I have a MTH SD-70ACE with protosound 3.0. And a BLI AC6000w with paragon sound. I use the NCE DCC system. Something happened to the decoders. The sd70 runs but no lights or sound. The BLI engine has lights but no sound or motion. I am unable to re-program either engine (my NCE system is up to date). My SD40s with Soundtraxx decoders run just fine. Therefore I am thinking about replacing the decoders on the SD70 and AC6000 with Soundtraxx decoders. My question is: is it possible to replace the factory decoders with Soundtraxx decoders? Is changing out the decoders more trouble than it worth? Has anyone performed this procedure, and have they run into any pitfalls. Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks
Hi Cary, Could you have accidentally activated the "mute" or "standby" mode on your locos? The 'mute" would account for motion but no sound, while the standby mode could account for loss of both motion and sound (there may be several levels of "standby"). Check your instruction manuals for the details on this, because not all decoders are the same. It is also possible that their programming has become corrupt and needs to be reset to factory defaults. I don 't have any MTH locos, so I can't say for MTH, but my one loco with a Paragon board got corrupted when I tried to run it on DC (which they say is possible, but apparently it is sensitive to any AC pulse used by some DC power packs). I ended up having to call BLI's support line to find out how to do a "hard reset" (using a switch hidden inside the loco), because the "soft reset" using just the DCC system wouldn't work. The service techs at BLI are only there part time, so you need to call at the right time of day, but I found them to be very helpful, and that phone call saved me the trouble and cost of returning that loco for service. I sure wouldn't jump into replacing the sound boards which will be a lot of extra work, not to mention expense. I think I read somewhere that just removing the body shell on the MTH SD70's requires the removal of both of the trucks first, which is a pain. Bill in FtL
Bill, Thank you for the information. I will give BLI a call. As for the MTH engine, this isn't the first time it has given me problems. I will most likely get rid of it. Cary
