Cruise Commander in WBB Steamer

Nothing major.  You'll have the usual issues, what kind of tether to use between the locomotive and tender, how to generate the chuff for the sound board, etc.  The basic installation is pretty clear.

John, doesn't the ERR kit need something like an axle cam to trigger the chuff?  I guess not hard to do, never done one as I preferred using the PS2 kits for steam (course you need a flywheel) and ERR for diesel.

I have a WbB 4-6-2 and there's an arm on the valve linkage that I think made contact with a microswitch to enable the chuff:

If you want a prototypical 4-chuffs/rev, you'll need to do something different than having it on the rods.

Here is a video showing install into a Weaver steam engine, similar as yours, you didn't mention if you where going to add the sound commander or not,  You wll have to provide some kind of tether between engine and tender...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZw1Gz4ejv8

Marty

gunrunnerjohn posted:

If you want a prototypical 4-chuffs/rev, you'll need to do something different than having it on the rods.

Yep, I was wondering why they didn't put another arm on the other side to give at least twice as many chuffs

What would be nice is a 4-sided cam that clamps onto an axle.

Hmm, the chuff switch goes to ground?

Could I put some pieces of Kapton on the inside of a driver to make four pulses per turn, and just use a springy contact finger against the driver? Assuming a grounded metal driver, of course I would need enough spring to allow for the play in the axle.

The standard way to generate chuffs with ERR is to put one or two magnets in a tender wheel and use those to trigger a reed switch.

My solution nowadays is to use this with a tach tape on the motor flywheel.  No magnets, no reed switches, and fully programmable chuff rates.

OK, I'll bite. It's not the famous Super Chuffer, but it must be related. Picture name is "Chuff Generator."

Tell me more!

It's a flywheel tech driven sensor board that generates the chuff signal based on drive motor revs.  This board mounts on the side of the motor, and the flywheel gets a tach strip like you see for MTH PS2 or TAS EOB installations.  The number of pulses per chuff is programmable during installation to allow any chuff rate you desire.  It's to replace the reed switch and magnets on the drive wheels or tender wheels to generate the chuff signal for TMCC upgrades.  The chuff signal out of this board feeds the TMCC electronics and the Super-Chuffer.  This can also be used without the Super-Chuffer if you just want four chuffs/rev.

Availability? Didn't see it on Henning's web site.

John,

Will this chuff board work with anything other than TMCC?  What inputs/outputs?  Sounds (pun) like something I'd like to try on my BPRC engines.

PLCProf posted:

Availability? Didn't see it on Henning's web site.

It's not available quite yet, I have used about half a dozen in projects to make sure things are all laying flat and to work out any installation kinks.  I also have to come up with the installation instructions, but it should be available soon.

Bob Delbridge posted:

John,

Will this chuff board work with anything other than TMCC?  What inputs/outputs?  Sounds (pun) like something I'd like to try on my BPRC engines.

Bob, the requirements of this board is 5V DC for power at about 20ma.  It's "input" data is the tach sensor reading the stripes on the flywheel.  There is also a set of connections for a calibration switch, that's only used to set the chuff rate.  I typically use clip leads to jumper the cal switch connection and then just remove them.  I discovered the yellow jumper stuck up too far in some installations, and it's really not needed after installation. 

The board outputs a 10ms TTL compatible (0-5V) pulse at each chuff time.  The only "requirement" is the 5V common for the power supply is also the common for the output chuff pulse.

John,

Is the tach tape the same regardless of engine type (1 tape fits all) or is it necessary to calculate what size stripes are needed like in PS2?  Here's the diagram for wiring the MYLOCOSOUND into the RCS system, but I need to find out what voltages are used:

It may be that your board can be used instead of the MYLOCOSOUND and the RCS LT-SW4v2 boards.

Is all that is needed for your board the tach tape, 5v input and speaker for output?

I do not think John is selling a sound board.  He built a tach sensor that can replace the reed switch to generate a chuff input for Lionel TMCC/RS or ERR Rail Sound boards.  G

George is right, my board is simply to replace the magnets & reed switch to generate a chuff signal.  The output of the board is just a pulse based on the amount of distance traveled to trigger a chuff from the audio system.  This was designed with the TMCC retrofit/upgrade market in mind, and so targets that market with a needed capability.

Gotcha.