This week I received my wonderful Lionel Cotton Belt F7 AA set! It looks great and runs great in conventional and TMCC control. However, when I try Bluetooth the lead unit powers up as it should, but the trailing unit does not power up. Katie at Lionel tech support patiently talked me through a few things to check, but it still doesn't operate. Has anyone else had this experience? Any ideas other than to send it back to Lionel, which I prefer not to do.
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It's always useful to provide the actual Lionel product number. Looks like the Lionel 2033300. If so, the trailing unit should be able to run on it's own. Since TMCC is working, it sounds like the BT receiver may have become disconnected.
You are correct about the number, and a disconnected Bluetooth receiver may be the answer. How do I reconnect it? I moved the switch on top of the trailing unit back and forth several times, trying it in both the on and off positions, in case it was wired incorrectly.
Lionel says the trailing unit will not operate alone--it must be run with the lead unit. The lead unit's number is 2033301 and the trailing unit is 2033302.
Odd. Do they have a tether between them? I have zero documentation on that product, so I really don't know anything about it. If there's no tether, I can't imagine why they won't run independently, but maybe in BT mode there's a different operation?
Thanks for your replies! No tether. And though I make a habit of not working on my locomotives, I have some knowledgeable and competent friends who work with me at the Foley, AL, Railroad Museum. I'll recruit one of them to take the shell off and look, and I bet he can make the repair. I just don't want to send it off for repairs when it's so nice in every other way.
By the way, our Foley layout was featured in the September issue of CTT and has been in OGR also. The City is making modifications to allow us to safely reopen in the near future. I was in your area for the LOTS convention at Valley Forge several years ago. Beautiful country--and lots of trains!
I had a Legacy /BT engine that didn’t respond to BT. Had to go back to Lionel.
Hard to say what exactly is going on, I'm sure that's probably one that will have to be cracked open to see if it's something simple.
I have the Norfolk southern f unit set, the thing I noticed is that all four units have a Bluetooth switch, but the app only picks up the lead unit. Though all four do move together thru the 1 Bluetooth address.
CB Fan ... It's been about a month since your last post on your Legacy F7 AA set issue. Would appreciate if you'd post what you've found out about your issue(s). Reason is that I'm planning on buying an F7 AA set from the Lionel 2019v2 catalog and would like to know what features do or do not function on the trailing engine. Ref an earlier post of mine from March 2020 ... https://ogrforum.com/...perate-independently
Looking forward to your or other other folks' experience with the just-shipping 2019v2 Legacy F7 AA sets.
Regards,
Tom
In reply to S-Runner, who sent me an email,
CB - just curious, did you ever have a friend take the shell off the trailing unit to see if it was something simple ?
CB Fan ... Thanks for the follow up post (and emails we exchanged).
Hope you get it straightened out.
In the catalog Lionel shows white lettering on the Cotton Belt B units. Your A-A's are not incorrect white lettering right?