gutting for PS3.0

 I think I changed a sound file in one to try and it went the same as PS2. You need a current loader to communicate with PS3 as you know. I think it was said it's better to use DC only, including powering the TIU with dc also.

 I have a scale wheeled PS3 NP ES44 diesel that I was saving for a gutting project to power a CSX SD70ACe myself. I bet you could just get the boards and wire it yourself with the right directions.

 Hopefully G and others will chime in on the connections. I've never seen the new schematics yet. It will be nice to know the functions capabilities. 

(I'd just tear into that one for you to see where the wires go, as you will need to do anyways. not the best idea, I know!)

The schematics are not out to the general public yet.  Possibly when the new PS-3 upgrade kits come out next year.

As Joe said you can just see where things go and take pictures and make notes.

Tach mount will be different and wire will be thinner.  All lights are LED, and no battery or charge port.  Speaker is 4 ohms like PS-2 3V.  So still kind of standard.

You can load any PS-2 3V or PS-3 sound file into a PS-3 board.  The one issue is flashing the chain files for the type of engine.  So these should be a diesel to diesel transplant so characteristics are the same.  Otherwise your going to need to flash, and I am not sure how well that would work since MTH PS-3 Steam is 2 boards and the tender board flashes the boiler board at startup,  G

Mike...are you leaving the lights in your OMI's as is or are you planning on swapping to LEDs that are required w/ PS3?  I too am currently trying to put together the pieces.  I actually called MTH and supposedly PS3 kits are due out this year but no estimated date is known.  A lot of guys in other scales are asking for them so the demand is there for MTH to produce.  An MTH service center can source the boards for you, I did find that out, but you have to go through them.  I dunno...I'm still pondering over here... I'll be following this to see what you decide.  I've got two OMI's waiting for some electronics...

Thanks.  So great almost there, I'll maybe hang on a bit longer for the kits.  We've all waited a couple of years whats another few months. 

NSP,  I don't plan on keeping the lights.  I think the LED's look ok to swap out.

The drive in the OMI diesels are so smooth they creep at low voltages the PS3.0 tach loop will hopefully be like butter icing on the cake.  Ponder how it'll run on PWM.  Anyway, looking forward to it.  

Don't hold your breath on a few months.  It really is next year.  Additionally the upgrade kits will have a piggy back board that will allow all the original lights to be retained.

So until we see it, I wouldn't be betting on this to make your old PS-1 just like a PS-3.   G

GGG right now I have PS0 none nada.  So maybe the inexpensive PS3 diesel is what I need.

What do you hope to accomplish with PS/3 boards that you can't do with PS/2 for a lot less money and trouble? 

This is a very interesting idea and I believe quite do-able - particularly since diesel.  As I recall, transplanting PS2 guts to another chassis could have favorable "financials".   That is, you buy a ready-to-run set, sell the DCS remote commander, transformer, track, and even the chassis (someone might want to install a basic reversing unit).  The net out-of-pocket cash can be less than the PS2 upgrade kit though who knows the PS3 kit price.  Yes, there is the cost of wheeling-and-dealing in one's time but I figure that part of the fun and hobby experience.

Even without published schematics, I believe there is enough interest in this and collective knowledge on this forum that you'll get the assistance you need.

I'm in the same boat as Mike w/ electronics for my OMI SD70Ace and I know for one I would not want PS2 in it for several reasons:

-Polarity issues w/ ps2 for 2 rail guys and the need for a switch

-size and number of boards, I'm not sure I would start hacking on my model to make everything fit

-no battery

-LEDs though this is a preference

-DCC compatibility...a lot if not most of 2 rail stuff is ran on DCC.  Clubs, friends layout, etcs. 

...there may be a few more digging in but these are the few that quickly pop into my head...

NS

Just to clarify are you talking HO or O.

PS-2 is 2 boards but they are plugged together in a single bracket.  You still may have size issues even with PS-3 if your talking about O.

The PS-3 upgrade kit is not going to be what your after, so you need to look at salvage of a PS-3 engine as Stan stated.

Frankly, I have not asked, but I did not think there was an HO upgrade kit in the works.  So if your after HO, you also need to salvage an engine.  G

GGG, We are talking about O scale 2 rail.  The reason for PS3.0 is mainly to be DCC future ready.  And if it seems like 2015 will be the PS3.0 kit target. It may just be ok to do the gut instead as suggest. I looked at the insides of the diesels I am looking to upgrade and there is ample space.  I also have a couple of PS3.0 premier diesels and they look to be similar except for the use of LED and no battery.  Speaker placement will be the only tricky part which will likely need an enclosure made for it.  I'm not interested in smoke, since these are modern low emissions diesels (SD70ACe) see the image below.  I saw a full railking RTR set at $279 vs a single RK diesel at $239.  I can sell the unused parts from the set.

That is the way to go.  Price of kit is unknown, but it is suppose to have an additional board to adapt to the PS-2 lights and harnesses.  So I think cost has to go up, and you don't want to retain bulbs.   G

As you alluded to in your initial post, it would be handy to track down the magic part number for the harness crimps that pop in to the connector housing for PS3.  I suspect that a RailKing SD70 may not have the full set of lights as a Premier.  So if there is a path to loading a compatible Premier soundset into a RailKing PS3 board, you ought to be able to inspect the Premier engine and identify where you'd pop in extra wires for the extra LEDs.

The crimp contacts should only be, say, 10 cents a piece.  Some guys successfully crimp wires using a needle-nose.  Some vendors will crimp contacts they sell on to wires for a small fee as a genuine crimper tool for these types of contacts typically cost hundreds of dollars.

If all you are interested in is DCC and sound why not use one of the ESU LokSound XL decoders. They sound incredible and at 1.57 X 2.0 inches they should fit just fin in your o scale locos. I use enough LokSound in HO and N scales to know they are a very nice product and programmable to good selection of sound files including the GEVO sound set

Magic part number discovered!  Here you go, the connectors on the PS/3 boards are from the HIROSE DF20 family, available at Digikey or Mouser.

The RTR Diesel SD70 actually have a lot of features.  Smoke, ditch lights, head lights number board lights and couplers.  Based on doing no smoke and scale couplers I imagine you will have about 6 to 8 extra wires in the harness as it is.  G

I never did find the connector parts on Digikey or Mouser.  Thanks john.  

If the harness didn't change from PS2.0, I can reuse them from the sets of harnesses from past PS2.0 upgrades.  I also have an unused PS2.0 new in the box.  I was originally going to upgrade a 2 railed Lionel JLC N&W Y6b.

 I think they did?

They have changed.  G

The PS/3 harnesses are totally different from PS/2.

Mike,

Any chance you could use HO ps3 boards.  On the Atlas Rescue forum members are discussing how any number of online retailers are blowing out MTH HO sd70ace's for $100 to $150 each, including sound.  

I don't know how the amperage ratings relate to dcc boards, but I know that many newer O scale locos draw a low enough amperage to not burn up decoders intended for HO.  Especially with the ball bearing drive as found in your new OMI model.

Atlas Rescue Forum MTH HO sd70ace topic

I pretty much know zip about dcs, so I have no idea if these could work for you.  Just food for thought.

Jim

I have done several upgrades to non MTH engines. If your going to use a PS3 engine as a donor you need to use a SD70ACE or simlar engine. The reason is simple, the can motors with the worm gears should should match. Since my upgrades were done to Weaver C630 & 628s they matched right up. Start with one to insure the worm gears will match. the one issue I have found is the trucks. If the donor is a F3 or similar the worm gears are to short. The next issue if it has a trucks that are found on Lionel six axle trucks the worm gear might not match up. I found this to be an issue with a Weaver U25C that had a frozen can motor (it had Lionel 2 axle trucks) and did not match up with a can motor from an MTH engine that had a 2 axle truck. It was too short This is only a bump as you can reuse the motors but will have to mount the reader and make a tach tape. As far as the lights you should have everything you need to swap out the lights .