AF Railsounds

I believe conventional RS has a different board that is not compatible with the serial command data.

The instructions for the ERR board operating conventional whistles is only for the AC or DC Commander, the Cruise Commander doesn't have that output.  Also, they tap into the board at a component level and trigger the whistle/horn with the 5V logic signal, you'd have to find where to connect for the RS board, which could be difficult to impossible.

I confess that I don't know if you can transplant the RailSounds chipset to a command board, but my sense is probably not.

What exact product was used to convert the locomotive in question to TMCC?

Ray,

   Forget about the Mini "X" as it "WILL NOT" support sounds. There is a newer board, RCDR that will support sounds.

Bill

As I said, I believe if these are conventional RS, they won't accept the TMCC command stream from the MC-EX.  Can you tell us exactly what the part number on the RS boards are, as well as exactly what is on the label of each of the audio board PLCC chips?

Bill, how about having a conventional RS system, is he going to be able to use the serial data?

I didn't think you could drive the conventional RS with serial data, so the choice of a TMCC receiver is probably moot.

Bill, I haven't used the MiniCommander EX for sound, but they say it drives sound in the description.  What's the problem with it driving sound?

From the ERR website:

The Mini Commander EX has a full complement of outputs for supporting dummy engine applications.  Outputs feature support for directional lighting, coil couplers, ditch lights, and a re-configurable output for strobe, smoke, or cab lighting.  Additionally, serial signals are output  for sound systems.

John,

   I don't know why, I tried to run a sound board at one time and it didn't work. Called ERR and was told it would not support RS. Below is the new board schematic.

Bill

That's very interesting Bill, I wonder why they don't fix the website!

Bill & John,

Thanks for the replies to my question about the conventional railsounds in conjunction to TMCC.

Ray

At least on the AF Milwaukee steam engine, the Railsounds are completely separate from the engine electricals, so the TMCC board would not affect the Railsounds board one way or another.  The chugging is activated by the sensor on the tender axle so no difference there.  The constant 18 volts won't affect that.  The only things that would be not be operable with the TMCC control (Cab 1) would be the whistle/bell effects, which could still be activated with conventional whistle/bell buttons, and the crew talk - which seems to be pretty random any way when the engine is stopped.

The Mini Commanders (ACC, ENG, EX) supply RS serial data, but note the output drive level is limited which works in most configurations, but not for the latest RS upgrades offered at ElectricRR.  We have signal boosters available to overcome the limitations of the drive levels, however I will review and adjust the website, time permitting.

The RCDR board is not standard issue, but maybe we should make this available for upgrades, this board has different limitations though.

Thanks for jumping in Jon, I'm glad you supplied additional information.  Any chance of putting a diagram for a simple signal booster on the ERR tech pages?  I'm assuming it's just a buffer to increase the drive, or would it be more involved?