I own a Bachmann K-4 and EM-1 which are each equipped with factory installed DCC decoders. When I purchased them they operated flawlessly. I have not run them for several months and are now experiencing some problems as described below: K-4 When operating in DCC mode, the sound and lights work, however the locomotive will not run in either direction. The locomotive does run in both directions when operating in analog mode. EM-1 When operating in DCC mode, the locomotive will not run in either direction. The locomotive does run in both directions when operating in analog mode. I am a DCC novice. Does any expert out there have a recommendation for solving these problems?
Is the address properly set for the locomotives? Default is #3. It's probably something simple like that.
Yes, the address is correct for each locomotive. In the case of the K-4, the sound and lights work so I know that the address is correct.
Okay, I'm a novice at DCC also. My only idea would be to reset the locomotives to their factory default settings. It should tell you in the decoder instructions which CV allows you to do that. Failing that I am clueless but interested as I got both a K4 and an EM1 that I have run very infrequently. I know the Bachmann decoder has been panned by others but they have performed for me in the past when needed. Now I am beginning to wonder.
Thanks for the help. I also contacted Bachmann and they instructed me to do a factory reset as follows: For the sound equipped locomotive I changed CV8 to a value of 8. For the non-sound equipped locomotive I changed CV30 to a value of 2. All locomotives now run fine. Does anyone know if it is typical to experience this problem if the locomotive is not run for an extended period of time? Also, does anyone know where I can get a list of CV's and CV Values for each of these locomotives? Thanks.
http://www.soundtraxx.com/factory/OEM_pages/bachmann/bachmann_n_462k4_sv.pdf EM1 http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/dwg/dwgs/NEM-1LenzDecoderCVTable.pdf I'm not sure what confuses decoders. Every now and then I need to reset one. But, I have been using JMRI, so I reset the decoder and then use JMRI to put things back to normal Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
All kinds of strange things can happen to these decoders. After all they are tiny programmable computers. The strangest I've encountered is that I was running a loco at the club layout at a show. No problems at all. Finished the run and took a break. Loco was removed from layout. Next time I put the loco on the layout and nothing. No lights, no movement, nothing. At first I thought it was my handheld throttle. For some strange reason and no logic at all I put it on the programming track and tried to read the address. WHAT????!!!! The address changed on it's own to a random different number! When I selected the new random address I had full control of the loco. No one was programming addresses in OPS mode and blasted away at every loco on the layout. It was running fine at the correct address when I picked it off the layout. Strange!
