ERR Cruise Commander M not working

Where did you try and splice in serial data from your RS board. Pin 2 on the Cruise M 10 pin connector or directly to pin 24 on the R2LC? 

Pete

I spliced it into the blue wire that gets soldered to pin 24.

Pin 24 would have been my first choice. It should have not blown the Cruise M in any case.

Pete

Why did you use the CCM, that is for use in the TMCC locos as a replacement board. I would’ve used a regular cruise commander 

Because I couldn't get one.

This was a last resort. But it's odd that connecting a sound system from the same company would cause the commander board to fail.

Try buffering the serial data to the sound board with this arrangement.  The older CC-M didn't like the lower amplitude serial data that was produced when the sound board optical isolator was added to the mix.

gunrunnerjohn posted:

Try buffering the serial data to the sound board with this arrangement.  The older CC-M didn't like the lower amplitude serial data that was produced when the sound board optical isolator was added to the mix.

I will try this when I get home.

Could I have damaged the Cruise Commander M board?

Probably not, it's a known issue when you connect the RailSounds board to the serial data with the CC-M.  There was a change and the new CC-M versions had a better input circuit sensitivity to handle the issue.

I tried running it with the sound system removed, and the engine still won't move. I checked the outputs of the R2LC board, and they were all functioning correctly.

Does that setup go to the sound system, or the motor drive?

Before you add that buffer circuit, try to get the R2LC and Cruise M to make the engine run again without Railsounds. You shouldn't need extra circuitry to make that happen. If you have any older TMCC engines you could try and swap boards to see which one isn't working. Also unplug your Command or Legacy base and see if it runs in conventional. Shouldn't need serial data for that.

Pete

If it doesn't run without the RailSounds board connection, maybe there is some damage or a wiring issue still lurking in the setup.  Did you actually swap the R2LC?

I tried two different R2LC boards, programmed both, and it's the same story. Sound system works, engine won't move, even without sounds. Track power is coming in via the j3.

Doesn't sound good, not sure what happened if it was working before.

Agreed. To be on the safe side I ordered a 691 DCDE B01 from Lionel this afternoon. I have hopes it will work the same, as it looks the same in the picture.

The Lionel part is based on the older CC-M, and my experience is that it usually requires the buffer circuit to support more than just the motor driver on the serial data bus.

Itr may require a buffer to drive a wireless tether but it doesn't require a buffer to drive a Railsounds board. The engine Lionel used it in has a wired tether but no buffer.

Pete

Pete, sometimes it does require a buffer.  I did a pair diesels with two of these boards, and they needed the buffer to drive the RS boards and the cruise module.  I also had the same issue with the TMCC Camelback with the wired tether, same solution.

Interesting. I have used about ten of these and never needed a buffer. I never used the TMCC version with a wireless tether though. The motherboards for the Legacy version has a buffer on board for the wireless tethers.

Still curious what blew the OPs Cruise M.

Pete

The wireless tether installations have always needed the buffer for me, but I ended up having to use one on several wired installations.  FWIW, the new single board RS (RS-Lite) has an optical sensor on the input serial signal and loads the serial data more than previous RS electronics.