Pennsylvania Railroad K4

[Richard1]

I have a Bachmann Spectrum Pennsylvania Railroad K-4 that's completely dead. I have the NCE DCC Power Cab System. Every time I try to set it up all it does is say "Cannot Read CV's."

[jayl1]

Does the engine have a decoder in it?  Older ones did not.  If it didn't have one, you may have "cooked" the engine by putting it on a DCC track.

[Richard1]

Please read the messages. I said I was using the NCE DCC system. Of course it has a factory-installed decoder in it.

[jayl1]

Well - EXCUSE ME for trying to help.  As per your personal email to me, not everyone is as smart as you think you are.  I have had too many people come into my shop with burned out DC engines because they tried to run them on DCC.  Just because you said you have a DCC cab system does NOT tell anyone all   your engines are decoder equipped. 

Again, I am sorry I am not as smart as you are.

[hotrainlover]

SOMEONE, needed to let some steam out......

Can't we all just get allloooonnngg....

[Richard1]

I also have one of these. Sometimes if after you've followed the instructions in your NCE manual, you shut the system off and restart it, it will run.

[Pacific Northern]

I also have one of these. Sometimes if after you've followed the instructions in your NCE manual, you shut the system off and restart it, it will run.

I see you resurrected your old thread. What was the cause of the K4 not responding to the NCE system?

[pdlethbridge]

It probably was missing a decoder. I have the NCE power cab too and IT WILL burn out the motor of a DC or analog engine. It only works with decoder equipped engines.

[richg]

I have a Bachmann Spectrum Pennsylvania Railroad K-4 that's completely dead. I have the NCE DCC Power Cab System. Every time I try to set it up all it does is say "Cannot Read CV's."

Since you are sure it has a factory installed decoder, I will jump in on the original post.

I have the NCE Power Cab. Cannot read CV means no decoder or poor pickups or dirty track.
Put a quarter on the track, the controller should go out which shows you have a DCC signal to the track. A quarter test is ok. Just don't use a half dollar.  

Open the tender and check with your multimeter for about 14 volts AC  at the input to the decoder. If the DCC signal gets to the board, you will see some AC voltage. Depending on the meter, it could show as high as 19 volts AC as some meters differ with this DCC voltage.
With a factory installed decoder, look for the full wave bridge rectifier and look for about 12 volts DC at the output of the bridge rectifier.

Rich