ENABLE RAILCOM ON Bachmann 36-557 DECODER USING LENZ COMMAND STN

[locospotter]

I have install a Bachmann 36-557 decoder which is a ESU LOKPILOT STANDARD 21pin with railcom plus in a Bachmann class 57 DRS loco about 2 years ago and now I have installed a Lenz LRC 120 local address display unit but this decoder although Bachmann says it has railcom will not activate display on the unit. I have a Lenz Set 101 and all my other railcom fitted decoders ie lenz, Zimo, Loksound work ok showing the locos address. I have tried putting in CV 28 the value of 131 as per instructions but all it does on command station shows error 2 and reverts back to 0. Tried to activate railcom in CV 29 with a value of 47 but again value changes back to a previous value of 39. So what am I doing wrong or have I got a dodgy decoder. Hope someone can shine a light on this problem. 

[Bob83a]

I think that there were two varieties of the Bachmann 36-557 decoder, one is blue board and is a LokPilot. There is also a green board which was a Soundtraxx MC decoder. Are you sure which one you have.

[GoingUnderground]

CV28 (twenty eight) does not turn on Railcom. In decoders equipped with the autoregistration functionality known as  Railcom Plus, it is used to turn RailComPlus on and off. On ESU decoders with Plus the value for Plus to be active/enabled/turned on is 131, and for Plus to be inactive/disabled/off is 3.

 

You do not need Plus to be enabled to read the Loco address. That only needs Railcom itself to be enabled which you do with CV29 (Twenty Nine). 

 

With a value of 39 for CV 29 adding 8 to make it 47 should turn on RailCom if the decoder is RailCom capable. Are you sure that it is a rebadged LokPilot Standard, or are you assuming that it is as you've previously read that is how Bachmann sourced the decoder. 

 

ESU decoders have had Plus capability for years so if CV 28 reads as 0 then that may be telling you that it isn't a rebadged ESU decoder, and if Bachmann sourced yours from another supplier, especially one in the US where adoption of RailCom has been slower than in Europe, it may not have Railcom capability, which would explain why it won't accept the value of 47.

 

If it turns out that it isn't RailCom capable all is not lost as you could fit a RailCom sender unit in parallel with the decoder. Both Lenz and ESU make the sender modules. 

[Ron Ron Ron]

6 hours ago, GoingUnderground said:

........Are you sure that it is a rebadged LokPilot Standard, or are you assuming that it is as you've previously read that is how Bachmann sourced the decoder......

 

It's very simple to tell, Keith.

Original Green versions of the 36-557 are sourced from SoundTraxx and the Blue ones are ESU Standards.

 

6 hours ago, GoingUnderground said:

.........If it turns out that it isn't RailCom capable all is not lost as you could fit a RailCom sender unit in parallel with the decoder.

Both Lenz and ESU make the sender modules. 

 

Unfortunately, it seems that Lenz and ESU have stopped making these.

 

 

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[GoingUnderground]

5 hours ago, Ron Ron Ron said:

 

It's very simple to tell, Keith.

Original Green versions of the 36-557 are sourced from SoundTraxx and the Blue ones are ESU Standards.

 

 

Unfortunately, it seems that Lenz and ESU have stopped making these.

 

 

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Ron, If you're into following how Bachmann outsource their decoders it is easy to tell, but not everyone has that knowledge. And the OP simply stated that it was a rebadged ESU product without explaining how they knew what it was. I couldn't tell one from the other, but then I don't buy or use  Bachmann decoders. I have seen comments on here in the past that Bachmann switched from ESU to another supplier, but I don't think that the posts that I saw explained how to tell who supplied what to Bachmann. . 

 

Whilst they may not be in the current ranges from ESU and Lenz, the sender units do turn up on ebay from time to time. So knowing that they exist could be useful to the OP.  There are some on ebay right now from a seller in the US. 

[locospotter]

Thank to all who replied to my problem, after a reset in CV8 to factory defaults railcom still doesn't work I did get a quick reply from ESU Germany which advised a cv setting of 12 and 131. 131 again didn't work just reverted to error2 on my Lenz so I will email Bachmann and see what's going on with this decoder which reads in CV7 as version 88. Will get to the bottom of this problem I now have the bit between my teeth.

[locospotter]

Sorry for mistake on CV 8 value should read 151 not 131, thanks to Geoff for pointing this out.

[locospotter]

Thank to all who replied to my problem, after a reset in CV8 to factory defaults railcom still doesn't work I did get a quick reply from ESU Germany which advised a cv setting of 12 and 131. 131 again didn't work just reverted to error2 on my Lenz so I will email Bachmann and see what's going on with this decoder which reads in CV7 as version 88. Will get to the bottom of this problem I now have the bit between my teeth.

[locospotter]

Thanks to all who replied to my query but I have had another email from ESU Germany and my Bachmann decoder 36-557  Version 88 is not Lokpilot Standard but a Lokpilot basic V1 so it doesn't have Railcom so how this decoder I purchase wasn't the one I needed so I will have to investigate further in how it was in the wrong packaging. 

[Ron Ron Ron]

2 hours ago, locospotter said:

Thanks to all who replied to my query but I have had another email from ESU Germany and my Bachmann decoder 36-557  Version 88 is not Lokpilot Standard but a Lokpilot basic V1 so it doesn't have Railcom so how this decoder I purchase wasn't the one I needed so I will have to investigate further in how it was in the wrong packaging. 

 

That's rather bizarre.

The ESU sourced 36-557 is a LokPilot Standard with RailCom Plus.

The earlier 36-554 was the LokPilot Basic V1.0, without RailCom.

 

Are you saying you were supplied with a -554 in the wrong packaging, purporting to be a -557 ?

 

The two decoders have different circuit component layouts, so should be easily identifiable.

Compare......   Rails of Sheffield -  Bachmann 36-557 e-z-command 1-amp 4-function 21-pin dcc decoder

With......

 

LokPilot Standard a.k.a.  Bachmann 36-557 is the 21-pin version on the right.

 

 

 

LokPilot Basic V1.0  a.k.a.  Bachmann 36-553 (on the left) and 36-554 (on the right)

 

 

 

 

The short lived SoundTraxx sourced Bachmann 36-557

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[locospotter]

Thanks for explanation RON RON RON I have now purchased another Bachmann 36-557 which is definitely a ESU LOKPILOT STANDARD with railcom and the one of taken out was a LOKPILOT BASIC LPB V1.3 stamped on it. So how I managed to get the wrong decoder it's a mystery to me. 

[Ron Ron Ron]

Was the Basic bought new, in unopened packaging, labelled as a 36-557 ?

 

 

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