ERR Cruise Commander, no directional lighting.

First off, disconnect the RS Commander, let's test the Cruise separately.

Program the Cruise Commander with the feature code of AUX1-8 and see how it works. 

Disconnected the RS Commander. At first no change with lighting but I tried hitting AUX2. After that the rear light came when in reverse but the headlight still refuses to shut off no matter what direction the locomotive is in. Yes I wired the headlight to the appropriate terminal. Ran the locomotive for 10 minutes and and it changed direction fine, no matter how many times I hit the direction button. The headlight stayed on no matter what. I tried the same thing again with the RS Commander connected. Same result as with the RS Commander disconnected, worked fine after 10 minutes but headlight refuses to shut off. Headlight is always on and does not respond to the AUX2 command to shut the light off. Is this a board problem I'm going to have to send back to ERR? Is it and issue with the radio board?

As an aside I've ordered 7 boards from ERR in the last 6 weeks, 4 AC Commanders, 2 Cruise Commanders, and 1 Railsounds Commander. Everything has worked flawlessly except the 2 Cruise Commanders. I had to send one back because, after 4 hours of use, it would short out when power was applied. This one has issues with the headlight not shutting off.

Did you do what Gunrunner suggested?  It sounds like your diesel thinks it is a steam locomotive based on headlight performance.

Run/Prog switch to Prog

ENG, idnumber, SET, AUX1,8

Track power off

Run/Prog switch to Run

The AUX1, 8 combination is required for proper diesel performance.

Bob posted:

Did you do what Gunrunner suggested?  It sounds like your diesel thinks it is a steam locomotive based on headlight performance.

Run/Prog switch to Prog

ENG, idnumber, SET, AUX1,8

Track power off

Run/Prog switch to Run

The AUX1, 8 combination is required for proper diesel performance.

Yup. I did that when I set up the locomotive and did it again when John asked me to. Made no difference. 

It really sounds like it's configured as a steam locomotive, remember that the AUX1/8 is done while still in PGM mode, not in RUN mode.

I think you need to reread what he said.  Even AUX 2 does not shut off head light.  SO either the R4LC Triac is shorted or Head light tied to a constant source.  Swap in a R4LC to figure if that is bad.  After that you have to resolve the degradation with sound connected.  G

GGG posted:

I think you need to reread what he said.  Even AUX 2 does not shut off head light.  SO either the R4LC Triac is shorted or Head light tied to a constant source.  Swap in a R4LC to figure if that is bad.  After that you have to resolve the degradation with sound connected.  G

Winner. I swapped in a R4LC board out of another locomotive I converted to ERR recently and programmed the board (ENG, 39, SET, AUX1, 8). Locomotive ran perfect, directional lighting worked fine, and headlamp could be turned on and off via the AUX2 key. Swapped the R4LC that came with the Cruise Commander back in and programmed it (ENG, 39, SET, AUX1, 8). Went right back to having the headlamp always on and not responding to direction or the AUX2 key. So apparently there is something wrong with the R4LC board that came with the cruise commander kit. Is this something I can fix at home or do I have to send the radio board back to 3rd Rail? The board seems to work fine besides the lack of headlamp control. The front and rear lamps in the locomotive are 12 volt grain of wheat bulbs, if that makes a difference.

Edit: I should note that I have corrected the locomotive getting stuck and not responding symptom. I changed the position/length of the antenna and that problem went away.

Send back to ERR for replacement.  Glad you got it.  G

I contacted ERR. Waiting to hear back if they want me to send just the radio board or the radio board and cruise commander board back.

Yep, probably easy to fix, but you shouldn't have to fix new stuff.

ERR is sending me a new radio board, so all should be well soon.

Surprisingly I've had issues with both Cruise Commanders I've ordered yet the four AC Commanders I've bought have been flawless. Even though I've had issues Scott at ERR/3rd Rail has been very responsive to problems, so I have no qualms about ERR products going forward.

I believe there is some issue with the handling of the serial data, either with the R4LC or the Cruise Commander, and maybe both.  Since the AC Commander doesn't use the serial data internally, it doesn't buffer it, it just ships it through to the sound connector.  This likely results in not having a potential issue with the serial data.

That very well could be. Although it was odd that I was able to pop a radio board off of an AC Commander, put it on the Cruise Commander that's giving me issues, and have the Cruise Commander work perfectly. 

Well, we know that some of the R4LC boards have had issues.  I have yet to trip over a problem set, so I can't say what might be causing the issue.

I'd send you the problem radio board to check out but it's going back to ERR. Otherwise I'd let you have at it to diagnose the issue. 

Well, with the light on all the time, it sounds like the headlight triac is bad.  OTOH, unless the headlight was shorted, it's hard to see why it should be bad from the factory.

I spent some time with the 'scope with an old stock and new 3rd Rail Cruise Commander, I swapped various R2LC and R4LC versions in.  I couldn't find any difference in the operation of the either the R4LC, R2LC, or the different manufacturing location Cruise Commanders.

I did see that the assembly house that is building the R4LC is a bit sloppy, they apparently do all the thru-hole stuff by hand and don't bother to clean the flux off the boards after that step.

I didn't cause any short in the headlamp circuit so I guess it's just possible that the triac was bad from the factory. It's getting replaced so for now that's all that matters, at least to me.

I still have no qualms about buying any new ERR products. 3rd Rail and Scott have had great customer service. 

Just an update. I got a new R4LC from ERR and installed it. Everything works perfect now. Apparently the R4LC in the kit had an issue from the get go.