What is this?

[Mohawk Valley]

This LGB shunter has been acquired, supposedly DCC with an address of 9.
Yeah right! It doesn't respond to anything and I’ve never seen anything like it before. It’s marked Trainline, train control, MLAN.
There is an USB port at the front, a blue female jack plug to the left, a huge speaker in the cab, and three bits of electrical trickery that are wrapped up in electrical tape…
When the DCC controller is powered up, a red light, marked pwr lights along with a green unmarked light, which flashes on and off as if there is a poor connection somewhere.
Can someone please tell me, what it is? How do I get it running? Is it of any use? Is it bin fodder?
I’m running track powered DCC.

Cheers
Martin

 

[PhilP]

Educated guesses only.. I will consulate Google in a minute.

What is wrapped in tape? - Batteries, perhaps?

It says Trainline and suggests it might be WiFi?
I don't see any I'd, serial numbers, or FCC approval, so that is a guess.

It would be nice to see the other side of that pcb, as well..

PhilP.

 

[PhilP]

It looks like one of these, but with the terminal blocks not fitted?

PhilP.

 

[Gizzy]

Have you tried it on DCC address 0?

Or a DC analogue controller....

 

[Mohawk Valley]

It looks like one of these, but with the terminal blocks not fitted?
View attachment 344216
PhilP.

Thanks Phil…
Some further digging and unwrapping that horrible insulation tape stuff…

Limited electrical knowledge, but two of the wrapped packs look like capacitors…then there is what looks like a very small decoder with 6 wires coming out of it. There is a 4 gig SD Toshiba memory card.
What you have found looks like a version of it…I have no idea what controls it or how it works and I suspect it’s bin fodder, unless someone on her can make use of it…it’s no use to me!
Cheers
Martin

 

[PhilP]

Horrible!
A Raspberry Pi, another board, then a mickey-mouse power buffer, by the looks?

I am sure someone thought it was wonderful, but not having any documentation, or access to the software to control it, I think I would remove the lot, and start again. - The speaker might be usable, though?

PhilP.

 

[Mohawk Valley]

Have you tried it on DCC address 0?

Or a DC analogue controller....

Ok, same results on DCC address 0 and analogue controller.

Red light marked PWR comes on
Green light marked ACC comes on and flickers, then stays steady then goes out. Slightly moving the engine from side to side makes the green light come back on, so there might be a bad connection there.
Put controls to reverse and rear lights cone on, no front lights.
No movement from the loco at all. No sound.
Switch the controller off and the red light stays on for about a minute, so I think the capacitors are a stay alive of some sorts.
At the end of the day, it’s not working properly even on DCC address 0
Cheers
Martin

 

[Mohawk Valley]

Horrible!
A Raspberry Pi, another board, then a mickey-mouse power buffer, by the looks?

I am sure someone thought it was wonderful, but not having any documentation, or access to the software to control it, I think I would remove the lot, and start again. - The speaker might be usable, though?

PhilP.

My thoughts entirely,,,the speaker is staying

 

[dunnyrail]

Just another thought are you able to read the decoder to see what address it is? May just be worth checking to see if it is 6 before you bin it. Has the memory card been soldered though it looks like it is in a push in slot? May be of use in a other mode. Though 4gb these days pretty tiny.

 

[Mohawk Valley]

Just another thought are you able to read the decoder to see what address it is? May just be worth checking to see if it is 6 before you bin it. Has the memory card been soldered though it looks like it is in a push in slot? May be of use in an other mode. Though 4gb these days pretty tiny.

I afraid the decoder doesn’t read anything except a nil feedback. Presuming the decoder is the tiny circuit board, it has 6 wires coming from it. The memory card is a push in type and maybe worth keeping, although I’m not sure why, but I don’t like throwing things away.
The USB port and ‘stick’ is interesting, but I’ve no idea what it’s for, unless it’s loaded with sounds. All in all, it’s very large and seems quite primitive for something made in this century…I’m afraid most of it is going to be FIB (filed in bin)
Cheers
Martin

 

[PhilP]

The little dongle in the USB socket is WiFi or Bluetooth..
It looks to me as if track-power hits that bridge rectifier to give DC to drive the electronics.

Without the 'throttle' app on a device, you will never have control..
I don't believe track-based DCC signals ever get to the decoder. In fact I am not sure the decoder is driving the motor?

PhilP.

 

[dunnyrail]

Sounding more n more like trash.

 

[Mohawk Valley]

The little dongle in the USB socket is WiFi or Bluetooth..
It looks to me as if track-power hits that bridge rectifier to give DC to drive the electronics.

Without the 'throttle' app on a device, you will never have control..
I don't believe track-based DCC signals ever get to the decoder. In fact I am not sure the decoder is driving the motor?

PhilP.

At the moment, nothing is driving the motor…
Cheers
Martin