A New One - Sound not Working - Fixed!

Ok - I did some more testing.  When on, the bell responded to the conventional button, not to the Cab2.  My guess is that I need to use the serial out wire to send the sound signals to the sound board.  So my next questions are:

Does this sound correct?

If so, which wire do I connect the serial out wire to?  

In the pics below, the harness is the 4 wire one on the end (green, black, red, yellow).  Is green the serial wire?

The instructions tell you to splice into the serial data wire to provide serial data to Cruise M.  So the wire you used to get serial to Cruise M, still needs to go to the tender via the tether.  G

Thanks - that is what I thought.

So in my 4 wire tether pictured above, which is the serial wire?  The tether has green, yellow, red, and black wires and I don't have a schematic to know which is which.

Thanks in advance.

Just ring out the wires in the tether connector on the engine side MB to pin 24 of the R2LC, that's the serial data line.

Thanks John.  I'll try to figure it out tonight.

Ok - I'm still at a loss.  I did a continuity check and Pin 24 on the R2LC compared to the 4 wires on the tether.  The Green Wire on the tether to the "tender" showed continuity to Pin 24 and no of the others did.  So it looks like everything is ok.  This is my second Cruise Commander M install and the first one worked fine.

In summary:

What is working:

• Engine Movement (Forward and Reverse) with 100 Steps
• Couplers (Front on Engine, Back on Tender)
• Lights (Front on Engine, Back on Tender)

What is not working:

• Sounds in Tender (are stuck in Conventional Mode)

In terms of the Sounds, All I get is the ambient steam noise.  Whistle and Bell react to power pack Whistle and Bell buttons.  No Chuff sounds at all.

I did reinstall the Lionel board and everything worked fine (including sounds).

I guess I will contact Electric RR next.

First question, was the CC-M the one that's labeled Steam and Diesel?  I had issues with the older ones taking too much from the serial data line and causing issues with either the sound or the CC-M serial data causing runaways.  I solved my problems with a buffer.  This removes the extra load imposed by the input of the RailSounds board and allows everyone to get a good serial data signal.

Hi John,

Yes, this is the new version of the CC-M.  I actually had it in my T1 and the sound worked fine for that (except for the bad sound board with no chuff).  I then swapped it out for a second CC-M in the T1 to try to fix the missing chuff, so I know it is good since they both worked (minus the chuff) in the T1.

Try a different sound board to see if that's the issue.

BTW, do you have any good pictures of the boiler layout?  I have this locomotive and I'm thinking of trying to cram the Super-Chuffer into it, but I'm not sure there'll be room.

I'll take detailed pics for you tonight.  I think it would be tight, but might be doable.  I did have an issue with the CC-M as the screw that holds the heat sink for it interferes with the Serial signal plug with the wire that goes to Pin 24.  I had to just put electrical tape over it and then remove the pin from the harness plug and plug it in without the housing.  There might be room to tape the Super-Chuffer to the CC-M board vertically (I might do this too, assuming I can get the sound to work).

I've had to reorganize things in locomotives to do the upgrade, the Lionel Camelback was really tight.  I had to remove several connectors from the MB and solder direct to fit the CC-M into the space the DCDR occupied.  Just from looking at the exterior of the Shay, it seems there's not going to be a lot of room.

Yes, it is pretty tight, but since the CC-M board is vertical, there should be room if you tape the Super-Chuffer to it also vertically directly to the CC-M.  BTW, did you install the CC-M in your shay?

I have not done anything to the Shay, but after getting the Legacy 2-Truck Shay, I realized that my older TMCC one needs some upgrades.

Success!  I swapped the R2LC with the one from my Yard Goat and the sounds started working!  The Yard Goat also works with the Shay's R2LC.

John, here are the pics of the shell and electronics.  Looking closer, there should be room for the Super-Chuffer on top of the R2LC, but it will be close.  There may also be room in front of the smoke unit in the boiler, but that should also be close.  I think my next step (maybe after you change yours) is to try to do that plus the Chuff Generator.  The issue with that is the flywheel it's irregular shaped suite to the closeness of the boiler.  I think our would sound much better with more chuffs.  The other option is to use a reed switch with lots of magnets as there is plenty of room on the wheels.

I don't see it fitting on top of the R2LC or in front of the smoke unit.  It might fit under the smoke unit...

I think you are right.  There is plenty of room between the bottom of the Smoke Unit and the front set of wheels.

Here is a video of the completed engine with my scratch built caboose.  It really needs a Chuff upgrade now!

The chuff HAS to be fixed, you're right about that!   I'll have to figure out how to use the tiny flywheel...

I was thinking of maybe gluing pickets around it to hold the tape, but I don't know what the clearance is.  This one may be easier to do the magnet thing, but I don't know.

I'll have to look at it...  I'm thinking maybe a thin plastic "skirt" to put the tape on.

While it is not the prototypical 18 chuffs per revolution (6 per rev of the drive shaft x 1:3 ratio of drive shaft to wheel), I updated it to 6 chuffs per revolution using a reed switch/magnets on the driver.  It sounds much better now!