Can I use existing K-Line Sound Board with ERR Cruise Commander?

The board you have is conventional only, there is no serial data input or command capability.

That is what I thought - thanks for confirming. 

@C&O Allan posted:

Hi All,

I am upgrading a conventional K-Line Interurban (Cruise Commander already installed).  The question I have is can I use the K-Line Sound board which is pretty prototypical or do I need one off the ERR site which has the GG1 Horn (not prototypical for my interurban). 

I'm wondering where those connectors wires come from. The 4 wire one has connections for power in (AC?), and speaker out. The 6 wire one is a bit more interesting (and convoluted). There seems to be a wire labeled "chuff", any chance this runs to some sort of cherry  or reed switch? Also seems to be one labeled +3.3 (which I'm assuming is DC). Unless this is part of the lighting, a source for that could prove problematic (if it is the lighting, it can be ran from the Cruise Commander instead).

I've got some K-line Interurbans which I plan on upgrading at some point, and have wondered if using the current sound would be possible, but haven't gotten to the point of opening them up and examining the wiring. I've got a set of Metroliners that I upgraded using an AC Commander, with sound provided by a separate older Railsounds board mounted in a different car. It just gets the power from the trucks, and has a reed switch/magnet rather than serial input.

The 3.3 volts is for the hall effect sensor, it's an output.  The 3.3V, GND, and CHUFF are all connected to a hall effect sensor for steam applications.  I believe they might also be used for diesel prime mover ramp up/down as well.  The other connections on the 6-pin connector go to switches to select sound features.

And to add on, they were only connected to the Hot/Common, the Speaker, and the Switch to change from Signal Sounds to Railsounds, so it was complete independent of anything else.

Many conventional sound boards simply use track voltage to control any prime mover or electric "running" sounds.

@C&O Allan posted:

Hi All,

I am upgrading a conventional K-Line Interurban (Cruise Commander already installed).  The question I have is can I use the K-Line Sound board which is pretty prototypical or do I need one off the ERR site which has the GG1 Horn (not prototypical for my interurban).  Here are pictures of the K-Line Board:

If I can use it where would the Serial Cable go?

Thanks in advance.

Allan,

If the board you have is prototypical, why not leave it in. You can use it, the horn, just by toggling back and forth between command and conventional. For the motor speed press the ENG button and number assigned, when you want to sound the horn press the TR button. There is one extra button push for each action but not difficult. This does work, I use this option on my Flyonel EP5 which has TMCC motor control and a conventional horn.

Ray

Ray,

I tried, but it was constantly ringing the Bell and Blowing the horn without me doing anything, so that wouldn't work in this case.

One possibility not mentioned is: If C&O Allan can find a somewhat rare product once made by ERR (I believe) called the Sound Converter. I have used these to retain the original Caterpillar sounds along with horn and bell control on 2 WBB 44 tonners I've converted to ERR Cruise. They are a neat little product if you can find them.

Allan, When you did try it was it still hooked up as it came from the factory?

Ray

The Sound Converter would be fun to try - I'll keep my out for one as I really like the K-Line Board.

Ray - yes, I didn't touch the sound board or any of its connections as they were independent of the Forward/Reverse Board.  The horn/whistle/talking all went off when the engine was at idle.  That one was prone to doing that even when just running it in conventional mode via a TIU.  My testing was with the Z1000 on my test track.

One issue is the Z-1000, the chopped waveform frequently triggers these boards.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

One issue is the Z-1000, the chopped waveform frequently triggers these boards.

John, what's required to build the Sound Converter boards (besides components and boards, of course)? I believe at one time you mentioned you had the software for them.

You'd have to do a layout, but I have the software, I even updated it so it handled the ditch lights properly.

Here's a link to the post where I posted the software, the schematic, etc.

Sound Converter Code & Schematic