Cruise Commander M

Chuck, Hopefully JonZ or Bill will respond. I have used the generic board in most all of my installs but I also make my own 6 pin to 4 pin connectors. The Diesel Odyssey DCDS boards use a 6 pin connector while the steam and generic boards use a 4 pin. Not sure if there are firmware differences but all my engines work.

That said, it appears your Wabash Hudson has an AC motor and isn't a candidate for Cruise.

Pete

Thanks, I forgot about the Wabash being AC motor.

CJack,

You may want to touch base with ERR directly. Ken, who has been really helpful should be able to steer you in the right direction.

Chuck,

Use the Cruise "M" All steam in your upgrades withe the exception of the Wabash. The older Cruise "M" boards for steam with wireless tether needed a separate 5v supply depending on the motherboard. The all steam has the 5v. Also I couldn't find a 6-28034

Bill

Thanks, will do.

6-28034...  http://www.lionel.com/Products...neID=&CatalogId=

So that's the CRCDR-MOD kit that's All steam?

What is the CRCDR-M Tether kit for?

The all steam covers all steam engines, wire and wireless tether. The CRCMDR M Tether was only for wireless tether. This changed about a year ago.

Bill

Thanks Bill. I guess the reason all my generic Cruise M installs work is because none are in engines with wireless tethers. 

Pete

What about the CRCMDR-ODY KIT?  Other than the included connector, is there any difference in the board? 

The reason I ask is I had one on hand and needed one for a standard upgrade.  It worked fine as a DCDR replacement, so I assumed that it was just the included accessory bits that are different.

How about VCO .

Is that a question Bill?

No

Can you be specific?  I don't see a difference, and the board is happy in the locomotive, so where's the VCO?

I always assumed the VCO was part of a diesel sound board to ramp up prime mover when running in conventional???

Pete

I have no idea why the CC-M would have a VCO, hence my question.  As you say, that's a function of sound, at least that's what I thought.

VCO was the additional chips on the mother board.  Those mother boards took a feed off the motor leads back into the MB for the VCO input.  Some Lionel and Atlas Lionel TMCC units have it.

I don't understand why all the cryptic responses on ERR stuff.  Why not just a complete answer on the differences?

The answer on the differences was what I was looking for.

John,

  Not all motherboards contain a VCO. Most odyssey diesels have the VCO built in to the DCDS, this is why we have a Cruise "M" Odyssey Diesel. The VCO is built in for a exact replacement. The Cruise "M" needs the VCO from the motherboard that uses a DCDR. So if you do a little research you can find the few motherboards that contain a VCO.

Bill

OK, that makes sense.  Since I was putting it in a steamer, I guess that was a moot point.

And Now we have knowledge.  Thank you, Bill.  G

According to Ken at ERR, they are moving to a single board design for all CC-M kits, so this may all be a moot point soon.

I have been thinking about this as Rudy didn't make VCO sound like a big thing and ODY board wouldn't needed it with a direct input for speed from the tach.  So it really depends on what the RS System needs to trigger sounds.

So ERR has 3 different boards and they don't work in the wrong type of engine?  I guess because they are back emf driven, but still wouldn't that be the input along with serial speed command?  So you have to have a serial out from a Cruise M Motor driver to trigger diesel ramp up?  G

Apparently, they are moving to two, the ODY replacement with the VCO and the "standard".  I think the issue with steam and diesel (non ODY) boards was the diesel didn't have the drive to connect the wireless tether.  I think they're going to eliminate that one and just use the improved drive board for non-ODY applications.

 ERR had Cruise M, Cruise M ody diesel and Cruise M wireless tether. The difference between Cruise M and the Cruise M for wireless is the 5v supply kit. Before you ordered you needed to know the engines motherboard part number. The last three of the mb 036 or 0B9. Last year they done away with the 5v kit and just made one board for all steam which is nice.

Bill

Unless I'm mistaken, the CC-M is for steam or diesel, and the CC-M (ODY) is for Odyssey.  Isn't that the current situation?