Model Railroading > The Latest BLI RF-16s - not a good experience; deep concerns

To All,I usually refrain from this type of post, but I felt this was too critical to ignore. I preordered two of the latest RF-16s in D&H (they only had two of them, 1205, and 1216). At first they seemed to run okay, then I noticed 1205 started to jerk at startup. Well, in some cases a break-in period is needed; after test running it for about 20 minutes, the unit created a short circuit. I reported this to the vendor and exchanged it for another 1205. Well this one ran okay, but was slower than 1216; I ran it a bit, then speed matched the pair and ran them in consist pulling a 20 car train. About 15 minutes in the replacement 1205 shorted out! Okay something is afoot here (background on me, have over 100 DCC locos, I'm an electronics professional and DCC installer since 2000). So I decided to check the motor and found the motor to draw over 250mA at low voltage, and over 1.5 AMP at max (I found another thread that discovered this). After test running the motor forward and reverse, and a couple of drops of lube on the bearings, it was better but not great. I contacted BLI this time and had them replace the DCC decoder. Well, I received the decoder and discovered it was the one for the PRR loco (different horns); not a REAL big deal, but since it arrived, I placed the decoder in the loco and set it up, etc. Upon trying the unit; i found the truck side frames were scraping the wheels (built-in brakes?) and was causing some of the slight jerking (this was happening with both units). As I continued to test both units, 1216 started to slow down and act like the first 1205! I disconnected the motor and tested it only to find it started drawing excessive current. BTW, a good version of this motor draws only 8 mA at 10V, no load. While testing 1205 another decoder fried running at slow speedNeedless to say these are the worst experiences I've had with any DCC loco! How many others are bad out there? What's scary is a number of these showed up on the refurbished BLI webpage the same week they were released????Anyone else having a similar issue? I remember seeing a thread on issues similiar to these with Paragon 3 BLI units. It's a disappointment, as I have several BLI GG1's, a SAL Centipede, two SW7 switchers and a (gasp!) recently released P5a electric, all fine running models.I'm sharing this to caution everyone about these recent releases. We have multiple folks that are members of my model rr club and they have similar stories, both in HO and N scale. If we all speak up, they should listen and do what they can to make things better. In the meantime, I've decided to remotor and replace the decoders with my favorite sound units as they are great looking units (nicest I've seen in plastic) and with a few sideframe tweaks they should (fingers crossed) be fine models.

Carl in FL

Carl:

A known issue. It has been discussed here:

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?3,4885412,4886955#msg-4886955



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/18/19 19:20 by wabash2800.

wabash2800 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Carl:
>
> A known issue. It has been discussed here:
>
> https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?3,
> 4885412,4886955#msg-4886955

Interestingly both threads were started by the same person....

Yes, the second is a follow up; the bad news got worse!

Posted from iPhone

I have sworn off every purchasing any BLI products after a disastrous similar experience with an AC6000 and a junked class J 611. BLI is not going to be around long with these catastrophically bad quality releases.

RN

I belong to the same club as Carl and had a BLI Challenger qand it had to be sent back to BLI and they repaired it but had it for over a month. They put a rush on it when my GN @2 was there and ready to ship back for 2nd time. Challenger seems to be OK now but only ran it one time to check it out on club layout. Both are Paragon 3 units. I also seen posts on FB about the problems with Paragon 3 units. BLI better get their stuff together as their reputation is taking a dive .

Stanley Jackowski
Valrico, FL