Adding Cruise Control to K-Line J1e Hudson?

tackindy posted:

Ok John. I've ordered the PN2222a part (10 of em).  I'm trying to figure out which wire goes to which lead on the pn2222a.  They are advertised E, B, and C but I don't know what that means.  

 

That's a great choice of a general purpose transistor. The C, B, E are Collector, Base, and Emitter. In John's diagram, the C is at the top of the transistor where the orange wire goes, the B is in the middle where the 1000 ohm resistor goes, and the E is on the bottom of the transistor where the 100 ohm resistor goes.

Ok, so I need to buy the resistor's also?  I didn't even realize those were separate pieces in the diagram!  Oh boy.  Ok well I'm doing it that way so I'll go find some!

This should help.

Yes, you need the 1K and 100 ohm resistors as well.  They can be 1/8W or 1/4W small resistors, they don't handle any significant power.

You did not come up with this buffer.  ERR was using it before GRJ  Plus, it was modified with recommendations from Jon Z.  He also thought 3904 was a better transistor to use.

Having said that, I have been running into issues with ERR upgrades and sound lately too.  Almost every upgrade has issues to work around.  I have a feeling some components on the ERR boards must have been changed. Leaving serial data more susceptible to degradation with RS 4.0.

On my latest upgrade, I did not use the serial data from the Cruise CDR 4 pin connector.  I used that for powering sounds, but feed Serial Data directly from R2LC pin to the RS system.  That eliminated the buffering ERR uses on their boards.  That worked.

ERR Products with ERR Products no issue.  The composite assemblies where ERR integrates with Lionel RS 4.0 which is what K-Line is has caused the issues with the current boards I get from ERR.  It is funny ERR says to use the diode, which I have tried with no success when K-Line and Lionel products are still the same as when ERR first started with this.    G

GGG posted:

You did not come up with this buffer.  ERR was using it before GRJ  Plus, it was modified with recommendations from Jon Z.  He also thought 3904 was a better transistor to use.

Well, Jon did make a recommendation to improve it, but the one that ERR published was quite different and didn't work for me.  That's why I came up with this configuration, because it did work for me.

Here's the one that I got from ERR a long time ago, it was for the IR tether as it also draws too much current and attenuates the serial data.  This is an inverting configuration, I wanted a non-inverting configuration, hence the emitter follower.

GGG posted:

Having said that, I have been running into issues with ERR upgrades and sound lately too.  Almost every upgrade has issues to work around.  I have a feeling some components on the ERR boards must have been changed. Leaving serial data more susceptible to degradation with RS 4.0.

I remember a couple of those.   I first needed my buffer when I tried to use a CC-M and the ERR RailSounds Commander with a standard TMCC motherboard.

tackindy posted:

I unplugged the tender from the engine and still had issues running it with the tender unplugged (sounds came on when I selected engine just no sync with engine).  But removing the tender from the track fixed it!  So I think you're on to it.  

Given this result I fail to see how a buffer will correct the problem. When you disconnected the tether, the RS boards could no longer load the serial data line, yet the engine still not behave properly. Only by taking the engine off the tracks did the engine run as it should. You need to check the tender for pinched wires or any bad boards by removing the boards one by one leaving it on the track disconnected from the engine until the engine runs properly.

Pete

I'm not sure either Pete, those results don't make much sense to me.

Ok, here's something I found.  I opened up the tender and there is a 9-volt battery plug in there.  But it appears to have another 9-volt plug on it, maybe linking the pos/neg terminals, instead of a battery.  Should I remove the plug covering the one with the wires and put a battery on it?  

It’s just an insulator to prevent the terminals from touching the wrong things.

cjack posted:

It’s just an insulator to prevent the terminals from touching the wrong things.

Ok that makes sense.  Then, what would putting a battery there do?  Save settings?  

Allows the sound to stay active when cutting the power like in conventional running. Also keeps the sound from suffering when going over a noisy place in the track. With some engines, the sound dies if going over a part of the track where the power is momentarily absent.