R2LC Interchangeability?

This was posted several years ago and I kept a copy....

All told there are a total of 7 R2LC's that were produced thus far.

They are as follows;

C04 (early modular TMCC locos and command ready modular boards)

C05 (used exclusively in the Lionel Backshop)

C06 (used in the later TMCC steamers (such as the later semi scale pacifics and hudsons, after the whole motherboard issues were corrected)

C07 (used initially in the C-420's only, but then used by licensees)

C08 (the most common, produced in the largest number, compatible with all aftermarket upgrade boards, this is the board pretty much everyone uses; Atlas O, 3rd Rail, Weaver, K-Line (even the new SD70MAC's!, etc. the C08 board is also the one that will be sent to anyone who orders an R2LC from either us or DD.)

C11 (used in newer RS 5.0 locos with Odyssey)

C13 (U33 now the most current R2LC, used in all new production Lionel stuff with RS 5.0 and Odyssey)

While I really cannot comment on the differences internally with the software I can tell you that there are some (a very few at that) C06 boards with tunerless pots in circulation. Most all C04's, C06 and C07's have tuner pots (shiny metal adjustable frequency potentiometers) that can easily come out of tune to the 455KHz TMCC frequency if bounced around in shipping, etc. There are some C07's, all C08's, C11's and C13's have tunerless pots, meaning they withstand the bounces in shipping and are fixed to the 455KHz frequency.

Early C04, C06 and C07 boards do not support the AUX1 + 8 feature in the program mode (to turn smoke on/off at 12VAC constant) the C08, C11 and C13's do support the AUX1 + 8 program feature.

Hope this helps sort out the differences.

I've replaced a C07 with a C08 without issue a few months ago.  I actually had ERR program a C11 back to C08 so I'd have a spare of the most common version.  The C13 works well in anything I've put it in, but I don't have a spare of that one.

ERR is now supplying an R4LC with firmware version C08 with their products.  That appears to be plug compatible with the R2LC, at least for one instance that I tested.

C13 (U33 now the most current R2LC, used in all new production Lionel stuff with RS 5.0 and Odyssey)

Interesting. The board I swapped out of another unit to check if the C07 board was the problem was a C13. The unit was a Weaver brass Hiawatha that has got to be 10 years old. I wonder how that board got in there...

Thanks guys. I'll try a C08 board in the engine and see if it works.

The engine in question is a Weaver brass Hiawatha Atlantic. With the tender shell off, it was barely responsive to commands, taking a long time to respond to the throttle and not recognizing some commands at all. With the tender shell on, it didn't work at all. I checked tender shell isolation, which is OK. It worked fine with the R2LC out of the Hiawatha Hudson and the shell off. I haven't had time to test it with the shell on but will probably get to it tomorrow or Monday. I'll post the results.

Actually, the R4LC is the current production unit.

I think the discrepancy is because Jim S. was, in his own words, re-posting something from several years ago. 

Just clarifying what is really current.

Here's the final word on my R2LC issue. I found an extra C08 board in a box of parts, installed it and now everything works fine. I did have one strange problem when I put it back together; all the TMCC functions worked fine but the board would not accept reprogramming of the ID number. Turns out that the Program/Run switch is on the bottom of the motherboard rather than being screwed to the chassis as it is on most units. It sticks through a slot in the chassis. The motherboard has some slop in the mounting, and it had shifted enough so that the switch was physically blocked from moving all the way to Program. I loosened the screws holding the motherboard, slid it around a it, and retightened it. Now it works fine. 

One final question: might there be any possibility of reviving the board, or should I just keep it around in case I need a smoke triac or something? The symptoms were poor reception of commands. It would not always accept commands, and when it did run, it started very slowly and throttle response was delayed. This was with the brass tender shell off; with the shell on it wouldn't respond at all. I don't know what the replaceable components do. If one of them is an RF signal amp maybe that's the problem. If the main chip is bad, I assume that's the end.  

Hard to imagine this is the uP chip, sounds more like reception issues that have been reported in the past for some R2LC boards.  I don't know if that's something that can be fixed.

A few other facts. A CO8 board will sub for a CO7, but you need to reverse the marker light polarty. R4LC boards are for Legacy engines with the quilling whistle. R6LC are used in vision engines with more options. Example is the genset switcher with the 3 independent smoke units.

ERR is now shipping the R4LC board with their TMCC kits, it's still programmed with the C08 firmware.

I didn't realize there was a polarity change for the C07 to C08 transition.  I wasn't aware there was a "marker" output, just the front/rear lights, couplers, and the smoke output.  Which output are the markers typically connected to?

I would assume the polarity of the marker light circuit is only an issue if you have LED marker lights, right? It shouldn't matter if your locomotive uses ordinary bulbs. I just swapped a C08 for a C07 in an old Weaver Hiawatha, and the marker lights still work fine. Now that I think of it, they run off a CV board, not the TMCC board, so I guess it's irrelevant on that particular installation. 

Anyway, thanks for the info. If I have to swap R2LC boards on a locomotive that runs the markers off the TMCC, it will be handy to know. 

I'm still wondering where they're running from.   Must be the headlight circuit...

I'm not sure which pin outs control the marker lights. One example I know for sure is the early Camelbacks that have marker lights. If you replace the CO7 board with an 8, you need to reverse the marker light leads for the marker LEDs to oereate.

The info in this topic is great stuff.

Thanks to all for posting.

Rod