Heisler re dimming the lights. ** NEW INFO SEE POST #22 *****

[Stevelewis]

Its a strange  thing  this  gear  problem,  I  have  bought 0n30  from  day 1  of its  launch back in well I cant  really remember the  year  but  it  seems  ages  ago,  I have lost  count of the number of  locos I have  bought,  ( and  then  sold sometimes)  

But  I have only  had  1  gear  problem, that  was with a  shay  which was faulty when  I bought  it, it was still sealed in its  carton  with the cellophane overwrap,  it was  immediately apparent it was faulty because when i took it  out of the  box I found  1 gear  was loose in the  box & split. So the loco went  straight back to the  retailer and its  cost  was refunded

I have had a look inide one of the  gearboxes, the cover seems a little awkward to remove  after removing the 3 tiny screws the cover did not come completely off, it just pivoted from one  end \i didnt want to try to get it off by forcing at this  stage!!  Anyway I was able to look inside  the  gear does appear to be NON Metallic!  It is  white, not sure what the material is maybe nylon? It  is approx 3/4  of the diameter of the loco wheels which are 12mm diametert

[Kevin S.]

This will be the 2nd arrival of the Heislers.

From what my retailer told me, when the Heisler arrived the first time in the States, after test running a few, the entire shipment was packed up and sent back to China for redesign, or something.

The issues were not with the superstructure or detailing but were drive train related. My guess is gears.  Of course, this is not "officially" from Bachmann but rather word of mouth from my retailer.

But it does make sense. Given Bachmann's issues with quality control with the Chinese plant, management may have said enough is enough - fix this!

If the Heisler has resolved the gear and drive train issues, this would be a step in restoring the faith of customers in the On30 line and Bachmann products.

This will be the lone geared locomotive on my little railroad and will serve as my yard switcher so I hope it run well and be durable.

[Bucksco]

There was no problem with the Heisler's gears or gear train. It was a totally unrelated issue.

[NarrowMinded]

Hey steve,

I've been reading through differant guides and have found something i missed before and it works on one of my decoders and that is setting cv49 and cv 50 to 146
NM-Jeff

[Stevelewis]

Hi Jeff
Tried  146  but  yes  it  dimmed  the light  but only in  a flashing  mode!
146 gave longish DIM then short bright flash!,  I tried several other values  from 125  thro' 155 some  gave  varius  combinations of  flash rates  etc,  125 actually  switched the  light of completely.
incidentally re my previous comments ref nondirectional lighting (ie both lights are ON)  I was able to assign different values  via cv 40 & 50 to each light seperately so they did different  flash sequences indepandant of each other.

This has now become a challenge,  next  move  is to  contact soundtraxx I think.

[mabloodhound]

This will be the 2nd arrival of the Heislers.

The issues were not with the superstructure or detailing but were drive train related. My guess is gears.  Of course, this is not "officially" from Bachmann but rather word of mouth from my retailer.

Bachmann officials said from day one of the Heisler return that it was NOT gear or drive train related.   They ran them for a substantial period without a failure.
The issue was something else altogether.

[Stevelewis]

RESULT!!!
Thanks to information  from Jamie  at  Soundtraxx I now am able to run the Heisler  with  working directional
dimmed  lights!

Set CV 33  to value 1
Set CV  34 to value  2
This gives directional lighting.

The Functions 1 to 8 are NOT mapped for dimmable lights, so Functions 9or10 or 11 or 12 can be used.

For F9 set CV39 to 128 ..... For  F10  set CV 40  to 128
for F11 set CV 41 to 16 ......or F12 set CV 42  to  the value to 16

I used  F9 on mine  and  it does work lights dim OK
I Hope this info  is useful for  those awaiting delivery of  the Heisler. Which  I have nothing  but  praise  for  

[RGS Goose]

Hi Steve,
I think I am getting too old to keep up to all this "smoke and mirrors" stuff (DCC that is).
I assume there is a CV that has to be set to 128 to assign the dimmable lights to F9 or F10.
If so, could you pleae post the CV number. If this isn't the case, can you please explain what is set to 128 to acheive this.
Thanking you in anticipation of your response.
RGS Goose.

[Stevelewis]

Hi Steve,
I think I am getting too old to keep up to all this "smoke and mirrors" stuff (DCC that is).
I assume there is a CV that has to be set to 128 to assign the dimmable lights to F9 or F10.
If so, could you pleae post the CV number. If this isn't the case, can you please explain what is set to 128 to acheive this.
Thanking you in anticipation of your response.
RGS Goose.

SORRY  RGS  I am gettin' old  too!! But  I have  now  edited the post  above to nclude  the  CVs  for Fs 9 to 12  for dimmin' the lights!!

[RGS Goose]

Hi again Steve,
Thank you for that extra info. I have printed it out, and will put it away until I get to see my Heisler, which could be some time away yet, as I am in Australia, and it is coming via the USA.
My layout is still "a work in progress", so all of my locos are still in their boxes (along with everything else).
However my memory tells me the 2-4-4-2 has the same light issues. Do you know if these settings for the Heisler will solve the 2-4-4-2 problems, or, if not, do you know what the settings are for the 2-4-4-2, to achieve the same light settings as the Heisler?
Thanks again,
RGS Goose.

[Stevelewis]

Not sure  about  the 2-4-4-2 but it mat be  the  same  as the Heisler  and the 2-4-4-2  are the same  set up with an integrated decoder with a 21 pin socket for the plug in sound module,  I think that  a quick way of finding out would be to eMail  the Soundtraxx help desk,  [email protected]  that was where I got the info from for the Heisler earlier today, and  they were very quick to reply!

Just for your info there is a UK retailer www.ehattons.com they are in Liverpool, an old established company going back to the  late 40s, they stock Bachmann 0n30 and they do ship  to Australia, they sometimes have good prices  its  a case of checking their  website occasionally,  I have  dealt  with  them  for  years and the  service  is  good,  although we  are  only  about 45mins drive from  them I get  all my  stuff online  as it  gets  delivered next  day  and costs less  than  the petrol  would if  I drove there!

[RGS Goose]

Hi Steve,
I have contacted Sountraxx regarding the lights in the 2-4-4-2, and I received the same good response from Jaime that you received.
He has told me that the 2-4-4-2 lighting settings are the same as the Heisler, with the only difference being that, in Jaime's words,  "Bachmann programmed the 2-4-4-2 with a modified rule 17 lighting effect where the headlight dims when in reverse and comes on bright when in forward. You can use the same settings that were given for the Heisler unless you wish to use the modified rule 17."
Regards,
RGS Goose.

[Stevelewis]

Thats  useful Information, according to the Heisler instruction sheet  Rule 17 lighting  is  mentioned, but  that  was not working either digital  or analogue.

for info when I tested the loco on analogue,  the lights were both working front and rear at the same time I have not tried it  since I did the CV changes, but when I get a chance  I will do  so just to see what happens!

[Stevelewis]

Just a HEISLER update,

I have  had mine  around 2 weeks now,  and it has been run  quite a few times now,  my  impression is still positive, it  is a very smooth running , controllable  locomotive, its very powerful and will haul  many more cars than I would ever need it to.

The only glitch when I  got it was  the non directional, non dimming lights ( the undimmed lights are far too bright!!)  

I have already posted information from Soundtraxx to overcome the lighting problem, in case any one missed it here is the info:
\SET CV 33 to 1,CV 34 to 2,   CV49 & CV50 both set to 129  and CV39 to 128.
This gives directional lights  and allows dimming  using F9 (NOT F1!!)
The sound modules have not yet arrived  in the UK!

[NarrowMinded]

Thanks for updating, I was curious why the original setting of 129 did not work, i'll have to see what cv33 and 34 sre one the list.


NM-Jeff