Slow start up BLI M1a

Gary S.

Senior Member
Loren's thought sounds logical. What is the history of the loco and decoder? Second hand? Fresh from the factory? Did you do any programming of the decoder? Do you have a list of the CVs and what they do?
 

Gary S.

Senior Member
I would have suggested a reset to factory defaults, but you already did that. Is there any way to swap out the decoder with one from another loco to see what happens. With the info you gave, maybe the decoder is defective.
 

Gary S.

Senior Member
You are talking about programming the CV for starting voltage? I can't speak for the actual decoder that you have, but on the digitrax decoders I use, the start voltage CV can be set between 0 and 255 where 0 equals 0 volts and 255 equals maximum volts. To figure the actual voltage, you would use some ratio mathematics. On the other hand, knowing the actual voltage isn't all that important because the CVs that control the maximum speed, the midrange speed, and the start voltage are all programmed from 0 to 255. It is a trial and error process to change these variables to make the loco run like you want it to.

For example, on my Athearn CF-7 with a digitrax decoder, typical values would be 35 for start voltage, 110 for maximum speed, and 70 for midrange.
 
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