3rd Rail Niagara ERR Conversion

KarlDLOGR Forum Member DIGITAL SUBSCRIBER

I was asked to post pix of the conversion of my 3rd Rail Niagara to ERR electronics. I have only one picture available at the moment:

I'm don't like the boards being located as far aft on the tender as they are. Their position was driven by the need to be able to remove the 9V battery. Locating the sound board so far aft caused tether length issues. I had to drill the drawbar to pull locomotive and tender closer together in order to ensure a reliable tether connection. With my mainline curves at O104 and higher, tightening that spacing didn't present any operational issue - and certainly improved the looks of the set. In retrospect, perhaps it would be better to mount the sound board atop the battery's U-bracket, using double-sided tape. The Cruise Commander board would still need to be where it is and the tether leads would still need to reach its rear. If the 9V battery is omitted or its bracket moved to the aft end of the tender, the tether situation improves significantly.

One of the minor issues that needed to be handled was the TAS smoke fan scheme. The TAS Niagara took 5V from the Lionel Railsounds power board to power the TAS fan driver board located at the front of the locomotive, via the tether. I put in a new Sunset/3rd Rail smoke unit (from Royz Trains), which has the fan control onboard and doesn't need an external 5V power source. After doing that, I realized that the 5V for the TAS fan controller could have been obtained from the original Lionel smoke unit, which has a 5V output jack.

I also had to fabricate a mounting arm for the reed switch that senses the disc magnet on the leading fixed tender wheel.

Attachments

Hide

Images (1)

8/18/2312:07 PM

❤️ 1

Original Post

Replies sorted oldest to newest

gunrunnerjohnOGR Forum Member SUPPORTING MEMBERDIGITAL SUBSCRIBER

This would have solved the issue of ever having to access the battery again.

YLB - RailSounds Battery Replacement

8/18/235:10 PM

❤️ 1

ConrailFanOGR Forum Member

Thanks Karl! Much Appreciated!

8/18/237:35 PM

❤️ 0

KarlDLOGR Forum Member DIGITAL SUBSCRIBER

@gunrunnerjohn posted:
This would have solved the issue of ever having to access the battery again.
YLB - RailSounds Battery Replacement

True. I'm not running conventional, so I really don't need the battery. But I don't like eliminating OEM functionality, so I retained the space. A vertical mounting of the battery (there's sufficient room) would solve multiple issues, but I didn't think of that 'til today!

8/18/238:11 PM

❤️ 0

ThatGuyOGR Forum Member SUPPORTING MEMBERDIGITAL SUBSCRIBER

@gunrunnerjohn posted:
This would have solved the issue of ever having to access the battery again.
YLB - RailSounds Battery Replacement

How long does the caps take for discharge?

8/19/2312:16 PM

❤️ 0

gunrunnerjohnOGR Forum Member SUPPORTING MEMBERDIGITAL SUBSCRIBER

@ThatGuy posted:
How long does the caps take for discharge?

The cap will run the Railsounds boards for 6-10 seconds, depending on the volume and specific sound set as that changes the power required.

8/19/2312:31 PM

❤️ 0

ThatGuyOGR Forum Member SUPPORTING MEMBERDIGITAL SUBSCRIBER

@gunrunnerjohn posted:
The cap will run the Railsounds boards for 6-10 seconds, depending on the volume and specific sound set as that changes the power required.

Not bad at all, in a subway set it should be around 6 to 8. Can you send me a link

8/19/231:13 PM

❤️ 0

gunrunnerjohnOGR Forum Member SUPPORTING MEMBERDIGITAL SUBSCRIBER

There are two types, one has the standard 9V battery connection, the other has a connector for direct connection to the Railsounds Lite board used in Legacy locomotives and the ERR RailSounds Commander.

YLB - RailSounds Battery Replacement

YLB - RailSounds Battery Replacement (RS-Lite)

Take note of the two circled connection points on the two types.

Attachments

Show

8/19/231:16 PM

❤️ 1

KarlDLOGR Forum Member DIGITAL SUBSCRIBER

I reworked the assembly placement in the tender to one that makes more sense. It necessitated moving the battery to the rear of the tender, but that enabled shifting the Cruise Commander and ERR-sounds assemblies closer to the front. Now to figure out why chuff doesn't work - the reed switch opens and closes as it should, connections are per the ERR doco, and the chuff/blower steering diodes are pointed the right way.