Bad Day For Calico Freight Lines...

OK, Jim...The GP-60 is doing the job!

BAD ORDER

If it's a QSI decoder in the GP-35, you could try selecting the engine and then turning F6 on twice i.e. on-off, on-off within 2 seconds. That initiates the engine start up sequence. If you get sound and lights but no movement, then hit the F6 twice sequence again to get the engine to move.

I have found that my QSI engines will go into full shut-down by themselves sometimes, even when I didn't hit the "full shut-down" commands which are F9 twice, wait for idle to go quieter, then F9 twice again. After about 10 seconds the engine shuts down and then you hear he cab door open and close.  

HTH

Pete

HEY PETE,

Yes there are QSI decoders in my GP-35, my GP-60, and my SW-9.  I always double-strike #6 to initialize my locos, but this time, it doesn't even work on 

my GP-60!  It looks like a controller fault!

The Wireless Digital Controller gives me an "overload" message, but I sure can't tell what's overloaded...my DC Analog Controller's ammeter shows a very low current drain (1.25 amps), even when pulling the "Calico Freight Lines" up my 2% grade!

Using my Analog Controller, the GP-60 has automatic startup and shutdown sounds from neutral, and I can sound the horn and bell by manipulating the direction control independently any time.  No keypad full of buttons!

I get everything I need except the walkaround throttle.

Here's my solid, simple, and reliable 40-year-old MRC Analog Controller:

Bad Order

Hi Hal, I'm glad you've got the F6 thing figured out. Took me a while... I actually had to read the manual - gasp! 

Always good to have the "old faithful" solution in your back pocket!  

That is odd about the "overload" message. I'm a Digitrax user so sadly I have no idea about that message as we don't have anything that fancy! 

Clutching at straws a bit here, but is it possible that the in-rush current to the sound decoder capacitors creates a condition that looks like a short to your DCC system at power-on? I know it doesn't make a lot of sense that the problem suddenly started out of nowhere. But this happened to me when I added a QSI loco to my layout which was mostly NCE/Soundtraxx decoders prior to that. 

Just in case, if you took all your engines off the layout and then power up the DCC, then put one engine only onto the layout, do you still see the overload message pop up?         

Pete 

HEY PETE,

I'll never know, because I refuse to do another nuisance disconnect/reconnect/disconnect/reconnect, even if it tells me what's wrong! I aleady did that twice today!

I'm putting my Wireless Controller's 3 units and their cables back in the box and may never re-open it again.  My DC Analog Controller does everything I want, and if I keep my track clean, I may never have to walk around again with a wireless control unit in my hand!

My DC Analog Controller is one unit, with one cord!

SIMPLICITY RULES!

(I'll open up my GP-35 and poke around...I may find the problem here in my electronics lab.)

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At the club, we were going to put a clockwork O gauge train in a glass case labeled "In case of massive electronic failure, Break Glass". Of course, with our luck, if we ever used the thing, the spring would wind down right when the thing was in a long tunnel.

"SIMPLICITY RULES!"

Understood. 

Pete

HEY MATT,

I got my first toy (not electric) train for Christmas in 1940. It ran around the Christmas tree on a 5-foot circle, and the locomotive was a WIND-UP engine, made

by Marx!

Bad Order Old, Old Hal

 No matter what you do or what you have, .... stuff will happen.

Whenever it matters most, my trains go south on me. It's not just a hobby, it's an adventure!

Well Joe...I guess that's like pouring perfumed Hydrofluoric Acid into an open wound.

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Well, Hal, at least you chose the right username!  

HAR HAR!  You got that right, Tom!

But what the heck...at least I have my health and some money!

But when the whole loco is a bad order, then we're headin' for the nearest Rip Track! (Milepost 58, just north of Thornberry Flats)

Bad Order Hal   (Depression born, no wonder!)