ESU 53952 Adapter Board - NEM660 21MTC Integral Connector to BLI Steam Paragon 3 & 4

ESU 53952 Adapter Board - NEM660 21MTC Integral Connector to BLI Steam Paragon 3 & 4

With the help of the BLI Paragon 3/4 (P34) adapter board, H0 Scale tender steam locomotives from Broadway Limited (BLI), in which a Paragon 3 or Paragon 4 decoder was factory installed, can finally be equipped with a LokSound 5 decoder without much effort. All you have to do is open the tender, remove the standard Paragon 3 or 4 decoder and install the BLI P34 adapter board. All connections can be made exactly as before: The type and position of all plug connections is exactly like for the factory installed decoder. No soldering work needs to be done. The locomotive tender coupling can also remain. The locomotive itself does not need to be opened. The LokSound 5 decoder can communicate with the electronics built into the locomotive using a serial protocol and directly control all smoke and light functions. An integrated PowerPack ensures uninterrupted operation even on dirty rails.

The BLI P34 adapter board requires a LokSound 5 decoder with 21MTC interface. From firmware 5.9.159 this can speak the required protocol instead of SUSI. Appropriate preconfigured sound files will gradually be made available on our website.

Features of the BLI Adapter Board

The ESU BLI Adapter Board allows for easy installation into your BLI Paragon 3 or Paragon 4 steam locomotive, includes a built-in ESU Powerpack for continuous power, and retains the basic lighting of your locomotive as well as use of the stack smoke. The electronic board installed in the boiler of your steam locomotive will be retained, you don’t need to open the locomotive itself. The LokSound 5 decoder can “communicate” to the boiler using a BLI proprietary serial communication protocol which has been included into the LokSound 5 firmware. Therefore, It is not possible at this time for whistle smoke to be separately activated for locomotives so equipped; the whistle smoke operates in conjunction with the stack smoke. Some locomotives have rear red tender lights that may not function. As it is impossible for ESU to test every BLI Paragon 3 and Paragon 4 locomotive produced, there may be some other lighting that may not function on your locomotive at this time. We are constantly improving the software of our LokSound decoders to add missing software features.

Currently, The LokSound 5 decoder will remap AUX-Outputs to match the BLI protocol as follows:

BLI’s rule 17 will be sent, if the “Rule 17” of LokSound 5’s “Front light [1]” output is set. BLI’s HeadlightDimmer will be set taken from LokSound 5’s “Front light [1]” brightness settings (converted form 0-31 to 0-100).

BLI’s smoke unit will be turned on, if the logical function “ESU Smoke unit” is set in the function mapping AND the prime mover sound is on. There will be no smoke without sound. In order to have your LokSound 5 doing the correct things, you need to load your desired sound file to the LokSound 5 decoder first. After that, some decoder settings have to be changed to function correctly with the ESU BLI Adapter Board. This is easiest done with an ESU 53451 or 53452 LokProgrammer, however it can also be done via CV settings using your DCC system (not recommended).

Important Notes

The ESU BLI Adapter Board is designed for use with Broadway Limited Paragon 3 and Paragon 4 steam locomotives only. The ESU BLI Adapter Board is designed for use with ESU decoders such as the 58429 LokSound 5 DCC 21MTC or 58419 LokSound 5 21MTC only. The ESU BLI Adapter can’t work with other decoder brands as these will not feature the serial communication system used to control the Boiler electronics inside your locomotive.