Hey guys, I've been reading over the forum posts trying to soak up as much information as possible, but I've still got a few questions. Came across a "deal" on ebay on an MTH PS1 Camelback. It was supposedly missing some "boards" and a few other things. After a bit of research, I figured I could replace the missing electronics with an ERR DC commander and at least get it running again.
Wasn't very familiar with modern train electronics previously, but I've (hopefully) learned a lot in a short time. The motor's in there, but obviously doesn't run at the moment. From what I can figure out, the engine had a 4 pin tether to the tender. The outer wires hook to the yellow and white ones on the motor, so I'm assuming these would go to the DC motor out wires on the DC commander. The inner ones show AC voltage, so I'm assuming one of these come from the center rail pickup rollers on the engine, and would go via tether back to the tender, and there also hook up to the DC commander board. Everything else in the engine (smoke unit, lights) seems to be wired to the AC, so it looks like the 4 wire tether will do just fine in this case.
While there's a speaker in the tender, and a volume pot, there's no other sound equipment anymore. I assume at a later date if all goes well, I can add an ERR Railsounds commander board if I want sound. There's also an electric coupler on the tender. This should work hooked up to the DC commander, right?
It sounds like the DC commander can be used with either TMCC or conventional, but after reading the manual, it isn't clear how to switch between them. There's a program/run switch, but nothing to switch between TMCC and conventional. Anyone know how this works? Antenna location is going to be another issue with the die-cast tender, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.
