Legacy/RS5.0/RS6.0 Boards use with ERR Commanders? 7/22 UPDATE

Thomas,

I recently purchased RS 5.0 boards from Lionel to retrofit a couple of TMCC steamers that I upgraded to ERR cruise M.  These engines had earlier RS 2.0 boards. The 5.0 boards I put in the steamers made a huge difference.

I don't believe you can purchase the Legacy boards at this time, however the 4.0 & 5.0 boards can be purchased through regular customer service.  Just have a part # available.  

BT

I'll consider it, Bruce. The irony is that the more criticized generic CrewTalk on the more recent Legacy engines works for me, as I don't think there are 5.0 boards with matching road number for the engines I have.

The newer LEGACY sound boards are almost the same as the newer ERR sound boards at least physically. The only difference I noticed is the trim pot (volume control) is mounted to the board. where the LEGACY version is not. There is a 3 pin Female Plug end instead for external mount of the Volume control Pot. But they are in the same location on the boards. Lionel makes the boards for ERR. ERR is part of Lionel. I guarantee the Pin outs are pretty much the same. Those boards are reprogrammable. If Lionel ever decides to do what MTH does, we can program those boards as a consumer.  

Mikado 4501 posted:

I'll consider it, Bruce. The irony is that the more criticized generic CrewTalk on the more recent Legacy engines works for me, as I don't think there are 5.0 boards with matching road number for the engines I have.

That would likely be true.  I don't use the crew talk so it is a mute point with me.  At any rate good luck with your search!

BT

Bruk posted:

Those boards are reprogrammable. If Lionel ever decides to do what MTH does, we can program those boards as a consumer.  

Lionel release the Legacy sound files?  Don't hold your breath.

BruceT47 posted:

Thomas,

I recently purchased RS 5.0 boards from Lionel to retrofit a couple of TMCC steamers that I upgraded to ERR cruise M.  These engines had earlier RS 2.0 boards. The 5.0 boards I put in the steamers made a huge difference.

I don't believe you can purchase the Legacy boards at this time, however the 4.0 & 5.0 boards can be purchased through regular customer service.  Just have a part # available.  

BT

 

 

Bruce, AFAIK, you cannot buy Railsound 5 boards from lionel without trading one in. Did you have to trade in? If not, what are the part # for the boards you ordered? If I can buy Railsound 5 boards without trading in, I can update/make an engine I have always wanted.

Lionel is apparently now selling RS5 boards. Not really worth it now as the newest ERR Railsounds boards are less money when you add in the required audio power and motherboard required for the RS5 boards. Sound is at least as good if not better than RS5 and are all generic. I looked and could not find generic RS5 boards. As for Legacy RS, the only way you will get one is buy an Legacy engine and remove its board or maybe if you are a personal friend of someone at Lionel.

Pete

I got one visionline board for a engine that didnt have one.. It was like pulling teeth never again ..

Guess we'll have to wait until Lionel upgrades the Legacy RailSounds to a new version, or decides to give ERR some more sound boards.

I talked with Ken of ERR, and he said that the ones for sale are the only ones Lionel will let them use. Again, it wouldn't be such an issue if the sounds weren't of such limited variety, mostly steam engine wise. It can be pretty distracting to hear Pennsylvania K4 sounds coming from a NYC Hudson, or Big Boy ones from an Allegheny.

Nicks Trains posted:

BruceT47 posted:

Thomas,

I recently purchased RS 5.0 boards from Lionel to retrofit a couple of TMCC steamers that I upgraded to ERR cruise M.  These engines had earlier RS 2.0 boards. The 5.0 boards I put in the steamers made a huge difference.

I don't believe you can purchase the Legacy boards at this time, however the 4.0 & 5.0 boards can be purchased through regular customer service.  Just have a part # available.  

BT

 

 

Bruce, AFAIK, you cannot buy Railsound 5 boards from lionel without trading one in. Did you have to trade in? If not, what are the part # for the boards you ordered? If I can buy Railsound 5 boards without trading in, I can update/make an engine I have always wanted.

 

No I did not have to trade anything in.  It has been mentioned on this forum that Lionel has relaxed their exchange requirements for RS 5 boards.  For the record I purchased an HHP 8 electric  5.5 board  691RS5506b.  I misspoke on the steamer boards as they were RS 4E 691RS4E01B / Southern 4-6-2 #1396.

BT

Bruce,

I found an ideal RS5.0 board for this engine, in this case from the American Flyer Mikado with the same road number.

Though, since the RS5.0 boards are much different than the Legacy/ERR ones, is there a wiring diagram you can offer for setup? Do the ERR speaker and wires to the ERR Cruise board get hooked up differently than normal?

The easiest way to use these may be to use this RailSounds Powered Motherboard.  It has most of the same connections as the older ERR RailSounds Commander and is pretty easy to use.  Also, the pin connections are silk screened on the back side.

I'll assume that the RailSounds card slips through the 24 prongs. But that board looks like it has all the outlets for the speaker and commander. I can guess the speaker goes in the upper left outlet on the second row, and the hot and ground connection to the bottom left outlet on the second row, but where does the purple and black wires and the chuff sensor wires lead to?

Actually, the speaker goes as depicted below.  There are three extra pins that are for an external volume control as this board doesn't have it on-board.  There are the red block on the right.  You can either use those pins with an external control or buy the proper volume control pot and solder it to the board locations for it.  You can also short two of the pins for max volume and dispense with the volume control.  For steam, a reed switch goes between the Trigger switch and DC Common on the lower right connector.  The 5VDC is for a hall effect sensor.

It looks like for the speaker, hot and ground leads (red and black) and the purple and black pair that go to the 9 pin plug require new plugs in order to fit into the Motherboard.

This powered MB connects to the Cruise Commander using the three position plug on the top right, track power, ground, and serial data. You need a 3-pin to 4-pin cable.  Conveniently, the Cruise Commander or AC Commander comes with a suitable cable, you just need to remove the pins from one end of the 4-pin to 4-pin cable and use a 3-pin connector shell.

If you connect a chuff switch to the trigger and DC common, do NOT connect either wire of that to frame ground, you'll release the magic smoke.  I normally feed the chuff into the Cruise Commander and let it come over on the serial data line, easier wiring job.

Doesn't that harness actually come with the Sound board from ERR?  Except the CC Lite.  The CC Lite has the unique connector, so that board comes with a sound harness.   G

Remember, he's not getting this board from ERR as they no longer sell it, so he doesn't get the harness.  The Lionel board is a bare board, no cables.  The question is how to hook it up.  Since it's basically the old RS Commander power board, I'm using that as the pattern for documenting the connections.  The Cruise Commander does come with a 4-pin to 4-pin cable, you just need to replace the connector shell with a 3-pin shell for this application.  Obviously, you do still have to come up with the 5-pin connector for the speaker and volume control connections.  If you want a battery and/or SS/RS switch, you need the 4-pin cable too.

I think you are mistaken.  The Recent CC I received from ERR do not come with the 4 pin as it is not necessary for the CC to work as the motor controller/feature controller.  You get the 4 pin harness with the Sound set.  It plugs into the CC.  The exception is CDR Lite .  Because the CDR Lite has a non standard connector, it comes with the harness to plug into the sound board.  The one that comes with the Sound board would not work with the CDR Lite.   Also the CC-M Modular does come with a harness, needed for PWM. 

I do have spare harness if needed.  G