Clear, concise instructions

Which gear are you trying to hook up? Your CAB 2 stuff?

Did your gear not come with a printed manual?

Jon

@BillYo414 posted:

Which gear are you trying to hook up? Your CAB 2 stuff?

Yes. I watched the videos and read the manuals. But what’s a available  is mixed and not exactly addressing my particular situation. It wouldn’t surprise me if it’s just something stupid on my part.   I used the power adapter cables to go from the legacy Powermasters to my post war ZWs. One powermaster to one zw each. I connected one common from the cab2 base to one of the ZWs. All of my commons from the layout go to a common terminal strip. A few actually ended going straight to the ZWs. I gave the Powermasters addresses. They respond with a red flash as if everything is working. I put a conventional engine one track. If I turn up the voltage it moves using the ZWs control arm. Was I still suppose to run wires from the A and U terminals to the track from the PMs?   I’m sure I’m just missing something simple.

Not sure, but are you saying you can't control your engines from the Cab2 remote and need assistance with that ?

For what it's worth, it might be something stupid on your part but I agree that the manuals aren't concise. Don't beat yourself up too much. They're written like so many other manuals...they got this intro and all this fluff. Very few people are interested in an introduction. The front cover should have a diagram of how to wire it haha I can read a picture faster than a block of text so give me that and let's get this show on the road!

I'm at work at the moment and lunch is winding down. I suspect somebody else can help but if not, I'll take a look later on and see what I can contribute.

I would guess this might actually be a problem in your remote settings. You probably have it all hooked up right! That was my issue when I was getting started.

@BillYo414 posted:

For what it's worth, it might be something stupid on your part but I agree that the manuals aren't concise. Don't beat yourself up too much. They're written like so many other manuals...they got this intro and all this fluff. Very few people are interested in an introduction. The front cover should have a diagram of how to wire it haha I can read a picture faster than a block of text so give me that and let's get this show on the road!

I'm at work at the moment and lunch is winding down. I suspect somebody else can help but if not, I'll take a look later on and see what I can contribute.

I would guess this might actually be a problem in your remote settings. You probably have it all hooked up right! That was my issue when I was getting started.

I actually sat down and drew out a “road map”. I think I know what I’m doing wrong. I needed to unhook my track power to ZWs and move it to the PMs on the A terminals. And I’m assuming I should still run conductors from U posts to my commons over at the Zws

The PM's basically vary the voltage to the track the  way a transformer arm does. You feed the transformer power (usually 18v or so, "A" in your case) to the powermaster, then that goes to the track (if you use block wiring , then each powermaster would go to one side of the block toggle, if you control it that way).

The Cab2 base 'talks' to the PM like it does an engine, and the PM in turn varies voltage to the track to control speed which allows controlling conventional engines.

The common would go from the track to the U (or in your case to both U's, since you have 2 transformers (I think), and you are using the A on both of them, that doesn't change.

True command control through the command base talks directly to the engine on the track equipped with the gear via a radio signal, different thing (and I apologize if you knew that already, just though I would mention it).

A picture is worth a thousand words...

Thanks fellas. I fired the idiot🤪 that hooked it up late last night that probably consumed a few cold ones. I figured it out. All is well as far as running conventional. Now I need to dig out  the boxes for a couple of my older TMCC engines so I can replace 20 year old traction tires. Once again, thanks for the help from everyone.

Glad you got it! Good luck on your traction tires.

I learned to read the entire instructions first - Why?

Here is an example: "Glue part A to Part B......" I then did that. The problem was obvious when I later read the second part of that sentence that read "....but first insert the assembly into part C"

Oops - maybe lacquer thinner will separate part A from B.

Lionel still needs to update their videos or remove them. They don’t cover the legacy PMs. They have a Video on the old ones that say you need PM Bridges of which I purchased and had to send back. Then in the PM manual, the part that tells you to hook up with the power adaptor cables is further back in the manual. I was using information from more than one source of which confused my simple mind🤪. No excuses, I just let something simple go over my head. Once again, I do appreciate everyone’s help.