I truly have no idea what was damaged, that's somewhat of a major OOPS! 
If only the motors were connected, it shouldn't have actually damaged anything as there's nothing grounded. Did you try hooking it up correctly and see if it's alive?
John,
It was getting very late, but I did wire it correctly and tried it with a new R4LC. The relay was switching on and off in the intial strobe light mode. The motors came on at full speed, so something is wrong. I plan to install a new Cruise Commander board and new R4LC next time I work on it. I will advice on the outcome. I believe the motors are fine. The smoke relay circuit is a concern. If it works when I reinstall a new board, does this mean it is ok?
Mark
If it works, than I'd say it's OK. 
John,
I thought I would share the results of the installation of a new cruise board. Upon installation of a new board and new R4LC the engine had an immediate short. I ran down all the wires. Everything was correct. I stripped it down to individual components and tested them. The culprit was the new Cruise board. i have a huge parts supply, so I grabbed another board. I tested this board by itself and then with an R4LC. It worked. I installed it and tried it without motors. It worked. As soon as I connected the motors the engine went forward and when I reversed it it shorted again. I tried another Cruise board and found this time the setup worked. I did test the R4LC from the other boards I tried and they were fine. I believe the cruise boards could not handle the four motors and something went wrong. The unit has functioning smoke units now, so the relay is fine. I have half the lighting working. I have to reconnected the directional lighting and couplers. I retested the bad cruise boards and they short upon application of power. This project is getting very expensive. I just hope the board I have installed now lasts. Any thoughts on this strange situation? I am learning a ton doing this, but at a large financial cost.
Mark
Mark,
I have no idea what is happening, but I seriously doubt that you got that many bad cruise boards! In over a hundred of them installed, I've only had a few of minor issues, two times they were bad solder joints, and one time the uP must have been flaky, the board did all sorts of strange things.
If you want a shot at recovering the cruise boards, I may be able to fix them, depends on what is shorted. Typically, it's the output FET's, next possibility is the bridge rectifier. If you have a motor lead shorted to the chassis, it can take out the output FETs, and sometimes it's a directional thing.
If the motors are doing it, and you blew 2 out of 3, do you really think the other will last once your run it pulling a load, or get a temporary stall?
You need to ensure you have not bridged the solder joint at motor lead to the motor can. G
John and GGG,
I figured the short at the motor connection out after the second board reacted badly. I used a meter and tested each motor connection and resoldered a few of the connections. I believe I have the motor connections free of any shorting to ground issues now. I will recheck them again to be sure. The unit does function properly now. I did have a problem at one point where the unit would come on and go forward at full power during the installations of the two failed boards. It sounds like I had a motor ground issue during the first two istallations. I appreciate all the help. I am learning a ton from all the help on the forum. John, if you think you can fix the two bad boards, I would be happy to pay you to look at them. Let me know.
Mark
Sure Mark, shoot me an email to my profile address and we'll arrange shipping. Since you found a short, it's about 95% that the output FET's got toasted, that's my most common fix.
One question?. Does the TMCC/EER system maintain the correct prototypical start-up sequence for the #80 coal turbine as does all three MTH Proto-Sound systems?
Ron
Ron,
The ERR Cruise Board with Railsounds does not have the prototypical sounds. I have used a Alco Sound card in mine. I know it is prototypically incorrect, but my main concern was getting trainmaster command control of the engine.
Mark
John,
I verified that only two cruise boards were damaged due to the short on the solder joint on one of the can motors. I tested a few other cruise boards with a few different R4LC and I was able to get the feature function to turn on and off a light bulb. I did not completely wire the cruise boards to an engine. Can I assume the board and R4LC is ok with just a connection to power and testing the feature connection, or do I have to completely connect the entire board?
Mark
Well, I hate to state the obvious, but you don't truly know they're "OK" unless you've tested all the functionality. You've tested basic TMCC operation and the feature output. You haven't checked the front and rear lights or the motor function. If you haven't abused them, they probably work, but I have no idea what transpired with the boards before you were testing them.
Did you resolve the derailing issue?
I solved the derailing issue by rearranging the wiring. I have done a few conversions and all of them had spacious cabs. The Veranda is tight inside the cab. In addition to being very challenging with all of its parts (4 motors, 2 smoke units, etc) it has a special need for clearances on the motors when neogiating turns. I had made a mistake by having a few wires going along side the motors close to the cab. This was limiting the turning radius of the trucks. I rewired the unit with special attention to wires being in a harness in the space just below the roof. This allowed for the max movement inside the unit to allow for negotiating the turns.
John,
I plan to build a small test board for these two questionable ERR Cruise boards. Will any DC can motor be sufficient for testing purposes? I have a few general purpose can motors on hand, or should I get original train engine can motors? I just want to be sure everything is functioning before I decide to install the boards again.
Mark
I use an locomotive motor from my parts box, but most any comparable size motor should work.
Unless you're going to have more than two boards to get, a test fixture is probably overkill. I just wire power and motors to the CC, and then connect three light bulbs to the light and feature outputs, add a program switch and test away. I only resort to that when I know they've malfunctioned in the original installation and the R4LC has been swapped.
John,
What is the best way to stop an MTH smoke unit fan from squeaking. Obviously oiling it is the answer, but I am not sure about the fact that it is a small can motor about oiling it. The Veranda keeps throwing challenges at me as I iron out problems more appear. The Veranda is a new unit from back in the 90's so things are a bit dry on it.
Mark
For one of my old Proto-1 Railking Big Boys, I was able to buy just the fan motor from the MTH parts bin at the York TCA show years ago. More recently, I had a fan motor give out on my Veranda, so I just replaced the whole smoke unit. Same with a Proto-2 Premier Challenger.
Oil it at the top bronze bearing. Some units you can access without disassembly, other cases you need to drop the fan motor to do it. Simple fix. G
I find that oiling is normally only a temporary fix, I replace them. The oilite bearing is supposed to be self-lubricating, but that doesn't always work. For the price of the fan motor, if I have to take it apart anyway, I put a new one in.
