Master/slave boards for MTH Proto diesels?

Well the hardware is available..check with your favorite MTH Authorized Service Center.

Yes.  The slave board upgrade kits will be shipping VERY soon.  This will likely be the only opportunity to order these kits since the last PS2 upgrade kits are also shipping soon.  After this batch MTH has said the next upgrade kits will be PS3.

For the UP Coal Turbine order: ii-0001903

For two unit diesel sets order: ii-0001905

These kits do NOT include the master board for the lead A-unit.  They are intended to be used in conjunction with a PS2 diesel upgrade kit: #50-1902.

Dave

Great info, thanks!

Rod

Could one master board in a powered A unit work two slave boards in two more powered units? 

I have a different problem, I have  F-3 unit with the slave board and smoke unit - but no unit with a master board that will drive 4 motors.

I'm not getting why you would need a four-motor board for a two-motor locomotive?

I thought the slave board would take care of the second set of two-motors in the second powered unit?

Or are you saying you just need to order a master board in addition to already having the slave board?

Well this unit has a 10 pin tether, all other units I have have 4 pin tethers. I can't find any info on MTH's site concerning proto 2 slave boards. The upgrade kits mentioned in this tread say in the instructions that to run four motor units that the second unit needs to have its own upgrade kit? Is there any way to modify a proto 2 F-3 unit to work with this one? Or do I need to gut this one, install upgrade kit and run as lash up?

The 4-pin tethers are for PS1, not PS2, engines.

ok, then somebody needs to tell my F-3 A-A set that it needs to get out of my DCS remote. The A-A set is from 30-2471-1, it has 3v PS2, powered and and dummy unit - I'm missing the B unit. This set has a 4 pin tether that allows the proto coupler and lights to operate on the dummy A unit. The unit with the slave board has a smoke unit, proto coupler on the front, and a 10 pin tether, cab #29. I think it came from set 30-2701-1 from 2003, also ps2, I have the B unit from this set - also with 10 pin tether, missing the Master a unit, cab #28. The ??? is, can I get the slave A to work with my other A unit with out gutting it?

Darrell,

Does the DCS have any difficulty distinguishing one identical engine from another?

That's why it's not a 10-pin tether. There's no slave board in a non-powered engine.

Darrel,

The problem is you are trying to run a early A unit that wasn't wired to run a slave A unit. They had a 4 pin tether as they only ran the rear coupler and lights on the A dummy unit. The 30-2471-1 A unit needs the 4 pin tether replaced with a 10 pin one.

If you have the Lead A unit available from the 30-2701-1 set which was designed to run the slave unit, you can probably use the 10 pin wiring harness for the older unit. Otherwise, you might be able to find someone that can change it for you.

I'm trying to find out if one Proto2 upgrade Master Board in a powered A unit can power two Proto2 upgrade slave boards in two powered B units ... might as well throw that into this confusion

Kerrigan;

I just received my slave kit today. I have skimmed through the manual and I can't see where there is any provision to drive two slave kits from one main PS-2 kit.

I suggest however that you contact MTH tech help and ask them the question to get a for-sure answer.

The kit does include a pass-through 10 pin harness for use with an unpowered B unit (or unpowered A unit) in between the two powered A units. You could also order an additional one if you wanted to run two unpowered B units I would think.

Just for info.

Rod

Probably just leave that set as is then, in Proto forever.  It has a powered A, two powered Bs, a dummy B and a dummy A.  Just looks so cool, an ABBBA on the head end of the NCL ...

I'm beginning to realize I'm just going to end up with a small stable of Proto engines.  Guess I have "Proto nights".  Using the remote controller with the Z4000s is like having a walk-around throttle anyway.

Kerrigan;

I have spent a little more time with the slave unit kit.

I think with some creativity you could actually drive two slave board kits from the lead A unit.

You could install one slave kit in the middle B unit exactly per the manual.

The front B unit would have the 10 wire pass-through cable installed, replacing the 4 wire cable there now. You could likely tap into this cable with all 10 wires of the inpuut cable to the slave board in this front B unit. This would effectively create a "Y" style pass-through cable.

Then theoretically any signals sent by the lead unit board would be acted upon by both trailing B units.

Since the power to drive smoke units and motors comes from the pickup rollers in each unit, there is no additional loads imposed on the lead unit boards; at least I don't think there would be.

Again, I would strongly suggest that you contact MTH for a definitive answer to this question.

Regards,

Rod

That's why I appreciate this board!  I  hadn't thought of laying it all out end-to-end first on a table top.

Very smart move, Rod!

What components are actually in the slave board kit besides the slave board?  G

Are you sure about that price? The Regular Diesel and Steam kits are available for 149.95 to Club members.

MTH Techs answer:

Hello.  I am sorry for the delay in getting back to you, but I needed some back up on this query.  I had not heard of upgrading a unit to include multiple slave units so I checked with the head of our service department. 

Unfortunately he has indicated that MTH does not have Y cables to support A master with 2 B slave units. MTH has tried this type of set up but it was unsuccessful. He recommends creating two A master B slave and leave one B unit non-powered. Lash-up the two Master A, slave B s and run them however you wish. Nose to tail or tail to tail using the lash-up feature.

Oh well, it was a fun idea ....

The total for the made-up kits with the master board and slave board is about $300.  Some are on back-order.

Any MTH authorized service center should be able to order the parts for you.

Correct.

Dave,  Who said this at MTH?  G

Andy Edleman and Dave Krebiehl have both said the next batch of upgrade kits will be PS3.  However, they have also said the PS3's won't be coming until late 2012 or early 2013.  It's getting very difficult and expensive to purchase the processor chip that goes on the PS2 boards.  The PS3 is not only superior in many ways it is also less expensive to manufacture because the components are all readily available, current generation parts.

So is there going to be any real difference between upgrading a Proto locomotive to PS3 instead of PS2?

No battery for one?

The biggest difference that I can see at present is that PS3 supports LED lighting rather than bulbs, which will be present in most, if not all, of the potential upgrade candidate engines.