I recently got my 1st TMCC locomotive - Lionel's baby Mikado, 6-38616.
I added ERR's Cruise Commander board.
I can control it using a CAB-1 or a DCS Remote (Version 4.01).

I'm new to TMCC and I haven't figured out the sequence for making a number of settings. Plus, it appears Cruise Commander has different key sequences and features.

Here are some examples of what I have found:

For setting and keeping 28 and 100 speed steps.
-CAB-1 key sequence does not seem to change these.
-DCS remote does change these but the settings are not permanent.
-With DCS Remote set to 28 steps, throttle will display up to 31 as thumbwheel is turned up. But engine does not move until Boost is tapped which increments speed a step at a time.

Anyone have any experience with my combination of components?
Have you had similar behaviors???

Thanks,

Tom

Tom,

Just give us a call, or email us, and we can help you setup the Cruise Commander (M?).

quote:

Originally posted by SantaFeFan:
Tom,

Just give us a call, or email us, and we can help you setup the Cruise Commander (M?).

Jon will go out of his way to take of you!!!!!


Doug

Not to sound like a snit, but the manuals are available on the website.

I have been working on a program that allows the serial port to be shared among several programs on the same computer. This would be a great application to show off what this could offer.

Jon,

Many thanks for your help.

I'll head down to my layout with my laptop and type up and email you with a list showing how my Cruise Commander M locomotive behaves using the CAB-1 and DCS Remotes.

Tom

Michael,

quote:

Originally posted by illinoiscentral:
Not to sound like a snit, but the manuals are available on the website.

No offense taken...
I used the ERR and Lionel manuals to learn how to operate my locomotive.
That's when I found that the locomotive is behaving differently than what is documented.

quote:

I have been working on a program that allows the serial port to be shared among several programs on the same computer. This would be a great application to show off what this could offer.

I'm very much interested in your program using the serial port.
It could help to see what commands are being sent from the Remotes.

Tom

quote:

Originally posted by TomK:
Jon,

Many thanks for your help.

I'll head down to my layout with my laptop and type up and email you with a list showing how my Cruise Commander M locomotive behaves using the CAB-1 and DCS Remotes.

Tom

Jon,
Just sent you an email with more details and some questions I have.
Thanks,
Tom

Tom,

So far all the program does is when a TMCC command is received, it decodes and displays the message in a grid, along with what time it was received. It also will relay the TMCC command to any program that makes a TCP connection to port 2343 on the local computer. If you do not understand that last sentence, don't worry.

It has
- NO help
- NO documentation
- does not re-use a TCP/IP socket when one is let go.
- it does not remember settings, and
- it tries to connect to serial port 3 and TCP/IP port 2343 from the beginning.

I can fix the the last bullet with not to much effort, especially since most people do not have serial port 3. (I have an old PCI board sporting 2 serial ports and one parallel port I was using for something that required me to have a second parallel port).

I can't remember if it will retransmit a command received on port 2343 back to the command base; it was my intention it should. I got mired in correctly decoding TMCC commands, and then was working on the settings.
If you are still interested, email me.

Michael,

Thanks for filling me in on your program.

I've been in touch with Jon @ ERR via email and he has the capability of reading the TMCC commands. He just upgraded his DCS to 4.01 and is checking out the TMCC commmands with 4.01.

So, I'll wait until Jon is done and then I might want to try your program.

Thanks,
Tom

P. S. My locomotive has a Receiver board labeled R4LC-S01 [which I think is meant for use with Legacy locomotives]. Jon told me that these boards were mistakenly sent out in locomotives that should have an R2LC board.

Tom,

I will continue to check out the DCS 4.01 to Cruise M usage and report; but sad to say the Cruise M and the R4LC are not going to work together. You will need an R2LC-C08 to R2LC-C13 to operate the Cruise M.

The R4LC in your loco was per factory spec, however we should have used the R2LC this loco model as the R4LC features are not in parity with the expected operation of a non-Legacy Loco. So, as shipped from the factory you got a bonus with the R4LC - upgrades are not going to work though.

Jon,
Just sent off an email to close with you.

I'm repeating it here for the benefit of those following this thread:

I see that having an R4LC is the reason for not being able to access all the Option Settings.

I guess I'm lucky in that I have DCS with 4.01 because it allows me to change speed steps.
And, I can see that anyone with just TMCC control won't be able to switch between 32 and 100 speed steps.

Since I've figured out the differences in using the DCS Remote in 32 and 100 speed steps,
I don't feel like I'm missing out on the other Option Settings (Motor Type and Cruise).
So, all in all, I'm happy with the upgrade because I wanted cruise control so I could run the locomotive at a slow and steady speed.

I put together some crib notes on how my locomotive works.
I would be glad to send you a copy if it will help you when you're checking out operations using DCS 4.01.

Thanks again for all your help,

Tom

Hi Tom and friends,

Here is my evaluation of the Cruise Commander product line on DCS 4.01 Op system. I connected a TIU with 4.01 to my home TMCC system (not Legacy). The R2LC was used in this test, as the R4LC is not recommended for the Cruise Commanders.

When setting the configuration of the Electric RR (actually now Lionel) Cruise Commander "M", you must use a Cab-1 or Legacy system in CAB1 or TMCC mode. The DCS system sends additional information with AX1 key presses; thus won't do the configuration sequences. This is the same as the Mini Commander setup, so nothing new here. Best to install and then configure the Lionel and Electric RR boards with the Lionel Remotes.

Now for the cool part. The DCS system has several cool enhancements that excite the operator in me. Truly at heart I love to run my trains, so any new goodies to tinker with when operating are neato! I like the new 4.01 DCS Op System! Kudos to MTH are in order!

The details - The SPD setting for 128 seems to operate my loco - so I surmise a relative command is being sent with a number on the display associated with the relative counts sent. As long as you have a good TMCC signal, the number displayed will be accurate to the Speed Step in the loco. I imagine there will be times when you will reach 0 on the display throttling down, and the loco will still be moving. Not a big deal, simply throttle down some more to stop the loco.

The SPD setting for 32 is absolute TMCC commands, unless the REL is pressed. The Cruise M product does not support 32 absolute commands, so SPD 32 won't run your loco unless you press REL. The loco did not move with SPD 32 unless REL is active.

I did not have time to look deep into the commands sent to the Lionel TMCC system from the DCS system. I was able to determine the above based on my Lionel loco behavior and based on my knowledge of the Cruise M firmware, so basically I can't say if the SPD commands activate any special features of EOB - as I was told the SPD 128 was developed to support.

Hope this helps a bit, and enjoy your Trains! So many ways to run 'em, how can we not have fun!