Looking for pin out info on a Cruise Commander

Try this:

    Cruise Commander Instruction Manual | 3rd Rail

Mike

Thanks Mike, I have the manual and it don't specifically call out the pins on these 2 connectors.

So this morning with a fresh mind and a cup of coffee I looked thru the manual again.

There's a picture in the antenna section showing the sound card connection, now can someone verify the following pin out is correct:

Looking at the connector from left to right

pin 1   power

pin 2  ground

pin 3  not used

pin 4  serial

Now to the rear coupler  connector, I dug out a continuity tester from the garage and found the front pin is common.

Now if I run the single wire from the rear pin to the coupler do I have to connect the common to make the triac work?

Thanks, Doug

@trnluvr posted:

There's a picture in the antenna section showing the sound card connection, now can someone verify the following pin out is correct:

Looking at the connector from left to right

pin 1   power

pin 2  ground

pin 3  not used

pin 4  serial

This is from the Railsounds Commander manual, so I think you are correct.

Now to the rear coupler  connector, I dug out a continuity tester from the garage and found the front pin is common.

Now if I run the single wire from the rear pin to the coupler do I have to connect the common to make the triac work?

I’m not sure, but the couplers are a two pin connector on the board. It would connect the electro couplers to those to be safe.

Doug, you have to wire the couplers to the Cruise Commander or DC/AC Commander. The Railsounds Commander doesn’t have pins for the coupler like older modular Lionel. If your Railsounds Commander is in the tender you need a wired tether or if this is an upgrade to a wireless tether steam engine you need to keep the wireless receiver board or motherboard that the old Railsounds boards plugged into.

Pete

Pete is correct Doug, ……where you mount the CC will dictate how you wire it,….but the coupler must be fired from the CC ….not the RS board…what and where are you mounting the CC in?…..is this the Commodore Vanderbilt you’ve been building?

Pat

Rplst8, thanks. that takes care of the sound.

Pete and Pat, yes it's the Commodore. The CC is mounted in the engine and I'm using a 691-PMB2-A00 powered mobo in the tender for the railsounds.  I'm working on the tether and want to use 1 wire for the coupler.

Doug

@trnluvr posted:

Rplst8, thanks. that takes care of the sound.

Pete and Pat, yes it's the Commodore. The CC is mounted in the engine and I'm using a 691-PMB2-A00 powered mobo in the tender for the railsounds.  I'm working on the tether and want to use 1 wire for the coupler.

Doug

If you’re mounting the CC engine side, you’ll need to carry back to the tender power & ground ( unless you’ve modified the tender for pickups )  serial data, at least one wire for the coupler ( firing side ) and one wire for the reverse lamp (you can use common for the other side of the lamp if using incandescent) …..irregardless if the tender has pickups or not, I run the hot & the not back through and tie them all together …..makes traversing switches and crossovers a breeze….and a tip Doug, ….add some weight to that CV before you button her up for good,….they need it …don’t ask me how I know this …..😁

Pat

@trnluvr posted:

Rplst8, thanks. that takes care of the sound.

Pete and Pat, yes it's the Commodore. The CC is mounted in the engine and I'm using a 691-PMB2-A00 powered mobo in the tender for the railsounds.  I'm working on the tether and want to use 1 wire for the coupler.

Doug

FWIW, you'll need at least couplers, serial data and ground in the tender if you have pickups on the tender.  I'd use a 4-pin tether, that way you can also have a backup light.  Do NOT try to use the ground through the track if you're sending serial data over to the tender, that's an experiment doomed to failure.  If you don't have pickups on the tender, you'll also have to send over track power for the sound.

Thanks gentlemen.  To be clear, I'm using the original 6 pin tether 3 wires(pwr-grnd,serial) for the sound board, 1 for the coupler, 1 for rear light and 1 for the YLB. I originally wanted to add pick ups but with the new and improved Lionel parts I shelved it for now.

Pat, Thanks for the tip on the weight, I wouldn't have thought about it. I imagine you added it to the shell and over the drivers?

Doug

@trnluvr posted:

Thanks gentlemen.  To be clear, I'm using the original 6 pin tether 3 wires(pwr-grnd,serial) for the sound board, 1 for the coupler, 1 for rear light and 1 for the YLB. I originally wanted to add pick ups but with the new and improved Lionel parts I shelved it for now.

Pat, Thanks for the tip on the weight, I wouldn't have thought about it. I imagine you added it to the shell and over the drivers?

Doug

I mounted the weight on the chassis, ….I was concerned with how thin that shell is that it might sag the body over time …..

Pat

@trnluvr posted:

Thanks gentlemen.  To be clear, I'm using the original 6 pin tether 3 wires(pwr-grnd,serial) for the sound board, 1 for the coupler, 1 for rear light and 1 for the YLB. I originally wanted to add pick ups but with the new and improved Lionel parts I shelved it for now.

Pat, Thanks for the tip on the weight, I wouldn't have thought about it. I imagine you added it to the shell and over the drivers?

Doug

If the sound board is in the tender and you have track power, why does the YLB need a wire?

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

If the sound board is in the tender and you have track power, why does the YLB need a wire?

I'm using the J-3 connector on the CC for the power, is it ok to tie in the YLB there?

Sure, that's track power.  The max draw of the YLB is 1/2A when it's initially charging it's supercap, and that's only a brief few seconds.  Normally, the YLB isn't drawing any significant power.

@harmonyards posted:

I mounted the weight on the chassis, ….I was concerned with how thin that shell is that it might sag the body over time …..

Pat

Thanks Pat, I'll most likely have more questions when I get to that point.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

Sure, that's track power.  The max draw of the YLB is 1/2A when it's initially charging it's supercap, and that's only a brief few seconds.  Normally, the YLB isn't drawing any significant power.

Thanks John, One more question. Should I use chassis ground or the ground from the CC for the coupler and light?

@trnluvr posted:

Thanks Pat, I'll most likely have more questions when I get to that point.

Thanks John, One more question. Should I use chassis ground or the ground from the CC for the coupler and light?

I’m getting ready to mount a weight in another CV chassis Doug, ….it’s your thread, so if you’d like to see a pic, I’ll post it up on here for you,..

Pat

@trnluvr posted:

Thanks John, One more question. Should I use chassis ground or the ground from the CC for the coupler and light?

For couplers and lights, I use the CC grounds on the 7-pin connector.  For smoke I use chassis ground.

@harmonyards posted:

I’m getting ready to mount a weight in another CV chassis Doug, ….it’s your thread, so if you’d like to see a pic, I’ll post it up on here for you,..

Pat

Sure, I'm real interested in seeing how you've handled it, sir.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

For couplers and lights, I use the CC grounds on the 7-pin connector.  For smoke I use chassis ground.

Thanks, I just happen to have a extra wire for this.

This little block of Mallory ( over the gear box ) is the cat’s meow!….just the right amount to add the needed weight when I do the Pittman swaps. This  was pre-tested via a rectifier before board fitment with 35 freight cars in tow…..

Pat

@harmonyards posted:

This little block of Mallory ( over the gear box ) is the cat’s meow!…

What is Mallory?

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

What is Mallory?

A very dense metal used in the automotive industry to balance crankshafts, etc,….it is an alloy normally twice the weight of the same sized steel,…

Pat

Odd, I looked it up and I couldn't find what it was.  I changed the search to Mallory Metal and got some hits.

The Mallory alloy most commonly used for balancing crankshafts is known as Mallory 3000. Consisting of 90 percent tungsten alloyed with nickel and iron, Mallory 3000's 17.0 g/cm (roughly 6.14 lb/in) density is twice that of steel.

Odd specification, roughly 6.14 lb/in.  lb/in is not a measure of volume.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

Odd, I looked it up and I couldn't find what it was.  I changed the search to Mallory Metal and got some hits.

The Mallory alloy most commonly used for balancing crankshafts is known as Mallory 3000. Consisting of 90 percent tungsten alloyed with nickel and iron, Mallory 3000's 17.0 g/cm (roughly 6.14 lb/in) density is twice that of steel.

Odd specification, roughly 6.14 lb/in.  lb/in is not a measure of volume.

Neither is g/cm!

Put the nomenclature aside,…..it’s heavy, how’s that?…..😁

Pat

Close enough Pat.

I call excessive thread drift! 

@Bob posted:

I call excessive thread drift! 

We were exonerated by the OP…..😁

Pat

@rplst8 posted:

Neither is g/cm!

Gram per cubic centimeter …..that’s kinda a volume thing buddy …..

Pat

@harmonyards posted:

Gram per cubic centimeter …..that’s kinda a volume thing buddy …..

It would be, but the abbreviation for Cubic Centimeters is CC, not CM.   cm is the abbreviation for centimeter.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

It would be, but the abbreviation for Cubic Centimeters is CC, not CM.   cm is the abbreviation for centimeter.

It’s supposed to look like this, so I can see where that definition you found is misleading….

Pat

Interesting stuff for sure, Thanks for sharing Pat. At this point where I am I don't see a way to use a block like that with out changing to a smaller smoke unit and moving the CC forward . I'm going to use Johns tag line here, It would be nice if this metal was available in flat stock and make a thicker and oversize gearbox cover and get the same weight that you get from the block. I have no idea how hard this is to work with.

I'm guessing if you have an odd shaped block it wouldn't be easy for mere mortals to shape it into something reasonable.   Given the hardness of other tungsten alloys, I would expect this to be a fairly hard metal.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

I'm guessing if you have an odd shaped block it wouldn't be easy for mere mortals to shape it into something reasonable.   Given the hardness of other tungsten alloys, I would expect this to be a fairly hard metal.

It’s hard, I’ll give you that, but it’s not hard to work with,….cut off wheel on a battery grinder tool, and a half descent drill press with sharp bits and some cutting oil,….

Pat