Prairie 2-6-2 using Railpower 1370

[PapaHobbs]

I recently purchased both a  Railpower 1370 and the Santa Fe version of the Prairie 2-6-2 for my Christmas setup under the Christmas tree.  It runs fine, but the light and the smoke will not work.  I put it on my E-Z powered track and it lights and smokes like it is supposed to.  However it only runs on the analog setting there.  I could not get the E-Z controller to program.

Why will the light and the smoke not work with the Railpower power supply.  Am I doing something wrong?

[jonathan]

Papa,

It sounds like your Prairie has a decoder (DCC) installed.  Did you purchase it new, or used?  It is possible, while under DCC control, someone (previous owner?) turned off the light and smoke unit.  You cannot turn it back on while under DC control.  You may need to find a 'friend' with a DCC layout who can activate the light and sound.  Unless your loco is still on program #3, your EZ controller may not be able to accomplish for you.

Just a guess with the information given. Good luck.

Regards,

Jonathan

[rich1998]

Your EZ Command can only program the loco number according to the manual. It cannot modify CV's.
Maybe twelve years ago I had a MRC2K that was like that and I got rid of it and bought am NCE Power Cab.

Rich

[railtwister]

Several of MRC's DC power packs use a pulse wave form that is NOT friendly to DCC decoders running with analog function enabled. I know for sure that the 2800 dual controller pack is not friendly to decoders, and I believe the 1300 was not friendly either. Since the 1370 is a later version of the 1300, it may not be as well. In any event, the 1370 is an analog pack, not DCC. In order to do a factory software reset you will need to use a DCC system, or possibly a computer with a programming interface like the SPROG that uses JMRI's DecoderPro. Broadway Limited had a special unit made just for programming addresses but I don't know if it can do factory resets, or if they will work with other than BLI decoders, check with them to be sure. You might also check with Jason Sharon at Rapido Trains, I seem to recall that they had some issues with MRC power packs and Rapido's DCC decoders.

It's possible your problem is just a programming issue, but it could be a broken wire or a blown audio output in your decoder. Try to eliminate as many possibilities as you can before going to the trouble and expense of returning it to Bachmann.

Good Luck,
Bill in FtL

[jward]

Looking in the 2019 catalog i am only finding the analog version of the 2-6-2 prairie. This explains why you can only run it on the analog address on the EZ command. DOes it "sing" when it sits on DCC powered track? If so, it is an analog locomotive.

As an analog locomotive, headlight and smoke SHOULD work on DC powered track. I find it interesting that it will work well on DCC which is a form of pulse power, but not on an MRC pack, which is also pulse power. Do you have a straight DC power pack, say from a train set, that you can try it on? Or your could try the old battery trick, by touching a 9 volt battery to the wheels to see if everything works?

[rich1998]

I have used the 9 volt battery as a pure DC power pack.

Rich

[HoModeler]

Is it a factory Decoder or another manufacture brand