Early PS2 Engine Crackling Sound issues.

@Eric Garwood posted:

I have two older PS2 engines acquired earlier this year that both came with battery holders for two individual AA dry cell batteries.  DCS would not remember the engine after powering down, so I replaced each with 3v BCR's.  Both engines are experiencing crackling/low volume audio.  DCS does find each engine after powering down, so I think the BCR's are working.  What should I look at first?  

20-3101-1 Virginian 2-8-8-8-2 Triplex (Released in 2003)

20-5542-1 Cascade W-1 (Released in 2004)

I would replace the speaker for sure. Crackling is a clear possible indication of the voice coil area being contaminated. That is what causes the scratchyness.

Also, PS2 3V is a 4 Ohm speaker- just like PS3.

So just determine the speaker size (likely 50mm).

Awesome, thanks very much, I was hoping that this would be the case.  I'll see if I can find the speaker somewhere, it is 4ohm 50mm.

@Vernon Barry posted:

I would replace the speaker for sure. Crackling is a clear possible indication of the voice coil area being contaminated. That is what causes the scratchyness.

Yep, I’d agree with Vern yet again, ….I’d also recommend you do not power these up till you diagnose the issue. If you do have degradation of the speaker, and it shorts out, bye-bye audio amp!…

Pat

Looks to me like it says it is 3 Watts.  Looking at the MTH parts site, they say that BF0000043 is a comparable replacement (4 Watt speaker).

@harmonyards posted:

Yep, I’d agree with Vern yet again, ….I’d also recommend you do not power these up till you diagnose the issue. If you do have degradation of the speaker, and it shorts out, bye-bye audio amp!…

Pat

Will do, thank you!

20-3101-1 Virginian 2-8-8-8-2 Triplex (Released in 2003)

20-5542-1 Cascade W-1 (Released in 2004)

The online documentation for these engines shows them having 8.4 Volt batteries, which means they should have 16 ohm speakers (not 4 ohm).  My guess is that both engines had their original 5V PS-2 boards and related components replaced with 3V equivalents.  It's possible that this work was not done correctly.

https://www.mthtrains.com/site...ction/20st14482i.pdf

https://www.mthtrains.com/site...ction/20dl13089i.pdf

I had noticed that from the manuals as well.  Seeing as how these 2 engines were purchased from completely different sources, they appear to have been manufactured this way, there was no sign that they were altered.

How about a picture of the ps 2 board?

Alan

@Alan Mancus posted:

How about a picture of the ps 2 board?

Alan

Not sure if MTH ever used spiral wrap on the wiring harnesses.. It looks like neat work, but not factory.  Like someone else mentioned.....probably upgraded at some later time.  If so, the speaker may have been changed in accordance with the upgrade.  

Right, the speaker was changed (edit- likely when the engine was updated with PS2 3V), but I've seen my fair share of those OEM MTH sourced speakers failed from flaking magnets.

It could just be the photo, but that looks suspect to me. Further, if it looks bad on the outside- the inside is what kills you if the voice coil rubs and shorts to frame ground. Again, flat out better to spend a few dollars replacing a speaker- that already sounds bad (the start of this topic) than risk damaging a board set that could cost even more money to replace. This is one of those areas I just tell folks to err on the side of caution.

Thanks, I just ordered replacements from MTH, worth swapping out no matter what, good to get a fresh start with engines this age.

thanks for sending the pictures ps2 board proves it is a ps 2 3-volt board!

Alan

@Alan Mancus posted:

thanks for sending the pictures ps2 board proves it is a ps 2 3-volt board!

Alan

Ok, good, glad I have the right BCR installed.

Amazing the tangents on this subject.  MTH did use those wraps on engines, and still includes them in upgrade kits.  There were cases of engine/instruction miss match at transition.  PS-1 PS-2, and PS-2 5V and 3V.  Regardless he does have the PS-2 3V board and 4 ohm speaker is correct.

The BF-43 is a different form, so you speaker hold down will have to be trimmed/cut where the terminal is for soldering wires.

But I agree most likely a failed Star speaker.  G

@GGG posted:

Amazing the tangents on this subject.  MTH did use those wraps on engines, and still includes them in upgrade kits.  There were cases of engine/instruction miss match at transition.  PS-1 PS-2, and PS-2 5V and 3V.  Regardless he does have the PS-2 3V board and 4 ohm speaker is correct.

The BF-43 is a different form, so you speaker hold down will have to be trimmed/cut where the terminal is for soldering wires.

But I agree most likely a failed Star speaker.  G

Thanks very much, good to know.  Thanks for the tips!

Hi, Eric - do these locos have the rectangular charging port? If yes, and it looks like there have been no modifications to the undercarriage to accomodate the rectangular charging port, then what GGG posted above is correct. The instruction manuals were not revised/synched with the advent of PS2 3v boards; there was overlap.

@Mark V. Spadaro posted:

Hi, Eric - do these locos have the rectangular charging port? If yes, and it looks like there have been no modifications to the undercarriage to accomodate the rectangular charging port, then what GGG posted above is correct. The instruction manuals were not revised/synched with the advent of PS2 3v boards; there was overlap.

Yes, they do in fact have the rectangular charging port.