Updating older post war engines to TMCC

The ERR AC Commander will do the job very nicely, I've put it in a variety of locomotives.  It actually offers performance considerably better than the old 32 step TMCC that was used by Lionel in production.

Sound is available as well, I personally thing it adds a nice dimension to running the trains.

Thanks GRJ, as long as it is practical I'll seriously think about doing that. I probably have the skills to do it, and if I don't, there are folks like yourself doing it, and given these engines have meaning, wouldn't mind paying someone to do it either. 

I converted my 2343 F3 with an AC commander.  It was not difficult at all.  I did add a sound card which is great at idle but when it starts moving the motor noise drowns out the sound card (including the horn) - they didn't call these growlers for nothing,  I added a tether for the coupler and headlight {directional} in the dummy unit.  As John points out, there is a considerable  improvement in performance.  Cruise control is not available for the AC motors.

Following is a short video of 2343 in action.

Danr posted:

I converted my 2343 F3 with an AC commander.  It was not difficult at all.  I did add a sound card which is great at idle but when it starts moving the motor noise drowns out the sound card (including the horn) - they didn't call these growlers for nothing,  I added a tether for the coupler and headlight {directional} in the dummy unit.  As John points out, there is a considerable  improvement in performance.  Cruise control is not available for the AC motors.

Following is a short video of 2343 in action.

 

Thanks Dan for the reply and the video. I kind of like the sound of the motors on the unit, it almost out prime movers a prime mover...a horn would be nice,anything would be better than the original equipment one,many a one rotted out by a leaking battery.

I converted my old 2037 last year and it runs amazing with the AC commander. I prefer to run it in the command environment over conventional. The 100 speed steps are great! I personally don’t like the AC motor engines, but this one was my first and felt that I needed it to be functional if I wanted to run it. This is it on my friends in progress layout. 

Some of the smoothest running of the post-war offerings were the NW2 switchers with cast frames.  Adding an AC Commander to one is a perfect combo.  With the ability to activate couplers anywhere they can perform yard duties better.  

i have upgraded 3 Pullmor motored examples to date and anxiously await the chance to get more kits.  Maybe a solution to AC power with cruise will happen some day.

Bruce

I was sold on the AC Commander when I did my Lionel Phantom motor upgrade, described in my previous thread Improving the Lionel Phantom Locomotive.

It had the old LCRU2, and even though the second motor solved the traction issue, the running characteristics were pretty poor.  Changing to the AC Commander was like night and day, I couldn't believe the operational differences. 

Bruce, I wouldn't look for a cruise for the AC motors any time soon, Jon Z. was working on it, but the characteristics of the motor didn't allow good low speed performance.

Danr posted:

Following is a short video of 2343 in action.

 

Dan, that Fastrack treatment looks great. Could you briefly describe what you did to make it more realistic like that? I assume some kind of paint wash and side ballast added.

@SPFord27 did you happen to take any photos while you were upgrading your 2037?  I am soliciting photos / examples of upgrades to steam locos with the "parallel plate" spur gear motor.  I have a couple of these kits, but when I sat down to do it, I struggled with laying out the capacitors, wiring, etc. and still having it fit in the shell.  Some of these locos are fussy to reassemble even without additional components dangling off of the brush plate!  Grateful for any photos or advice!!

Ted S posted:

@SPFord27 did you happen to take any photos while you were upgrading your 2037?  I am soliciting photos / examples of upgrades to steam locos with the "parallel plate" spur gear motor.  I have a couple of these kits, but when I sat down to do it, I struggled with laying out the capacitors, wiring, etc. and still having it fit in the shell.  Some of these locos are fussy to reassemble even without additional components dangling off of the brush plate!  Grateful for any photos or advice!!

I didn’t take any photos. I can dig it out and pull the shell for you. I used the eyelets that came with the kit as mounts for the capacitors. I didn’t hook up the smoke unit to the board as I wasn’t sure if it was safe to (if someone knows what the smoke unit limits are in the AC/DC/mini commander please let me know). I mounted the board in the tender and used a scavenged tether to tie them together. I updated the tender trucks to metal and included an electrocupler. I have headlight control and coupler control with it in its current state. I need a chuff kit for it (if anyone has one available) so that I can install Railsounds. At this point, I may wait until the new Railsounds commanders are out and install one of those. If I use what I have laying around, I will mount the sounds in a Boxcar and use a one pin tether from the tender to the Boxcar for the serial input (I have a rs3 set laying around). 

Here is a picture of it prior to the upgrade. The red circles indicate where I mounted the included eyelets. I soldered one end of each capacitor to each eyelet under the motor screw and the other end to each brush terminal where the factory wires were soldered on. I didn’t cut the legs of the capacitors so that I could lay them flat against the motor frame. The rear eyelet is where I mounted an additional ground.

I have a gg1 from 1996 with two pulmore motors. Would the AC commander give me command to run with my tmcc handheld?  I don't need sound as you could not hear it anyway. 

If they become available again about how much would it cost to have it installed. 

How much just for the AC commander itself?

thanks,

Dave

david1 posted:

I have a gg1 from 1996 with two pulmore motors. Would the AC commander give me command to run with my tmcc handheld?  I don't need sound as you could not hear it anyway. 

If they become available again about how much would it cost to have it installed. 

How much just for the AC commander itself?

thanks,

Dave

Yes, the AC Commander will easily fit inside the traditional GG1.  It will do exactly as you wish under command control.  Adding sound would complicate the installation some, but only with regards to squeezing everything in while making sure the motors swing without binding.  You''ll get directional lighting that can easily be upgraded to LED's.  Your vintage GG1 might not have electro couplers so calculate upgrading to them into the price.  Like other TMCC equipped GG1's a pantograph performs antenna duty.  You'll end up with a TMCC GG1 just like The first one that Lionel produced in 1996...it came with no sound too.

The AC Commander was $69.95.  I'll let those who do installations for others give their quotes.

Bruce

I think the price went up to $79.95 on the 3rd Rail Order list.

The AC Commander even at $79.95 is well worth the price to get Command Control on the post war engines. I have converted a number of my post war American Flyer locomotives using this motor driver, works great and not a difficult installation.

Ray

david1 posted:

I have a gg1 from 1996 with two pulmore motors. Would the AC commander give me command to run with my tmcc handheld?  I don't need sound as you could not hear it anyway. 

If they become available again about how much would it cost to have it installed. 

How much just for the AC commander itself?

thanks,

Dave

Just another thought. As you say you don't need sound so all your trying to do is run the engine via command. Have you thought about a TPC300 or TPC400 this way what track your using for the TPC, any of your conventional could run. Now you wouldn't be able to run a command engine and a conventional at the same time on the loop but if you have a dedicated loop you could use this or even the powermaster's 

Thanks for all the responses, much appreciated. Now I have to decide what I shall do.

Dave

Can the AC commander be configured to blow the old whistles? When it comes to Postwar, I only run steam and would only convert my engines if I could have the whistle still. Sound seems wrong to me, they're toys that we can now run under command control.

@SPFord27 please don't take it apart just because I asked.  However, the next time your 2037 needs maintenance or you do the chuff upgrade, I would love to see some detailed close-ups of the finished installation.  Nothing wrong with your explanation, but I can't really visualize what you're saying from the "before" photo.  Thanks!!

GenesisFan99 posted:

Sound seems wrong to me, they're toys that we can now run under command control.

Well, you can keep running in conventional.

GenesisFan99 posted:

Can the AC commander be configured to blow the old whistles? When it comes to Postwar, I only run steam and would only convert my engines if I could have the whistle still.

It's possible to do this, the AC Commander outputs a 5V logic signal on one of the sound card output pins.

Ted S posted:

@SPFord27 please don't take it apart just because I asked.  However, the next time your 2037 needs maintenance or you do the chuff upgrade, I would love to see some detailed close-ups of the finished installation.  Nothing wrong with your explanation, but I can't really visualize what you're saying from the "before" photo.  Thanks!!

Here are some pictures with the shell on. The rear capacitor is easy to see, there is a picture of the ground and the front cap is there too but it’s way up near the top of the chassis.