Retrofitting ERR TMCC to a K-Line E8

You would power the MARS board from the forward lighting output of the DC Commander.  Why aren't you using the Cruise Commander, the addition of cruise control is huge when you're running.

I'd pick a 2" speaker, which is the size made for the tank, and mount that in the tank, it's the best place for it.  I'd use something like the Visaton K50 8 ohm Speaker.  You can steal the wires with the connector off the ERR speaker.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

You would power the MARS board from the forward lighting output of the DC Commander.  Why aren't you using the Cruise Commander, the addition of cruise control is huge when you're running.

Because I have several DC Commanders lying around and no Cruise Commanders? Any idea which connector on the Mars board (blue or brown) would go to the common? Were Mars lights always on when the train was running forward? Only time I've ever seen them in real life is when a train was entering a station.

You should have room in that engine for a 2” Fatboy or similar tall speaker and place in the engine. The screens on the body will let the sound out.
This is a Weaver E8 with a Cruise Commander and first generation ERR Railsounds. The new ones are considerably smaller.

The board that has many wires to it and the cap can go. Mars light board is up to you. If you don’t put a smoke unit in there you use the R2LC and the correct feature code for mars light. You will likely want to keep the board for the ceiling fans.

Pete

Decided for the time being to just mount the speaker that came with the ERR E8/9 Railsounds kit in the fuel tank with a few drops of Alene's Tacky Glue. That should hold it well enough barring anything but drops, and it can be removed later should I decide to go another way. Wasn't sure how well that would work, which was why I asked, but for the moment, being the only engine on a test track, it sounds OK. And, if I later decide to replace it with another speaker, or mount it in the body with the sound baffle, I can. At least I now know a couple of other options, and have expanded my knowledge base via the suggestions offered by John and Pete.

Kept the fan board (wrapped in Kapton tape to prevent shorting and taped to the inside of the shell to keep it out of the way). Again, something I can always more permanently attach elsewhere later if I need to. I was worried that the fan motor in the shell wouldn't clear the ERR board's heatsink, as I just drilled out an existing hole in the chassis to fit the heatsink's mounting screw without thinking that the fan motor would need to fit in when I reattached the shell. Thankfully it did.

The Mars light board (with its back covered in Kapton tape) fit in the space between the ERR boards and the program/run switch. Thought long and hard about replacing it with Ngineering's N8031B/N8101 combo and going with LEDs for the light, as it takes up so much less space, but since the board is working, and HERE, that's what I went with, again, for now.

Benched on the test track, it's all working, and I thank both of you for your input and suggestions. Now if I could just work out the shipping delays on 3 different shipments of 18" Golden State cars I could run it at the club...