mux board

You can get them here are the part numbers.  I'd have to look at the wiring harness situation though.  You may do better loading a older sound file before they did the Mux boards.

Jim, I have no problem with the sound file or the function.  I'd just like to have independent control of the cab lights and firebox glow if I could.  Right now, I have the markers, headlight, and firebox glow all working from one signal.  They're all LED's, so they're not overloading the output, but I'd like them individually controlled.

Obviously, I'd need to know how to wire them or it would be pointless.

John,  you could splice this in, but....the operational wiring is significantly different.  The tender harness where the circuit board is, feeds inputs to the transmit MUX.

The Receiver MUX in the engine takes in these inputs and then manages the extra light.  Additionally the MUX does the conversion for PV vice the diodes on the PCB at the back of the engine harness.

5VDC also comes out of it for the tach, and you need another connector for the output of the Recvr MUX.

Even so, this really only gets you one additional light control.  The cab and fire box are one circuit and the headlight is the other.  It does allow the Marker to be feed also, but I don't believe it is controlled.  I need to check that.

So your looking at quite an expense and labor to activate one additional light feature controllable via DCS.  Why not run a single wire with a connector to gain the firebox/Cab control.

The other way I approach this, is to see if I can fit the board in the engine first.  Even some of the RTR have the board in the engine.  If so, then you have full features like a diesel with a supporting sound file.  G

George, you're probably right.  I have never tinkered with a locomotive with the mux board, so I wasn't sure of the capabilities.  Maybe radio control.

I've added a small second tether(2 pin/4 pin) on a couple of steamers  to gain the extra pins need for whatever reason.... no MUX board problems.

A small two-pin tether sounds like the low-impact solution, I could probably so a little work and lash it to the existing one so it was almost invisible.

How did you get around the wiring harness/tether problem?  Did you use one other than what comes in the upgrade kit?

Dave

John, You only need one wire, the control wire from the Cab/Interior light pin on the 12 pin connector.  PV is already inside the engine and you just tap it for the other input to the bulb harness.  G

Dave,  I do have spare harness and wires from engines with boards in the engine.  You could also cut and splice the upgrade kit to do this also.  Just need to follow the wiring diagram for the harness pin out for the functions left in the tender (speaker, Volume Control, Battery).  Using a BCR makes it easier especially if you can fit it in the engine also.  This works best on the larger RK and the Premier Steam that have these extra features, and room.  G

I would like to control the cab lights and the firebox flicker independently, hence the idea of two wires.

Here's one from left-field.  You could wait a year or so (per another thread) for the PS3 upgrade kit.  Yes, I realize you just performed the PS2 upgrade but PS3 has more lighting options in the engine than you can shake a fist at...including Rule 17 which we recently discussed in the Electrical Forum.  And it's all LED which you'll like!  There is no comparison in terms of MUX-DEMUX capability since the PS3 engine has it's own processor chip so the tender can send richer communications rather than the PS2 MUX-DEMUX method which apparently add only 1 extra independent light control.

John,  You may not find a steam sound file that does this.  In the normal mux configurations I have seen the Interior and firebox are one circuit.

On the 12 pin you only have an Interior, forward and reverse light feature.  Obviously the direction lights, coupler circuit won't suit what your after.  Unless a ditch light is functional as a Number Board light, you won't get the fidelity of control you are after. 

You could build a small logic circuit that uses the cab light signal to cycle 2 ouputs and both on, both off, alternate each on.  Probably the best you can do.  G

Stan, I don't think that's a realistic option.  Nobody knows when or if a PS/3 kit will emerge, or what capabilities it'll have.  I'm not that good at predicting the future.

That's actually one of the avenues I'm following.  I'm thinking I may want to roll a generic capability that can be applied in more than one circumstance.  I did something similar in a TMCC installation some time ago using the unused smoke output, I'm thinking of an improved generic model for either Lionel or MTH.

John, When you build it please share.  I do think that has a lot of application for those that like an extra option or two for upgrades.  G

I'd like to have something that would be easy to fabricate, so I'm looking at getting tooled up to create a PCB.

I visualize a board that has the motor voltage sensor that I used to automate the Rule-17 lighting and cab lights, as well as a mux capability to control more than one output for additional control.  In order to support both DCS and TMCC, I need to have a generic way to send up the encoded commands, that's one sticking point.  I suppose I could connect to the headlight output and simply trigger on closely spaced on/off cycles...

Note that in the case of the PS2 lamp outputs, they are pulse width modulated at the kHz rate - albeit easily filtered out - if you plan to use on/off edges to cycle a digital counter or the like to sequence through output combinations.

Likewise, on the engine demux side, you need to re-create this modulation if you plan to drive existing PS2 incandescent bulbs - or provide some kind of constant-voltage regulator to scale down the rectified track voltage.  Given the amount of current these bulbs draw, I would not try to "steal" 5V power from the tether to drive the nominally 6V lamps.

I have already stuck a scope on the lamp output to see what it looked like, as you say, easily filtered.  As far as the 6V lamps, I'd be strictly designing for LED lighting anyway.  I would plan on track voltage to power the board as I usually do, and just use the lamp output as a logic input. 

I've already replaced the 6V lamps with LED's in several of my locomotives, and more will get the treatment.  You can barely see the headlights in a lot of MTH stuff with those anemic bulbs, the LED's I use really speak out.

One more thought I had.  You could send your 2 wires over and use the front coupler as your signal for the fire box glow trigger, and the Cab light for Cab light.  Or use the marker pin out directly since you are using LEDs.  Most steam have the markers turned on.  This would also allow you to place your device in the tender if you needed the room. 

Using the coupler signal, may allow a small relay that hold a position to be used.  Having the coupler fire the relay coil instead.  Some interesting alternatives for the electronically inclined:-)  G

I'd love to do this with no extra wires if possible from the tender to the locomotive.  For steamers, the front coupler is an interesting idea, as it's rarely used, except for switchers.