Proto Sound 3 Upgrade Steam Marker and Firebox glow lights

My impression is, you did the wrong thing.

You appear to have bought an upgrade kit-

What you should have bought is a PS3/2 board "stacker" with 5V connectors- retained the original wiring harness, and changed the speaker to 4 Ohms.

If you ripped out the original wiring harness- you messed up and literally removed a direct plug in path for proper upgrade and repair of that loco.

Again, the lesson here is-

The PS3 Steam upgrade kit has limitations in the steam variation. Specifically the harness supports engine headlight- as the ONLY controlled light in the engine harness.

Now, could you connect other lights to that- answer has been yes, with limitations and caveats. It's expecting 6V bulbs, so LEDs would need appropriate resistors to limit the current.

And that's why the stacker boards matter. If you are repairing a blown PS2 5V- you don't rip out the original harness and you don't buy an upgrade kit because that board is a stacker- but has 3V style connectors.

That said, you can just buy the upper 5V stacker style board by itself, and use that with your kit supplied PS3/2 lower stacker board.

AE1005V36

Basically, for $31 + $10 shipping, you could revert back to the original 5V wiring and harness- and then have plug and play markers.

He ain’t dead in the water Vern, he can add a CV board from a PS1 into his kit if it’ll fit in his shell, and wire that with the included inductor and get all his lighting options back, …..yeah, he could’ve went the route you suggest, but what’s done is done, and a CV board would be his best workaround, …..if he can cram it in there, of course,…..😉

Pat

He could also use something a lot smaller to power those lights.  1" x 3/4" x 3/4", fits most anywhere.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

He could also use something a lot smaller to power those lights.  1" x 3/4" x 3/4", fits most anywhere.

Exactly, ….there’s more than one way to skin a cat,….or a PS3 kit for this exercise,…😉

Pat

What I can find for the manual for this engine- good luck on space...

https://mthtrains.com/sites/de...ction/20st16233i.pdf

Again, the known limitation of the "Steam upgrade kit" - headlight ONLY

Typical full switching style 6V regulated board that supports LED markers (onboard resistor for LED current limit out that port), firebox glow, cab light, headlight, and other functions.

or the smaller linear regulator style mostly for LEDs

Too many stand alone options to let this worry you to death Vern, …..😆😆😆

to be sure the little board John pointed out would fit, …..not saying you ain’t right, cause ya are, but a workaround can be developed for these instances,…..this ain’t the first time it’ll happen, and dang sure won’t be the last,…..

Pat

Easy way:

The headlight output of the PS32 board in the PS3 kit will handle the load of about ten 3mm LEDs. Just connect a 500-600ohm 1/4 watt resistor to the anode of the LED, connect the anode lead to the PV wire of the headlight harness (the lead connected to the diodes on the tether connector) and connect the cathode to the headlight ground lead (the wire of the headlight harness not connect to the diodes on the tether). Boom, done. I also use a LED for the headlight when I install the PS3 kits in my stuff. For that I'll use a 300-400ohm 1/4 watt resistor, so it's brighter than the other lights. All the LEDs in the ATSF Texas (headlight, class lights, number board lights, cab light, firebox light) are run off the headlight circuit in the PS3 kit.

I've also run a MARS light simulator on the PS32 board headlight circuit, with the other lighting being LEDs, without a problem as well. The headlight circuit will take around a 250ma load without issue.

The headlight output of the PS/3 upgrade kit handles four 60ma incandescent bulbs easily, that's 240ma.  With a 500 ohm resistor on a white LED, the average current through the LED is 6 milliamps.  With those numbers, you can hook up 30-40 LED's.

I use a 200 ohm resistor with a white LED for PS/2 or the PS/3 upgrade kit.  The gives me roughly 15ma average current through the LED, and for markers/class lights, I usually go higher, 600-800 ohms.

Great examples of what can be done.  Thanks!

Thanks Everyone! As Mr.Will knows I am still learning so all advice is appreciated. .  I do have a constant voltage board AG000013 on hand as shown above. Was wondering what wires I am tying into so that the lights are lit? Red wire on board to wire on harness as well as black wire from constant voltage to wire on engine harness. If you have pictures that would definitely help.  Thanks.

See picture, note the circled silk-screen nomenclature. The white connector on the left is the track power input.  J1, J2, J3, and J6 are all 6V outputs.  J4 and J5 are LED outputs, they're 6V with a series 150 ohm resistor.  Note that all the positions are rarely populated with sockets, and sometimes they're directly connected with wires.  The gold coil indicates this is a switching power supply, and it's capable of providing up to around half an amp at 6V.

<click on graphic to expand>

@Paul Lytle posted:

Thanks Everyone! As Mr.Will knows I am still learning so all advice is appreciated. .  I do have a constant voltage board AG000013 on hand as shown above. Was wondering what wires I am tying into so that the lights are lit? Red wire on board to wire on harness as well as black wire from constant voltage to wire on engine harness. If you have pictures that would definitely help.  Thanks.

Go back, read that section of the upgrade instructions Page 30: https://mthtrains.com/sites/de...ction/50as10709i.pdf

The reason is, to NOT kill or degrade the DCS signal, you have to install the choke in series with the constant voltage board.

Page 30 of the manual

On CV boards, there are also sort of a color code

Blue is for a 6V headlight or other constant on 6V bulb

White or black was used for firebox glow, cab light,- caution, on the one board one of the white connectors is the power input.

Yellow was typically marker LED lights.

Also note, because LEDs are polarity sensitive, you might find your PS2 5V marker or class lamps are the wrong polarity in the connector compared to PS1

If you go the CV board route, as Vernon mentioned, make sure you can fit it in there first, ….second, be sure to install the inductor ( included in your kit )  as described in the kit instructions…….

Pat

Attached is the constant voltage board I was planning on using. What wire or pin pin should I be tieing the red into and should I be tieing the black to ground. I will also be placing the choke between the red wire from the cv board to where ever you suggest me tieing into for the power. I was planning on powering the green and red markers and the fire and cab light. I have mth LEDS as well as .25w 430 ohm resistors.

I can't see the traces well enough to see where they go.  Just use a meter and check for the positive lead of the sockets.  Note that that board will only handle around 60-70 milliamps before it starts getting pretty hot, it's not a switcher like the ones with the coils.  If you're powering more than one incandescent bulb with it, it may get pretty toasty.

For less than ~$2 you can just wire in a LED and resistor to the headlight circuit and not have to worry about CV boards and inductors. Easy peasy.

https://ogrforum.com/...0#173456840887814210

@Lou1985 posted:

For less than ~$2 you can just wire in a LED and resistor to the headlight circuit and not have to worry about CV boards and inductors. Easy peasy.

https://ogrforum.com/...0#173456840887814210

Less than $2?  More like less than 20 cents!   I buy the LED's for less than a nickel, and the resistors for less than a penny.  A little bit of heat-shrink, and you just re-use the wire and connector from the bulb.