Over 100 LENi's are in use all over the world. This was a fun project and
at this time I have run out of affordable parts to continue. As always, I
have made all the information and schematics available free of any charge to
anyone who wishes to repeat my experiments, or use them as a starting point
for even more fun experiments that I have not even dreamed of yet.

Here is a compilation of the mods that make an ENi a LENi ( "L"ionel
schematic+ ENi board= LENi). Many other add-ons can be adapted, as we have
put the speaker modules, lights, audio dividers, scalers, digital displays,
preamps, etc. into them, and all of that is likewise drawn out, here and
there on the Internet.

Refer to the FILES section for blow-by-blow picture sequences, schematics,
board mods, etc.

The evolution of the "LENi" from an ENi using Lionel schematic:

For updating ENi to LENi, refer to earlier posts for background on LENi,
DIGiLENi, SCINTi-LENi, VISiLENi at GCE Page 1
# 136, 151, 208, 232, 895, 1129. Sooner or later I will get all that
transferred to these pages here at CDV-700 club with the pictures going into
the FILES section.

All modules for the Victory 7000 will work on all the LENi's too. Speaker,
Sonalert, power LED, F-S response switch, pulse LED etc. For cool mods to
your Victoreen '700 look up the Victory 7000 articles...


Here is the final schematic, scan it and stick it in the case bottom over
the old schematic. New cover for instruction manual too. Except for this
schematic, and ENi board layout, all the other pages in the manual are from
the Lionel CD V 700 6B. FILES SECTION

The Electro-Neutronics CD V 700 model 6b has had a bad reputation for 40
years. On the other hand, the Lionel CD V 700 model 6b is regarded by many
as the best circuit ever, but has severe mechanical shortcomings.
Surprisingly, of all the variations in CD V 700's I have seen, including
Victoreen's various models, and the Antons, there is no circuit more similar
to the Lionel's than the ENi! At least it is similar enough to make a
logical transformation that is really significant electronically, but easy
to do.
In my opinion the physical layout of the ENi is better than that of the
Lionel, so the merger of the Lionel circuit concept into the ENi mechanical
layout really does give the best of both worlds.


By performing the simple and inexpensive K0FF LENi mod, you can create an
Lionel clone from an ENI.

The LENi modification procedure:
HV Power Supply

Look at the power supply schematic of both the ENI and the Lionel to observe
the "before" and "after" circuits. The picture "cut-traces" gives a
pictorial layout of which parts to remove, and what parts to put in their
place. Don't overlook the "jumper" at the end of the wire which replaces
CR7. It will make a connection to the original PC pad, and continue on to
the next one too. If this is not clear, write to me. You can actually make
the whole mod without being able to read schematics by following the
pictorial.

Take our ENi apart and modify the power supply first.

1) Remove the Zener diode CR6( sometimes 2 diodes in series) and discard, it
will not be used.

2) Remove R13 and reinstall it in series with the base lead going to the HV
transistor. Easy to do by cutting the trace, and tack solder the resistor
across the gap.
.
3) Add a .0025 uF 50 V capacitor between Base (B) and Collector (C) of
transistor V4. This can be tacked on the solder side of the board.

**That completes the primary side wiring changes. If you want to check your
progress, remove the 6993 tube from the probe housing, so as not to damage
it from too high a voltage. Plug in the batteries and measure the HV. It
should be in the vicinity of 1200 to 1700 VDC** ( In a later step we
regulate this down to 930 with a Zener Diode String and some series load
resistors).

4) Replace HV Diode CR5 in the pictorial ( called CR-1 in LENi) with a
modern Silicon version.
I use a 7500V/ 200 mA
diode. Two or three 1N4007's in series will work fine.

5) Remove R12 (ENi, called R3 in LENi) and replace it with a 3.3 Meg Ohm 1/4
Watt resistor.

6) Cut the circuit board trace between the junction of CR5 and R3 and in
the gap add a new 1.8 Meg Ohm ( becoming R2), This resistor will effectively
be in series
with CR5 and R12.

7) At the junction of R2 and R3 , place your
Voltage Regulator. This can either be a Victoreen VR tube, or a string of
Zener diodes. Shoot for 905-940 Volts or so if you want to continue using
the 6993 tube in the probe. Nine 100 Volt Zener never yield 900 Volts, but a
bit below, usually 20 Volts or so. You can make up this shortfall bay adding
a 10th Zener, I use a 24 or 36V unit for a total of 10 Zeners in series,
reverse biased on all.

**This completes the HV Power supply Mod**

Next installment will be to change the metering circuit, to improve
operation, hang time, and eliminate premature failures of the metering
transistor. Step 3 is to add a
BNC connector to the meter unit and probe cable ( a must-do), and to change
the earphone jack to a 1/4" type, if needed. Nowadays instead of a new
earphone jack, I use an adaptor as shown in message # 1106 That way the
set remains waterproof.

1) Add R4, R5 and R6 as shown on the new schematic. I make "Y" out of the 3
resistors and tack solder them on the foil side of the board after cutting
the traces as needed.

2) CR 7 is removed and the base of the first metering transistor re routed
to the high side of the HV transformer primary as shown in schematic.

3) L1 is replaced with an 18K 1/2W resistor that becomes known as R-12 in
the new schematic.

4) C1 is replaced by C-8, I prefer a 100 MFD but you can use two 100 MFD in
parallel, and
select fast-slow response time with a switch. ( either 100 or 200 total) or
stick to the original slow speed by using a 200.

5) replace the LV electrolytic 25 MFD 25V ( C6 on ENi, called C-3 on LENi),
because they all go bad and cause problems sooner or later.

That's all the electronic changes. Of course I always encourage a BNC be
added for probe changing.
HV can be anything you wish from 500 to 1100 or even 1200 V, depending on
the HV osc. transistor and transformer in that particular set. The only
change needed is the proper Zener string. It is even possible to add
switches to select different voltages by shorting out one or more of the
100V Zeners at the bottom of the string, but is you do so, make sure to turn
the unit off and allow the HV to drain down first, otherwise problems will
result eventually.

Lastly, the unit will now work fine from only 2 batteries instead of the
original 4, so you can remove part of the battery box with a saw, or replace
it with a
2- hole battery box from another scrap unit to make more room and lighten
the load if you wish. I always do away with the spring contacts that are
supposed to make electrical connection to the board pads, and replace with
hard-wired Teflon wires. The intermittent disappear like magic. HINT: when
sawing the plastic battery holder in half, remove the front part, keeping
the rear 2 battery slots. This leaves room up front for later mods like
speakers and built-in pancake or other probes.

Higher Resolution scans of the manual update sheets available in the files
section.

Have Fun

George Dowell