Motherboard replacement - useful or waste of time and $$?

[DavidD_OKC]

I'm considering trying the TCS replacement mother boards with keep alive incorporated on the board. Has anyone done this yet? I think there may be some space saving advantages and it might simplify converting some models to RailPro.

Thoughts?

[William Brillinger]

Those are very interesting!

There is a whole lineup of options made to fit different locomotives:
Diesel: http://tcsdcc.com/Zen/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=97_123
Steam: http://tcsdcc.com/Zen/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=97_122

I wonder what kind of adapter is needed to connect them to the LM.

They are kind of pricey, but if anyone is interested in order these I can probably provide about a 15% discount on them in small groups.

[G8B4Life]

Anything that can make installation easier is not a waste, it's just a matter of how much your time worth to do something like hardwire a module in compared to just replacing a board, and if replacing a board fit's your budgetary constraints.

Bill, they take a 21 pin decoder so you'd need the 9 pin to 21 pin adapter. I really wish TR would get on the ball and develop a 21 pin LM, the world is moving that way, even if the NMRA standards committee doesn't like it. "You can just use a harness" is not a valid reason for not developing it.

- Tim

[William Brillinger]

Yes, I see that these use the 21 pin.

https://www.tcsdcc.com/Customer_Content/Installation_Pictures/HO_Scale/Atlas/GP40%20Sound/Atlas%20GP40%20_WOW121-Diesel%20and%20AK-MB1.html

I'm going to send Tim a message suggesting that if he developed a new format for the LM with a down facing 21 pin, people could use these boards!

[G8B4Life]

I'm going to send Tim a message suggesting that if he developed a new format for the LM with a down facing 21 pin, people could use these boards!

I wish you luck The reply I got to that (quite some time ago now) was "you can use a harness", well, the trouble with that is that room for a harness is almost non existent these days. With a 21 pin he could add more functions as well, which are needed.

- Tim

[DavidD_OKC]

A 21 pin LM4S would take RailPro to another level.

I'll be in touch about making an order Bill. I think I would like to try these to see if it's worth the effort.

[William Brillinger]

My message to Ring:

Have you ever looked at the TCS motherboards?

If you designed a new flat package for the LM with a downward facing 21 pin plug, your LM would be instantly compatible with this product and your customers could have instant access to a simpler installation on a lot of models without the need for you to develop or produce these kinds of products.

I would encourage you to look at this idea, you could easily remove the fear that many people have about "hard wiring" and remove a mental barrier that people have to migration to RailPro.

There is a whole lineup of options made to fit different locomotives:
Diesel: http://tcsdcc.com/Zen/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=97_123
Steam: http://tcsdcc.com/Zen/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=97_122

Installation example: https://www.tcsdcc.com/Customer_Content/Installation_Pictures/HO_Scale/Atlas/GP40%20Sound/Atlas%20GP40%20_WOW121-Diesel%20and%20AK-MB1.html

And a reply from Ring:

As the 21 pin becomes more and more common it makes us more and more likely to make a module with a 21 pin connector. Thanks for the information.

[DavidD_OKC]

That's very promising Bill. Thanks for contacting Ring directly.

[William Brillinger]

Anyone interested in seeing a 21 pin decoder from Ring should also contact them.

[G8B4Life]

As the 21 pin becomes more and more common it makes us more and more likely to make a module with a 21 pin connector. Thanks for the information.

How much more common does he need to it be? Even stalwarts of the 9 pin (DigiTrax) have added two 21 pin decoders to their line. In fact the 21 pin is becoming so much more popular (thanks largely to ESU LokSound) that all the major US decoder manufacturers have added the 21 pin to their lineup. TCS way back I don't know when and NCE and DigiTrax in last year. That's a pretty big message to me.

Back to the OT, looking at this further, while the motherboards are good by using a generic 9 to 21 pin adapter to use them with an LM you won't get the Keep Alive functionality, and will have to mod the board to use functions 5 and 6 and the speakers unless you wire them as per a normal hardwire.

- Tim

[DavidD_OKC]

Good to know about the KA not being functional with a 21 to 9 harness. Thanks Tim - I wouldn't have known otherwise.

So I suppose the thing to do is write that note to Tim Ring.....

[William Brillinger]

I guess we could talk to TCS about developing a custom harness that would include both connectors for the LM.

[BruceRogers]

These boards seem interesting. I think I'll get some from my local hobby shop to test. The biggest advantage I can see is eliminating all those resistors one needs to wire in when adding the lights. It should keep the job tidier.

[DavidD_OKC]

The biggest advantage I can see is eliminating all those resistors one needs to wire in when adding the lights. It should keep the job tidier.

That's what I was thinking as well.

[William Brillinger]

I've been talking with TCS this morning about these Motherboards.
https://tcsdcc.com/Customer_Content/Literature/Motherboards/AK-MB1.pdf

TCS MB Diagram:


All of TCS' motherboards conform to the NMRA NEM660 Standard for the 21-pin connector. The pin-out for the 21-pin connector is as follows:



The KA is on Pins 16 and 20.

It looks to me like if Ring would offer a 21 pin version of the LM-3 then these mother boards would be plug and play for them.

TCS also indicated they will be offering a 21 pin breakout board soon, which would make connecting a current LM-3 fairly simple.

The TCS T-1-21 could also have the 6 pin harness added to it but it would be a little trickier. There are pads on the underside of the T-1-21 that appear to be for the Aux Outputs.

RailPro LM-3S wiring diagram included for reference: