Hey guys, I received a new in box loco from an online store and it is not working. They've offered to see if they have a replacement loco in stock and send, but I wouldn't mind doing a little troubleshooting to see if it is something simple. It is an Atlas Gold Line with Sound. GP40-2. I have a small piece of track set up. I can get a couple other locos to work on it. There is a procedure to hold a magnet over a certain spot on the loco to reset it to factory defaults. Nothing happens when I try it. I'm not getting anything out of this loco. No lights, no sound, not even a twitch. It says I'm supposed to press F6 twice rapidly to get it to turn on. This does nothing. How would I go about troubleshooting the loco? Am I missing something? Help greatly appreciated.
I see your using Digitrax so I am guessing there was a decoder installed. Try to run the loco on 03, if that does not help program 008=008 on the Po mode and hit enter. This will tell you if the decoder is good. If not replace it. Then you need to reprogram the new decoder. Shannon
Right. This loco comes with a decoder factory installed. As you can see from the photo, it is using address "03". I will try Programming mode and "008". I will report my findings.
Read the manual again. Hitting F10 is supposed to tell the loco to "verbally" give its status. This does nothing. I set it up on a programming track. When I try to read the address of the loco I just get "d nA". The manual says this means it cannot read from the decoder. I went ahead and tried to set the address to 03. I got no errors, but I have no idea if it worked. The loco doesn't seem to respond to anything. I moved it back to a "normal" track. Still no joy.
Hi, My thoughts here are; The track power is not getting to the frame. The decoder is not making contact with the frame. The decoder is dead. Gary
Loose contacts/wires, defects/burns on the circuit board/decoder. If you have a meter test all the contact points to see if power is getting from wheels to decoder. Using a magnet to reset a decoder sounds odd to me. The motor is made of magnets so if this is true, I'd think the motor would keep the decoder in a state of "reset" at all times. So far it sounds like a bad decoder.. :-(
The "reset procedure". Evidently there is a tiny reed switch in the top of the locomotive, near the cab. Placting a magnet above this switch causes it to reset the loco. I guess its small enough and far enough away from the motor. I do have a meter, I'll take the shell off and test continuity from the wheels to the decoder. I'll look the decoder over for any scorching. Fortunately the vendor did say he could send me another loco or refund my money. Plus offered to pay for the extra cost to send the loco back. Thats all fair, but I'd like to get this one working. Thanks for help everyone. I learn every day here.
I didn't have much luck removing the shell. I removed the couplers, and I found four points on the side of the shell that -might- hold on the shell, but when I pulled them away from the frame, the shell still would not come free. I consulted the part break-out sheet and couldn't determine which screws might be for removing the shell. I tried a couple google searches and couldn't find anything. I guess I'll just send it back.
I have a few of these decoder equipped Atlas loco's. After a few runs the board seems to lose contact with the frame. I ended up having to drop some solder on the pads to make them run correctly. If you are not comfortable removing the shell you may want to ship it back for an exchange. Mark
There are several absolute tests to determine if there is sufficient reason to send it back or get a new one; a. setting it on verified track that is getting DCC signal, set your paddle or system address to "03" and engage that address...make it active on the throttle. QSi decoders in silent mode will give a slight steam let-off sound to acknowledge the DCC command system. No steam iron puff? Suggests that the decoder or its speaker is defective. b. will the engine at least move on address "03" even if it refuses to make any sounds? It may be that the current address is actually something other than "03" and the engine is being loyal to its last programmed address. In that case, with just the engine on a powered section of track, and the system in "Ops Mode", enter and make active an address "00". That address will be responded to by all decoders getting current. Then, with "0" active on your paddle/system, go through the three step factory reset for your QSI decoder in order listed. If you get the system to reset, you know that you had a decoder programmed to some other address and it would not activate until you activated that particular address. Now you know where yer at, to quote a Newfoundlander. If this procedure fails to establish the decoder's status, then you should assume you have a defective unit. I hope this helps.
I'll ship this one back. I don't want to snap something off and complicate things with the seller that is willing to replace. But for future, can you describe how to get the shell off? I felt like I was prying pretty hard on the shell... on what looked like the four little tabs. I left a small mark or two and thats when I decided to stop... not knowing if there was a screw somewhere holding it down. Thanks, Hammers
Hi Hammers, There is not a screw that I know of (don't have a loco in that line) but the shell does fit very tight against the tabs on the frame on the Atlas locos that I have. I do believe that you made the right choice sending back since the seller is willing to trade. Elsewhere on TrainBoard there is a thread talking about getting the shell off of a LifeLike GP?? it is very similar to the Atlas shell removal. Gary
The only Atlas loco I own is an SD24. For it the shell detaches by tapping the underside of the pilot on the edge of a table. Holding your other hand underneath the loco may be advisable if you try this. Ben
