Jeff B. Haertlein posted:

I noted in OGR that Henning's Trains has a new replacement for batteries in Lionel TMCC etc. Have there been any comments about this new product? Is it the answer, and is it easy to install? Thanks!

Gun Runner John can comment further, but there was a very long thread on the forum about the development of the YLB.

To answer your questions, Yes it will solve sound drop out on TMCC and Yes (IMO) it is easy to install. It works very well!

Jeff B. Haertlein posted:

I noted in OGR that Henning's Trains has a new replacement for batteries in Lionel TMCC etc. Have there been any comments about this new product? Is it the answer, and is it easy to install? Thanks!

I just installed one on my Lionel TMCC 3-Truck Shay and it works great!  The only connection you need to make is to the center rail pickup.  As they say in the instructions, most pickups are tied together via wire-nut, so all you need to do is to remove the wire-nut, add the wire from the battery, and add the wire-nut.

I helped test this product, it works great!!  By buying it, you are supporting a fellow forumite who keeps bringing us great products to add play value to our trains.

C&O Allie posted:

Jeff B. Haertlein posted:

I noted in OGR that Henning's Trains has a new replacement for batteries in Lionel TMCC etc. Have there been any comments about this new product? Is it the answer, and is it easy to install? Thanks!

I just installed one on my Lionel TMCC 3-Truck Shay and it works great!  The only connection you need to make is to the center rail pickup.  As they say in the instructions, most pickups are tied together via wire-nut, so all you need to do is to remove the wire-nut, add the wire from the battery, and add the wire-nut.

Great thanks for the input!!

sinclair posted:

I helped test this product, it works great!!  By buying it, you are supporting a fellow forumite who keeps bringing us great products to add play value to our trains.

Support I will. Glad to hear that this item is working well.

Here's the YLB documentation, as you can see, it's pretty simple to install.  Click on the graphic to expand it if you have trouble reading it.

I am slowly adding these electronics to my tmcc/ Railsounds fleet of locos and Railsounds diners! 

Compared to the competition, this item does work on all the ones that I have ordered so far. My dealings with the competition was 50/50 at best.

Thanks for all your comments and instructions. I ordered one of the YLBs to see how I do with my first one. But it sounds like I will be buying more.

Thanks to all.

Jeff

gunrunnerjohn posted:

Here's the YLB documentation, as you can see, it's pretty simple to install.  Click on the graphic to expand it if you have trouble reading it.

 

John.  I can see where this great product is easy to install.  Almost too easy....

BUT  ,  I must be pretty simple!   I did not read the product description well enough.  I bought this in hopes of installing it in my Lionel, Two Truck Shay, conventional (6-11234) with whistle, bell, chuff & crew sounds.  Upon opening it up, I realized my error.  The question.  Is there any way to have this work for a conventional Lionel engine?  I'm no stranger to electronic PC bds. & components even though it has been awhile since I worked on anything (retired).  I've added many add on sound & reverse boards in recent years so I understand........ a little.

Dennis

Hartman, what is your error? This works just fine for conventional operation

Matt Makens posted:

Hartman, what is your error? This works just fine for conventional operation

As stated above in my post, this is a conventional engine. Not TMCC.  There is no battery connection.

Dennis

Hartman posted:

John.  I can see where this great product is easy to install.  Almost too easy....

BUT  ,  I must be pretty simple!   I did not read the product description well enough.  I bought this in hopes of installing it in my Lionel, Two Truck Shay, conventional (6-11234) with whistle, bell, chuff & crew sounds.  Upon opening it up, I realized my error.  The question.  Is there any way to have this work for a conventional Lionel engine?  I'm no stranger to electronic PC bds. & components even though it has been awhile since I worked on anything (retired).  I've added many add on sound & reverse boards in recent years so I understand........ a little.

Dennis

You obviously need a battery connection, and most RailSounds equipped conventional or command locomotives had them.  The exception is some of the new conventional RailSounds boards omitted the battery connection.  We've had this discussion before, obviously if there is no battery connection or provision, you can't use this battery.

This locomotive used the RS-Lite board, and it's the same basic design as the command version.  The figure below has a pointer to where the battery connects for the command versions, but we've been told some of the conventional versions did not support a battery.  I don't know if the 691-RSL1-016 is one that supports the battery, Lionel would be the folks to ask.

It's a bummer if they don't support the battery as conventional really benefits from having the battery, sound doesn't cut out whenever you change directions.

John.  It looks like the same board.

Looks like I may have to call Lionel for more info on this board.

Dennis

It is the same board, I took the picture from the Lionel parts page for your locomotive.   That connector in the upper right in your picture is the right size for the standard battery cable, and it's in the position the battery connection should be.  Here's the board for the Legacy U30C, that one for sure supports a battery.

So, if I understand this correctly, all I have to do is get a connection to the board where you point out and add the YLB per instructions.... ?

Dennis

MAYBE!

I know that the command versions support a battery on that connector, but I'm not sure about that particular board.  The matching cable comes with every ERR RailSounds Commander and should be in any locomotive that supports a battery.  Since there isn't a cable in that one, I'm not sure what the deal is.  Question: is there room for a battery?

"Question: is there room for a battery?"

Yes, John.  I tried a very fast fit, but did not make sure yet as that is when I discovered my dilemma.   The area under the roof between the engineer & the fireman looks like it will work with just a tiny bit of plastic notch out towards the back where the PC board sits.  If not, there looks to be a couple other areas to consider.  It's on my work bench and it's late, so I will study it tomorrow.

Thanks for your time on this,        Dennis

OK, John.   Two out of three ways to install a battery or YLB require some miner filing or cutting, but not much to make it fit.  I guess I will contact Lionel next week about what might be required to make a battery connection if more then just a two pin connector.  I will be back here to let you know.

Dennis

Well, it's thinner than a 9V battery, so that should help some.  It seems likely that they didn't intend a battery to be installed in this, but since it has the battery connection, one may well work.  You can get the battery cable from ERR if you don't have one.

The connecting part is easy no matter how it's done.  My concern is any issues tying to the connector causing damage to components on the board IF Lionel had made changes to this one since it did not need a battery.

Dennis

Well, I really doubt they made changes that would damage anything, most likely they would have left a few components off that dealt with the battery.  I'm guessing it's just as likely that this board will work with a battery but they didn't have room for the standard 9V battery so they simply left it out.