I picked up a pair of Del’s new RailBoss Plus radio control boards as a Christmas gift to myself. The “Plus” is and upgrade of Del’s previous top-of-the-line R/C board - The Enhanced Rail Boss.
The Plus version offers several new features over the Enhanced board. Del now has 4 sound triggers (increased from 2) on the right hand stick of a Mode 2 transmitter. Also added is a Low Battery warning system for LiIon battery packs. When programmed properly, the board will give you some warning that your LiIon pack is about to shut down. The Plus version also supports two trains operating simultaneously from one 5 channel transmitter. When 2 train mode is enabled, Momentum is no longer an available option.
Today I spent the day upgrading my Cheesy Sound trail car from the Enhanced to the Plus board. My trail car also includes a Phoenix 2K2 sound board and a speaker. This was basically a disconnect the old and connect the new procedure. The board looks the same but some connection points have moved and others have changed. I opted to keep the Rx connected to the Enhanced board and install a new Rx on the plus board. I didn’t need to pay attention to the differences in Rx wiring by doing it this way. I simply followed the diagram for the Plus board to hook up my Rx.
Because I opted for the Two Train function, my Rudder control was not being used. I picked up one of Del’s Trigger Boards and used it on the Rudder stick to gain two more sound triggers. Before I installed it, I checked out some of the optional modes for the trigger board. The alternating and ditch light modes were quite interesting effects. I had a hard time going back to the sound trigger mode after seing the lighting effects 
Once the board was in and operational I noticed a few other differences compared to the Enhanced board. Gone is the “bump” when the board is first powered. When the R/C system power switch is thrown, the only indication of power being applied is the head light. The headlight still functions as a feedback device flashing a heart beat until the RX and Tx are linked. The sound system stays pleasantly silent until receiving some input from the RailBoss (either throttle up or any one of the triggers). Once the sound system receives some input from the RailBoss it begins it’s engine start-up sequence.
Another difference I noticed is that while the heartbeat is active, the rear light no longer flashes. On the Enhanced board I was using, during the heartbeat phase of start-up, both front and rear LED outputs would flash. I had built a circuit with a relay to light bi-color LEDs at both ends of the trail car to indicate direction. To minimize battery drain, I powered the relay using the reverse light connection. When powering up and waiting for the TX and RX to connect, the Railboss flashes it’s heartbeat. The Enhanced board would trigger the relay and my LED’s would alternate color during the heartbeat. The Plus board simply lights the LEDs in their forward colors and the relay remains silent. I rather like this, but now I need to figure out an external feedback indicator. I can either change to using the Forward light connection for my relay or add a feedback LED powered by the Forward LED current source. I’m leaning toward the latter for the same reason I originally powered my relay from the Reverse light connection.
I haven’t had the train out on the layout yet. That will need to wait until Wednesday, if we have good weather. But so far, in testing on my short indoor track I’ve been very happy with the added features of the Plus version.
