Can you "MU" two engines off one PS1 board?

Alan-

 

The Proto 1 UP veranda turbine had four motors connected to one DCRU, so in theory it is possible. The problem though is MTH may have made improvements to the DCRU board over the lifetime of PS1, and it almost certainly used several different motors (depending on the size and type of the locomotive). It might be easier to salvage a complete PS1 board from a junked diesel unit.

 

-John

I have done this as a temporary experiment. I wired the motors in each unit in series and then wired the two units in parallel. That way, the PS1 units sees the same current as only two motors.

 

The power dissipated is the same as four motors, but the PS1 unit is happy.

The "standard" wiring for a dual-engine setup is to use the slave board to power the secondary engine's motors.  Since the PS/1 board uses relays rated at 5A for 30V DC, you can let that be your guide as to the power handling.  The rectifiers are 6A diodes.  I suspect the part to go would be the diodes as they get pretty toasty when running at their full rated current.

 

 

John, That unit was a modified PS-1 bottom board with 2 8 amp rectifiers sunk to the chassis frame as replacements for the 6 Amp Diode bank.

 

4 motors can over heat the bottom board.  The diodes can desolder themselves, and traces can burn.

 

The DCRU slave route is the best way to go.  Just a 4 wire connection.   G

Thanks, everyone! I guess I'll check back in when my new engine arrives, as I need to figure out where the "slave board" is.

The "slave board" if it has one will be in the second powered unit.

 

LOL! I knew that sounded a little too easy.

If it has two powered units, and it's factory original, it should have the slave board.

Alan I sent you an e-mail.

Hello all,

 

Bringing this topic back! I have my "new" PS1 engine, a handsome Canadian Pacific GP30. It was tuned up by the seller and it works perfectly. I also have my old version of the same engine, on which I'd replaced the dead PS1 board with a Dallee e-unit.

 

Thanks to the very generous RRaddict2, I now have the PS1 "slave boards" from an AA set. It should be possible to set up my new GP30 as the "master" controlling the old GP30. Attached is a picture of the equipment in question, which I would prefer not to screw up. Any advice is welcome!

 

Thanks,

Alan

You appear to have lighting boards, the slave board looks like the bottom board of the PS/1 set.

 

You need more than just the slave board to make the conversion. You will need the board, a complete wiring harness, and the plug and socket to connect the A and B units. And once you do the conversion, the second unit cannot be run by itself. 

 

The parts show up occasionally on eBay or the OGR For Sale board, or you could post a WTB ad on the OGR board. There are a lot of them floating around from units that have been upgraded to PS/2. You can check with GGG, he might have a set to sell as he does a lot of MTH upgrades.

 

I once did a crude conversion to make a pair of PS/1 A units run back to back. I rewired the second A unit so it started backwards from neutral and coupled it up to the lead unit. When I was running the pair I usually locked out the reverse so I wouldn't accidentally get one unit pulling in each direction. Later on I got hold of a complete set of master and slave boards and upgraded the AA pair to PS/2. This might not work with your Dallee board because it's likely the two units would run at different speeds, so you would have to put a DCRU in the trailer. That's easy enough and old DCRU's are a dime a dozen. 

 

Here's a photo of the wiring harness out of a Proto-1 slave unit. It is from a DL-110B.

 

Thanks, guys. I obviously have a lot to learn here. Part of me would be happy to just make the old engine a dummy and put the Dallee unit in something else. It would be a lot of dead weight for the new engine to pull, though.

Actually, unless you're into pretty long consists, a dual-motor diesel will pull quite a few cars as well as a dummy.  I've done this to several sets for people, they've all been happy with the results.  Just remove the motors from the motor mounts and use the mounts to secure the trucks.  Make sure you lube the gears to minimize rolling friction and you're all set.  If you're not going to light the dummy, remove the center track rollers, that will significantly reduce rolling resistance.

 

 

 

Excellent point!