Known issues with PS2 AAA size batteries?

When you shut it down, does it go through the complete shut down sequence, or does it cutoff right away?

Thanks for the reply.

Cuts out immediately. Also, in conventional, lights go out and sound stops whenever I push the direction button to cycle thru F, N and R.

The issue most likely is one of the following:

• Dead or defective battery
• Battery is disconnected internally
• Defective charging circuit on PS2 board.

If you swapped out the battery with no change in symptoms, #1 can probably be ruled out.

Thanks Barry. Bullet number 3 is the one that worries me since I replaced the battery and checked the internal connection thoroughly.

Looks like I may have to get it serviced. Bummer.

If you have a DVM check the battery voltage (should be 2.4 VDC) and then check it where the battery harness connects to the PS-2 boards. You may have a simple wiring issue.

Also you say they are AAA; but Ps-2 batteries are usually AA or 2/3AA size, at least for 3 volt systems. If its a rectangular 9 volt size battery you have an older 5 volt board. Same checks though, the battery should show around 8.4 VDc if charged properly.

Rod

Have you unplugged and re-plugged in all the connectors on all of the boards and wires? Sometimes that will do the trick, or will allow you to see if anything is funny with any of the connectors.

 check the voltage all along the harness where you can. I had an engine with a pinched wire. It felt like a hard flat spot and no voltage was getting thru. It had broke and charred inside I believe.

 I saw another one where the coupling had come apart inside. The pin worked loose. stuff you can fix yourself. don't short anything while testing!

Rod and others, thanks I'll give the wiring a good look and check things with the volt meter.

On the AAA, that's a mistake on my part. It's the smaller size battery pack with 2 cylindical batteries. The seller purchased in late 2011. Don't have the model number in front of me.

Scott - if you have DCS, don't forget that the 'BAT' check is NOT a check of the wellness of the battery itself - it is a check to tell you if the charging system is working correctly or not.

Maybe try that.

- walt

Walt,

The "BAT" indication on the DCS Remote is to indicate that the batteries in the Remote need to be replaced, not those in an engine.

Checked both batteries and each measured about 2.6 vdc. Then traced the battery harness to the board connection and measured 2.6 vdc at the plug. Overall inspection of the rest of the plugs into the board show good connection. And there were no pinched wires that I could find. Shoot. Looks like board service may be needed.

Any other suggestions are welcome but otherwise thanks for the help. At least I'm a little smarter on PS2 batteries and charging.

Scott

Send me the board set and I can test repair.  If it is the power supply that is bad, I can fix it.  If processor, may be out of luck. G

I would really appreciate that George. Will give it a look tonight to be sure I can remove the board without doing any harm and then check back with you via email for shipping instructions.

Thanks!

Scott:

Sometimes the boards will loosen up during shipping. RoyBoy's advice is good

Not mth boards.  The pins fit firm, and the plastic board mount locks the boards together.  Connectors yes, but Scott checked all that.  So if the 2 pin connector is in place, and it still doesn't work, good chance it is a board related issue.  G

George is correct Richard I did check all of the board connections and these are very tight. Your theory makes sense though. It was working when the seller checked it, then it shipped, then it worked once for me, then it started having trouble. Also I don't believe the engine box was padded/wrapped and placed in a larger box so it could have been thumped pretty good in transit.

George,

Is the large black bracket secured to the frame a clip that holds the boards in place? After I unplug all the connections then I would just pop the board out?

Thanks, S

You need to undo the screw that holds the heat sink to the frame, normally there is a screw or two holding black plastic bracket to chassis, or metal bracket depending on model.   Yes the board is just snapped into plastic bracket.  You can spread bracket at front where connectors are.  G

G,

Got it.

Thanks, S

Gettin ready to get ready . . .

Found the heat sink screw (pic). Proceeding carefully. Feel like I'm doing surgery.

The lower one, and the bracket screw next to it.  May have one in front of the board too. G

George,

Ok, here is the patient after successful extraction. Will get a static safe bag at work, wrap in a lot of bubble wrap, and box it. Then contact you via email for shipping info.

Thanks!

Scott you want to remove the plastic black bracket from the engine and put the PS-2 board back in it.  Snaps in place.  That prevents the boards from separating and getting damaged in shipping.  G

Got it. Will wrap and ship tomorrow.

Scott. How did this end up?

Not as well as I would have hoped. I removed the boards and sent to George and he confirmed there was nothing wrong. That's the good news. Bad news is I still have the problem -- sound cuts out whenever I change direction. I got this engine on the forum at a great price and it was in good working order before it was shipped. I'm guessing there is a harness issue that was created during shipment. Right now the RS11 is in "engine jail" until I figure out what to do next.

Not the battery as it was changed. Not the PS2 board-set as it was confirmed good by GGG.  I suggest: 1)turn the volume way down to the point of barely audible and see if it can sustain the Direction button press.  Assuming it still fails, then 2) pull all harnesses except the 7-pin power/tach cable and the 2-pin battery cable.  Of course you'll get no sound, no motion, no lights.  Nevertheless, if the battery system is operating, you will hear the relay click on every other Direction press as you change direction.  If you miraculously hear this clicking, then something is loading the PS2 board such that track power can handle it but battery power cannot.

 It seems Scott only   runs conventional ?? Is that correct? This makes it a little harder.

Thats correct. Pending an ongoing overhaul of my layout wiring to prepare for DCS I'm conventional only for now. I may follow up on Stan2004s approach later as part of the harness check. Thanks for the feedback.

Scott, Do you have another PS-2 3V engine.  If so take out the 2 pin battery harness and use it with battery to test. I am thinking a bad harness or partial ground on the battery harness as possibilities.   G

When, I was a new comer to model railroading, I had about the same problem, but in addition to cutting out and working sporadically, depending in what direction the locomotive was going, it would suddenly lurch at a fast speed, almost launching off of the layout table.

Fortunately, I caught the locomotive, without any damage.

A call to the manufacturer's repair unit solved the problem, after a cost of #45.00, due to an expired warranty and a 'Miscreant' radio receiver!

It, had to have happened, when a fancy new type caboose truck, pick-up connector was bent downward and touched the center bus-bar.  My LHS was kind enough to only charge me $25.00, as I buy plenty of goodies from them.  Normally, it would have cost around $56.OO.

I didn't see this problem before I ran the cab.  My good luck, only the cab. wire had to be replaced.

Thanks to having to run the new items at 18 volts, plus my ignorance, me not having any electrical experience, no tools and no equipment, I could have had an electrical fire!!!!!!

At the time, on a different forum, the members informed me to place surge protection between the transformer and track and between the transformer and wall outlet, power source.

Now, I kind of know better.

Ralph 

George,

I did do a bench continuity check on the battery harness but that was continuity only. What you are recommending would serve as a dynamic check. Honestly, the battery harness is the only sensible possibility at this point. I'll see what I have that would allow me to do a harness bypass/swap.

Thanks, S

An alternative in-circuit "dynamic" check may require 3 hands but goes as follow.  Since the battery plug/contacts are apparently accessible for measurement, watch the DC voltage on the battery starting from no track power, then to powered, then to Direction button press.  With no track power it will read, say, 2.6V or whatever - no current will be flowing between PS2 board and battery.  When track power comes on, the PS2 charger turns on and the voltage will usually rise a bit...maybe 2.7V or whatever.  When track power is lost (Direction button), the voltage will instantly drop below 2.6V as the PS2 board pulls a lot of current from the battery to keep audio and other components running.  When the shutdown sounds complete, the voltage will hop back up to 2.6V.  That's how it's supposed to work anyway.

In your case, this may be a wild goose chase since it appears the PS2 board instantly gives up.  In other words, you'll need to quickly observe the meter behavior at the exact instant the track power is lost as it appears the battery and/or harness is either defective or not able to deliver sufficient voltage/current to keep the PS2 board running in a "dynamic" situation.  A typical meter may not be "fast" enough to see the rapidly changing voltage but who knows, you may discover some interesting battery behavior that can help with the diagnosis and be that much smarter about how the battery system works.

The safest way to do Stan's test is with a molex plug into the charge port of the engine.  Connect meter to those leads.  Than start up the engine and watch.

If you inplug the battery at the battery not the board, you will see 5V, when the battery goes in 2.6 or so.

If you start it up and then just turn off power does it play sounds or shut right off?  If it play sounds but won't switch directions you might have a motor lead issue.

The other thing is unplug the speaker and try it.  Maybe the speaker at a lower ohm and drawing too much current to switch directions.

Not sure if you already tried these, been too long ago.....  G

Honestly until this thread came back to life I had pretty much walked away from that engine. Tonight, however, I will take a few minutes to give the harness another look.

Step 1: Run engine as is.

Step 2: Disconnect the battery harness and repeat Step 1.

Step 3: Try to remove the battery harness or bypass it -- will require that I find or buy a molex plug.

Step 4: If still not successful, scrap it out OR box the doggone thing back up and sell it to GGG or stan2004 at a big discount. I imagine it wouldn't take either of you long to solve and fix. You will have a nice engine and I'll be free of the headache.

Standing buy the mail box in the snow waiting  Seriously I would like to get to the cause of this one, it is interesting.  G

Here's the fix.. turn  doppler on.. turn doppler off. sounds should return to normal. This is not as crazy as one might think. Ok it's not the fix but worth trying.

A quick update.

1) Ran it with the battery connected and it does what it always does -- everything ok except sound cuts out on FNR and immediate on power off. Also occasional garbled sound.

2) Disconnected the battery cable from the board. It comes up with power and makes sounds but won't move, just recycles startup on FNR.

3) Checked the entire power harness and it looks good. There is a black connector though with only two wires and one of the wires looks a little loose. Not sure if that is relevant.

4) Undid the battery jack and plugged in the MTH charger I have and tried that. Same result as Step 2.

5) Got fed up and stuck it back on the shelf.

I should have tried a couple of GGG's and stan2004 recommendations but was too lazy. Will take another stab at it tonight.

My "final solution" may be just to send it to you George and let you figure it out. Then you just buy it for whatever you think is fair OR will trade for future service like bring my poor dead PS2 Switcher back to life.

I keep forgetting you're strictly conventional. No one near by that can do a feature or factory reset in command ?