How does one separate the PS 2 boards?

A band saw comes to mind. No way to repair PS2 boards without hurting something or someone.

I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for MTH to make the PS2 schematic available. They never released the print for the PS/PS1 board.

swede

The 5V boards aren't coming apart without a LOT of effort and probably minimal return.  I separated a set once, still couldn't fix it.

The 3V boards were a lot more robust, and they come apart very easily.

Yeh, I hear you, but I’m stubborn and at this point, have nothing to lose by experimenting! Thanks for all your input!

Jor

This tool would be one way. You have to thoroughly heat all of the pins at the same time. There are variations of this tip but I could only find this pic.

Another way is with a heat gun with a narrow funnel about 1/2" at the outlet.

lastly you could try and cut all the connecting pins and unsolder them one by one. 

If this is a multi layer board, chances of success are pretty low. If not chances are better.

Pete 

Thanks Pete! I have a SMD soldering station with a pinpoint tip on the heater. This was my intended approach, but you’re suggestion gives me more confidence! Thanks again!

Joe

Pete, I used to have one of those for 44pin gull-wing packages, but I don't know what happened to it.  I'll be interesting to see how this all turns out.  I have lots more of these 5V dead boards if you are energetic Joe.

Joe, this might be long enough. I think I actually have a heater this would fit into. Maybe you could modify it to work with your tools. Probably need at least 60 watts though.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/UNGAR...for-DIP/162662893993

Pete

You realize the chances to damage other components near by is high?  Plus if the processor or memory is bad you out of luck.  There is a reason they are obsolete and where replaced after a short 4 year run.  Lights, motion, sound can all be fixed without separating the board.   Your about 10 years late to the game of salvaging 5V boards.   Good luck.  G

First off, thanks Pete for the link!!! Second off, thanks GGG for your experienced reply. Though you could have pointed me on the right direction to troubleshoot the no go and sound issues (LOL). It's not my intention to hang out a shingle with "I fix Proto 2 boards", that's NEVER going to happen! Nonetheless, I respect ones knowledge to be private. I'll poke around with the Proto's. My knowledge of electronic circuitry is based on Electro-Mechanical , and Digital pinball repair. Different than "O" gauge boards, but theories apply.

Thanks all,

Joe

The missing sounds (with all the other functions intact) is normally the TDA7056A audio amplifier, as George says, you can replace that without separating the boards.

Thank you once again GRJ!!! Maybe I can salvage one or two now!

best,

Joe

Let me know if you need the amplifiers, I have a bunch of them that I'll probably never use.

Most of what you seek is posted on this forum one place or another.  Not really keeping it secret.  MTH keeps certain print to tech only.  Not suppose to be posted, but example do show up, and Stan had pointed out with pictures much of the stuff.  How to remove and replace audio amp is listed here too.  Lights are fet, motor control is the larger fets at the Relay.   G

This Association of collectors is fantastic! I wish I could contribute as much as I've received! I need to learn my way around the forum/site better!!! I see you've referred to "how to stuff" being mentioned in past posts. Is there a "search tool" to track down these posts? i'm torn between my 5V and 3V PS2's to repair, as obviously the 3's split without de-soldering. Regardless, I had built myself a test fixture for PS1's and PS2's, but the fixture is only as good as a better understanding of chasing the circuits. Learning that the relay for the 5V bds is a great start, now the 3V must have a comparable component that I can test and change.

Thanks to all of you!!!

Joe

Go to the upper right hand tool bar and hover over the search dropdown, select Advanced Search.

In the advanced search dialog, select Forums at the top, enter your desired search terms in the Contains All Of These Words slot, and then near the bottom, select No for Include Replies?  I also check off sort by Date as I get the most recent ones first that way.

This should get you a bunch of threads to check out.

gunrunnerjohn posted:

Go to the upper right hand tool bar and hover over the search dropdown, select Advanced Search.

In the advanced search dialog, select Forums at the top, enter your desired search terms in the Contains All Of These Words slot, and then near the bottom, select No for Include Replies?  I also check off sort by Date as I get the most recent ones first that way.

This should get you a bunch of threads to check out.

Thank you very much GRJ!!!

One separates the PS-2 boards with a 3-pound sledge and a solid grip on the handle. 

(Sorry--couldn't resist. If you're going to leave openings like that.....)

Don

Wow! What a well needed education I got today! I poked around the previous posts and responses regarding the PS2 5 and 3V boards! Lots of valuable info!!!

Which FET, or component is usually the culprit for no sound on the 3V PS2’s???

 Thanks

Joe

No sound with all the other stuff working is usually the audio amp, U5, TPA2000D1PW.

Wonderful! Thanks GRJ!!!

If you do the search GRJ recommends, there's a great summary post of what to try for the PS2 5V board set.

Buried in that is reference to ChipQuik which is a low-temperature (think "Lead") alloy which I use when removing the SMD audio amp on the PS2 3V board.  Everyone has their favorite method for de-soldering but I find ChipQuik useful albeit somewhat expensive.  You'd use maybe 1 inch of the stuff to remove the TPA2000D1PW.  There are plenty of youtube videos and such to see it in action if you're not familiar with it.

As GGG points out, the heyday of PS2 5V board repair was like 10 years ago.  My memory isn't what it used to be but I'm pretty sure I was able to use ChipQuik to separate the 5V board pair.  But the question is what exactly do you do once you have the boards separated?  Without a definition of the interconnection pins what would you do first?  If you only have a few board sets, I'm leaning toward the "lost cause" school of thought.  But someone once said that lost causes are the only ones worth fighting for...or something like that!  It sounds like GRJ has a box of non-working 5V board sets.  If you could get your mitts on some of them for little or no cost, then I'd think it might be worth the effort.

It would be like going back and saying I want to learn how to use a slide ruler again?  Sure you can do it, but why?  I am telling you that all the components on that board are beyond useful life.  Are you going to change every capacitor, diode, FET?  It is also multilayer board so do not be surprised if you tear traces you do not have access too.

Stick to the simple stuff.  Motor function, Sound, lights?  If it starts doing weird stuff, your most likely at the processor which you can't fix or program if you had one.

I have a board right now that starts up after a 15sec delay, but only headlight comes on.  No other function.  How are you going to fix that?

Everyone has moved on to better functions like quillable whistle, bigger sound files, whistle smoke, rule 17. 

If you wanted to concentrate on something, look at the 3V board and start looking at PS-3.  Get ahead of the curve:-)   G

To all my supporters and replies, I agree with everything said regarding, moving on. It won’t stop me from experimenting, or being curious, but I don’t have any expectations of resurrecting any 5V’s or 3V’s for that matter. Thanks again, I’ll continue to monitor the site, and who knows, maybe I can help someone?

best regards 

Joe

I wouldn't give up in the 3V boards, they're very repairable.  For the ones with only the sound out, I know that both GGG and I have brought a number of those back.  Other stuff like speed control issues are usually pretty easy to fix as well.

For the 5V boards, I limit myself to FET replacements for various I/O functions, the audio amplifier, and the one large capacitor that seems to be the most common cap failure.  All of these are done without separating the boards.

Thanks GRJ!!!