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Hi All,

I'm hoping for a little advice or help with my first ERR install.  I don't have the part number for the engine handy, but it's a conventional K-Line Virginian FM Train Master that I bought new at a train show several years ago. It always ran fine, but I thought it would be a good candidate for an upgrade to cruise and railsounds.

I worked on the install on Saturday and I thought everything went well. I got the cruise commander in along with the railsounds board. I had it on the track for a little bit and everything seemed to be working as expected.  Came back after dinner a few hours later and started it again. It made it half way around the upper loop when it suddenly stopped moving, but the lights and sounds were still working. I shut off power as fast as I could and inspected the track and cars. No derailments and no track obstructions that I could see.

Now when I try to use it, it just takes off.  I use a CAB1L and when I hit the DIR button it will stop, but then when I turn the knob all I get is a quick "buzz" sound.  I coupled a lighted caboose to it and notice that when the buzzing happens, the lights in the caboose blink, as if there's some kind of short somewhere.

I have disconnected everything from the cruise commander thinking maybe I messed up on the wiring when making the connections. Right now, I only have the common, hot, motor 1, motor 2, the antenna, and the program/run switch connected. I verified that I have all the connections correct, but am still having the problem.

I have also double-checked to make sure I had the switch in the Run position. I have also tried doing a reset with no luck.

What I have noticed is that the R4LC board doesn't look right. There is some hazing (for lack of a better term) around some of the soldering. I have attached a picture. Does that indicate a blown or faulty board?

If so, I can get another one but I'm mystified as to what caused it and am worried I did something wrong, but don't know what.

If the board looks normal, then I am completely out of ideas and will probably have to find someone who is willing to look at it for me.

Any help is appreciated.  Thank you!

R4LC1

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  • R4LC1
Last edited by Zeke
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Hard to say what happen but the flux on R4LC can be normal from manufacturer.  Your at the point where you need to see if the R4LC works in another engine, and then inspect Cruise CDR closely for a damaged part.  Any pinched wires, something wired wrong?  If R4LC works, the Cruise cdr may be damaged.  Best to send back to ERR for evaluation.  G

Thanks G!

I'm a little leery of digging into one of my other locos (I only have 2 other older TMCC locos and I'm not sure they would used this board?).  I checked again for pinched/bare wires and don't see anything obvious. I'll send ERR an email and see if they have any suggestions.

Thanks again!

Thanks John!  I'm not an electronics guy, so didn't know that.  At least I learned a little something new today - always a good thing!

It's starting to look like either the cruise commander or the R4 board is bad for some reason. I just wish I understood why it worked initially and now doesn't.

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