Rewiring the Lionel Back shop 6-22918

I have the back shop. It was upgraded with the motherboard from Lionel. It works in conventional mode. It has two buttons. One to open/close the doors and one to turn the machinery on. Why do you think it would not work in conventional mode? I do not have control of the smoke in conventional. So your rewire does give more control.

Joe,

When I got into this a few months ago, the only board I could buy was apparently a completely new update from Lionel.  As soon as I pulled it out of the package, the instructions said it would not work in conventional.  I did not try to make it work and sent it back to Lionel.

As you probably know, there was a flurry of updates when the backshop first came out.   I don't know when your unit was updated  but it appeared to me that original update was no longer available and the "brain" I had was not functional as it was. Based on pictures, it appears I had the original electronics.

Interesting.  I guess Lionel did another production run of the motherboards.  Wonder why they removed the conventional option.  Glad you got it up and running.  Its a pretty cool accessory.  I upgraded the lighting as the stock lights were way too dim.  I put a strip of leds in the ceiling.  They are bright white so it gives it a really good shop look.  Now you can actually see the machinery and the figures inside.  Looks like you got yours running well.

Does that RF module learn different modes for the 4 channels?  It seems for (A) smoke and (D) machinery you want self-lock: press turns on, press again turns off, etc.  But for (B) door-down and (C) door-up you want B and C paired in inter-lock mode: press B for down, press C for up which also clears B, press B for down which also clears C, etc.

Also, some of these modules with inter-lock will pair A & B, or C & D and don't offer pairing of B & C which you apparently got to work?   Inter-lock is a nice feature for train applications where two momentary button with latching is useful - up/down, open/close, fwd/rev, etc.

Stan, you are right about B and C but this unit does not do that.  I spent some time trying to find one of these RF units to do that and was unsuccessful.  So for this one here is the sequence: Push B for down: when the doors are stopped by the cam switch, press B again to reset; for up then press C and when the doors are stopped by the cam switch, reset C with one more push.  Now you are ready for the next cycle with B.

Joe, you are on the money with the LEDs, I did the same thing and it does look a ton better.

Drat.   But thanks for confirming my suspicions.  I've been looking for the mixed-mode feature in a low-cost wireless relay module.  With these modules you have to take the published instructions with a grain of salt and really need to get one in hand and try it yourself!

Anyway, whether it be the Backshop or other similar "complex" layout accessories you frequently need a combination of self-lock, inter-lock, and jog modes to activate the various animations.  It appears to get mixed-mode operation you still need to buy separate relay modules (about $3-4 per relay on eBay) to perform the different modes.  So in hokie71's case he could have used two 2-channel relay modules...one set for self-lock mode (for Smoke and Machinery) and the other programmed for inter-lock mode (for Door Up and Door Down).

Pair the simple relay modules with one of the 4-button RF remotes.  Stan, you're the master of eBay building blocks, let's see your configuration!

I vote with GRJ.  Something small and capable like Stan describes would be super. Thinking back on my decisions at the time: 1) did not want two fobs to keep up with; 2) was worried about space and where I had to pack everything under the roof; 3) finally, I don't remember if I  found one of these Rf relay boards with even dpdt relays??? (After all that scrolling, the eyes glaze over.)

Stan's comment on instructions is so true, this one came from the big river site since the documents there gave me an idea I knew what I was getting.

As long as the relay modules are of the so-called "learning" or "learn-mode" type, they can be configured using the on-board button to respond to the same fob.  So you can have two 2-channel relay modules both responding to the same 4-button fob.  But it does require a bit of extra wiring to run 12V power to both modules and a bit of extra space and mounting hassle.  A learn-mode relay module with multiple SPDT relays can be configured so that, say, 2 relays respond to the same button press on the fob; this could implement DPDT. 

I've noticed over time that functions increase over time even though the printed instructions don't - hence my initial question.

I agree it can be frustrating trying to understand what these things do and how to use them.  I noticed, for example, that the big-river module calls each channel a "Road"...so channel 1 is Road1, etc.   Other relay modules refer to "common" terminal as the "public" terminal.  Some refer to "self-lock" vs. "latching", or "inching" vs. "jog", and so on.