The flashing headlight may have a sequence that tells you what is possibly wrong. I seem to remember reading that somewhere.
You know, I have a BLI ES44 that I’ve fairly successfully consisted with two Scaletrains units, and sometime the lights at both ends of it will flash.
@Many Trains Are these BLI locos HO scale ? If so they should be super easy to work on Just grab your screw driver and dive in . I'd also be happy to look at it for you too , no charge . Mike
I know Soundtraxx decoders have different flash signals but don't know about the Paragons . I hate to say it but removing the Paragon decoder for a different brand seems to solve most running problems with BLI locos .
These are N scale. I have read pretty consistently that replacing the paragon decoder for something else, often ESU, does help a lot. But right now that is way beyond my abilities. Ran the new unit a bit more today, generally in short sessions - 10 minutes at a time. No repeat of the 'no movement/flashing light' issue. Overall today I was pretty satisfied. It still seems like it wants to struggle some, but the good news is that I still have not had any pickup issue/stall. The paragon 4 seems to have solved that, so far at least. I will give BLI credit - they are offering these in road names & paint schemes that no one else is as interested in. And they delivered the models in a reasonable amount of time after they were announced - didn't have to wait three years (or in Intermountain's case, forever).
The thing I will be watching for is how long will they hold up. I'd like to know a motor or locomotive I buy will last long enough to be thoroughly enjoyed. In other words until the motor burns out. Then is there parts available to get new brushes. OR replace the motor, chassis's, gearing, fly wheels, light bars, lights and decoders. And of course all those detail parts, as in more. In the past certain model manufacturers put out good looking models of trains but they didn't last very long. Time is the keeper here. Best of luck.
Definitely a good point. The longevity is definitely not known. And if they do have to be worked on.............. ugh, it looks like a mess of wires. A lot more to it than the plain old Atlas non sound unit. I have Atlas units that are still going strong that have some age on them, although not necessarily a lot of run time. The biggest issue I run into with the older units now is that some seem to need maybe a cleaning and re-lube. I think the old lube might be hardening - the units seem to run smoother after they get warmed up. But that is something I can handle. Maybe the solution is to buy so many I can't wear them out because they get run so rarely! I'm working on it!
