on the JJJ&E. The Challenger easily pulls 28 MT cars up the long 2% grades on the JJJ&E with no difficulty. The weight of the loco and tender is what's needed for increased performance and Athearn hasn't let us down. I set this loco for 128 speed steps and it performs beautifully at all speeds. Slow speeds are totally amazing. I didn't test this loco on analog and was able to program the four digit address on the programming track of my Lenz 100 system on the first try. I still want to play with the front pilot and coupler. I left it in the original state for now. I can control 12 functions on my Lenz 100 system. The increased number of functions beyond 12 bothers me as most folks can't operate the functions beyond 12. Stay cool and run steam....
I'll ty to run thruough these quickly, program in OPS on the main for best results, change 1 CV then exit, repeat. for addresses, can be programmed in page mode, but do a manual CV29 set for proper 2/4 digit address, that part is what doesn't get sent in the address package. the 1000 ohm resistor trick helps, but manual setting is best. MRC sound decoders do NOT have readback by design. the MRC 280 is a very small power pack, in fact two of the smallest MRC makes, just in one case, and just barely enough power output to operate the sound decoders. same isssue wth QSI HO sound locos, not enough juice to make them go. Opt for a bigger power pack, 2 MRC 1370 s would be better than one 280. hope having it all in one place helps.
A great and hearty THANKS!!!! to all here. I had been worried because the engine failed to respond on address 03 as well as 3985. What worked was to put the Engine back on the programming track, change to direct mode programming and set CV 125 to 1. I got a "Fail" message but it worked as when I put the engine back on the main track it responded to address 03. I then changed to Ops mode programming and changed the address to 3985 and it took. Whew!! Thanks again, Kevin
Just a note about some sound equipped N engines operating in the DC mode: if your power pack is only putting out 16 to 18 volts, it might not be enough horsepower. These might require 20 volts (or even slightly more) to get all the bells and whistles (lol!) to operate and get the engine up to speed... Sounds kind of crazy when you consider that the manuals for my HO Broadway Limited engines state that if track voltage exceeds 21.5 volts peak, the motor drive circuit will automatically shut down to protect the motor and sound system.
Bob, I had the same problem but after repeating several times doubling the value for CV4 took effect. I still need to work on CV3. There is a speed surge that needs to be leveled out. Ben
