# Confused novice installing Revi in RS-3



## Joe McGarry (Jan 4, 2008)

This might have been better to post in the Beginners forum.

I bought an Aristo Revo and am trying to install it in an early non plug and play Aristo RS-3. The installations are a little vague for a novice like myself.

I got a non-PNP board for this loco. It has 7 screw terminals on the end, and looks like the receiver should just plug into the board and wiring connections made at the screw terminals. However I also recieved an adaptor board with a 12 pin socket that the receiver fits into. This board has 7 wires on the end for wire connections. To add to my confusion the connections appear te orinted differently.The adaptor board has 1 TRK and 1 MOT connection on each side. The non pnp board looks like 2 TRK terminals on one side and 2 MOT terminals on the other. See photo










Be happy if someone would clear up my confusion. Sure wish I was smart instead of good looking sometimes Thanks in advance for any help

Joe


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Yes, the connections are organized differently... if you look on the small board, the wires sort of come right off the pins... the larger non PNP board has the connections reorganized. 

Use the larger board, it gives better support to the board. 

Regards, Greg


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## Torby (Jan 2, 2008)

Hmm. Stan must be busy. I watched him put one of these in a battery car. He'd know the details as to which wire goes where. 

I've never had an RS3 apart, also, being temporarily financially challenged, I don't have a rev yet. The larger board is fairly well marked. You need to trace out your loco and figure out which wires go to the motors and which go to the pickups. I'd put the connections labeled "Track" to the battery  

The little board seems to be the same as the bigger board. I'm guessing here, that the red wires go to the motor and the gray to the battery. Could be the other way around, so look in the papers and see. There are a lot of instructions at http://www.aristocraft.com. Just click the button that says Technical Support on the left. There's one about putting it in an eggliner, and you can see they separate the motor from the pickups and wire the little board in.


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## eheading (Jan 5, 2008)

Your're absolutely right, Torby. The black and red wires go to track (or battery if appropriate) and the grey and orange wires go to the motor. The smaller board is the one that comes standard with the Revolution receiver. The one with screw terminals is an extra cost option, and Aristo apparently has grouped the leads/terminals on that board to combine functionality. The small board just brings the leads directly off the board in the order that they appear on the connector.

Hope this helps a little.

Ed


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## Stan Cedarleaf (Jan 2, 2008)

Tom.......... nope, not sleeping... fully awake. I made contact off line and will offer help by phone...









That's much easier for me.









Joe.....

Ed has given the solution in a nutshell. I rarely hook up the lights to the REVOLUTION. I just let the board in the locomotive take care of the directional lighting. Much more simple. It basically becomes a 4 wire hookup.

From the manual... Page 32 for the hookup...

http://1stclass.mylargescale.com/st...Page32.pdf

Also, here's a very simple drawing for the Non PNP board. In short, if you insert the board in line with power input from track or battery to the main board, it will operate the lights. I don't use smoke in any of my installs and just unplug the smoke unit.


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## Randy Stone (Jan 2, 2008)

Ah, the MSL gang comes through again.


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## Joe McGarry (Jan 4, 2008)

My sincere thanks for your responses guys, 

You answered all my questions. I just didn't want to makes a mistake and smoke something. All the support here sure helps my self confidence. 

What a great site this is, and a great bunch of guys 

Joe Mc


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## billsharron (Jan 3, 2008)

Stan, you really hit the nail on the head with your comment about letting the existing board handle the lighting. Works perfect for me as well. As you say just a four wire hookup!! Adding the sound boards is simple as well. Love the Revos


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Actually, you can hook any type of decoder up that way. 

What you lose is constant lighting, and independent control of lighting functions. 

Like everything else, it's a tradeoff between effort and function. 

In the RS-3, I would probably wire up the socket to power the headlight and backup light, since they dim and go bright and have constant voltage lighting, although you did not indicate battery or track, but what I said is true in either case. 

Regards, Greg


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