Got it...doesn't apply to me then.
Thanks John.
Originally Posted by Burlington Route:
Got it...doesn't apply to me then.
Thanks John.
Maybe when you buy your Legacy system... 
I just found this thread and it helped me a lot. Thanks gunrunnerjohn!
Glad it worked for you. 
I just revisited a blue module I made that wouldn't program and found that when I slid the Exacto knife down along the blue module side, it cut a pin loose. Not easy to see. I resoldered that pin and now it works. There is no easy way to split the case.
Splitting the case is by far the most difficult part. Some of them come apart pretty easy, others are a bugger!
I've taken to moving the little resistor, no chance of cutting the wrong lead that way.
Well, I like it to crack along the seams. When's the last time you cracked a walnut and it fell perfectly in half? 
I put an exacto knife into the seam on the side and tap it down cutting the seam open. Where I went wrong was allowing the knife blade go too far into the module...and it cut some of the pin connections on the upper chip. I didn't see that right away...nice and clean cut .
I do something similar, but I try not to chop the module guts in the process!
Once you get a little movement, you can normally pry them apart pretty easily, it's just breaking that bond on one side that takes the time.
I used a box cutter, starting at pin end and then once I got some movement i just pressed down the full blade and pry instead of slice. worked great. glued them back together and painted and labeled.
You're welcome Carl, glad it worked for you.
John;
Thanks for pioneering this great information.
Very handy stuff!
You're welcome Rod.
I realize this has been up for some time now but I just found it. Firstly a huge thanks to John for passing this information along. I have now done this to 2 blue modules and works great! Saw it was asked about the “useless” white modules but no actual results. So I went ahead and tried it. It works and of course since it only has one chip it cannot hold a software upgrade but it can hold a multi-engine information. There of course has to be a limit but I don’t know what it is exactly. I have 16 engines loaded currently. So this goes for the white modules and all of orange modules. One last thing I found funny when I popped my last one there were two little capacitors in the bottom left. None of the others had this. 
Attachments
Images (1)
Good info about the white modules, I hadn't thought about a multi-engine module. I have about half a dozen of the white modules, I'll have to consider making them "green" modules.
@gunrunnerjohn posted:Good info about the white modules, I hadn't thought about a multi-engine module. I have about half a dozen of the white modules, I'll have to consider making them "green" modules.
for those of us that are electronically limited in chips, resistors and moving one to the other side, I found this on YouTube which they instructed to remove the resistor from the right side and solder a small wire on the left side.
and thanks John for the valuable find.
@Berkshire Bob posted:for those of us that are electronically limited in chips, resistors and moving one to the other side, I found this on YouTube which they instructed to remove the resistor from the right side and solder a small wire on the left side.
and thanks John for the valuable find.
I didn't "find it", I figured it out on my own. Note that his video is later than my post, so I suspect he's the one that did the "finding".
I posted: 11/11/12
Video posted: Dec 31, 2012
Yeah, the dates tell the story. This modification is a proven winner. I encourage anyone needing a writable module to try it.
I finally got a extra set of the blue modules for V1.2 and opened one up and un-soldered the resistor on the right and just used solder to make the connection on the left side. That was the hardest part. Updated my base to V1.60 and the remote to V1.61. Everything went accordingly.
Thanks for the tip.
Bob
Glad it worked out for you Bob, I realize that many folks find surface mount stuff a challenge to solder, but since I didn't invent the thing...
Have you or know of anyone that had taken the black module apart and compared it to the blue module to see if the chips are the same?
Trust me, the chips are the same. Even Jon Z. the guy that designed it confirmed they were the same.
Late to the party as usual, but I just found this thread and updated my Legacy Cab 2 and Base from 1.3 to 1.72 and 1.6. Thank you so much, John. I took a multi-year break from the hobby and didn't realize just how much had changed. Writable modules are pretty much unobtainable in 2023. You saved my bacon!
@PRSL Dave posted:Late to the party as usual, but I just found this thread and updated my Legacy Cab 2 and Base from 1.3 to 1.72 and 1.6. Thank you so much, John. I took a multi-year break from the hobby and didn't realize just how much had changed. Writable modules are pretty much unobtainable in 2023. You saved my bacon!
I'm glad this was useful for folks here. FWIW, I'm cooking some spare modules right now using those "free" modules. I'm surprised they're out of stock so many places!
@gunrunnerjohn posted:I'm glad this was useful for folks here. FWIW, I'm cooking some spare modules right now using those "free" modules.
Thank you, John! Like an idiot, I bought a NIOB version 1.0 990 on bee (in pig latin) without doing my "version" homework for a relatively embarrassing price thinking it could be upgraded easily. Now I've got to send it to Lionel for the upgrade and the black modules for version backup are nowhere to be found, not even as a grossly over-priced item on the above -referenced site. The update will likely take 8 weeks, but, in the meantime, I'll be able to turn my two blue 1.0 modules into backup copies of the latest version of the CAB-2 and 992 base software and handle future updates at home with your "fix." So, thanks again!
@Bill Swatos posted:The update will likely take 8 weeks, but, in the meantime, I'll be able to turn my two blue 1.0 modules into backup copies of the latest version of the CAB-2 and 992 base software and handle future updates at home with your "fix." So, thanks again!
You're most welcome, I'm happy to see that this thread has been useful.
@gunrunnerjohn posted:You're most welcome, I'm happy to see that this thread has been useful.
@Bill Swatos posted:Thank you, John! Like an idiot, I bought a NIOB version 1.0 990 on bee (in pig latin
Splitting the case is very, VERY tricky. Got one open and modified, though soldering the indicated pads together was difficult. Thought I was "home free" on splitting the other case until the label end wouldn't give way. Screwdriver slipped through on that end and...GONE!
After doing a bunch of these, I've kinda' developed a standard method of splitting the cases. I haven't lost one yet, and as I got better at it, the cases get less beat up getting them apart.
@gunrunnerjohn posted:After doing a bunch of these, I've kinda' developed a standard method of splitting the cases. I haven't lost one yet, and as I got better at it, the cases get less beat up getting them apart.
Indeed! Here's my first one:
I guess I got "cocky" and then destroyed my second one. I will NOT "attack" the label end again. Unfortunately, I've got to find another blue module now.
Attachments
Images (2)
What I do is use my X-Acto chisel and set it in the seam and tap it with a small hammer until I hear a crack, that tells me that I've broken the glue bond. Then I do it on the other side. I start at the connector end then do it once more farther up on each side. Finally, I carefully pry the sections apart. Usually breaking the glue bond on the sides is enough to open them up. If they resist, I do a little work on the top to crack those glue joints.
Thanks again, John! X-acto chisel sounds like a winner vs the jewelry screwdriver I was using!
Yep, the jeweler's screwdriver is much too narrow to break the glue bond all along the side.
