I was wondering if anyone here knows if it's possible to fit a ERR mini commander somewhere in a Protosound 1 Steam Locomotive or it's tender. I have a Proto 1 steamer that has an awesome sound set and would like to keep it. Any help or suggestions?
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Can a mini commander handle the power of a full sized steam loco motor?
You can't keep the sounds anyway with the MC2, and it's certainly not up to the task of handling a full sized steam locomotive.
There was some brief discussions about someone looking at building a TMCC interface board for PS/1, but I haven't seen anything in some time, and I suspect that idea was stillborn. The existing products that were created to do that have long since been out of production.
I only want the mini commander to handle motor and lighting functions. The PS1 soundboard prime mover sounds are prompted by track voltage. I can get power to both boards separately. I just need to know if there is enough room under the locomotives shell or in the tender. If a mini commander won't work what about a full size one? I have no idea of how big these actually are so I cant even guestimate how much room they take up.
If you're running command, the track voltage will always be high, and the prime mover will be at notch 8. If you're going to run conventional, just run it as a PS/1 locomotive with the stock hardware.
And the PS1 sounds aren't pure track voltage, they also have to do with motor power draw. So if they aren't connected to the motor(s) you will get only one speed sound, which is top speed.
Okay then it looks like locomotive will get the full over haul and I will install RS and the full size commander. I am doing a MTH Protosound 1 Steamer and Amtrak Genesis with smoke. Will I be able to connect the smoke unit into the commander? According to the MTH tech guy it runs on track power.
You can connect the PS/1 smoke unit directly to the smoke output of the Cruise Commander.
Make sure you get a cruise commander, rather than the DC commander. The difference in price will be long forgotten as you enjoy the difference in performance and operational ability.