MTH GG1 PS3 Upgrade

Not sure why they did that.  Should have used a PS-32 board.  There are 2 separate boards and the harness for Panto and bi directional markers.  PS-3 uses a different board, than the PS-2.   G

Like George says, the PS32 board is mostly a drop-in replacement.  The PS/3 diesel board is a totally different board and that conversion was doubtless much more expensive than just swapping out the board.  I'd have to wonder if they even left the parts in it for the pantographs...

Like the two above said, the original PS2 pantograph board will need to be changed to the smaller PS3 pantograph board to work.

Slipskull,

What engine do you have? The REMOTE controlled operating Pantographs wasn't available until 2005 in Premier models only.  Earlier Premier didn't have this feature and none of the RailKing GG-1's have this feature that I'm aware of.

I have a railking gg1 with operating pentographs. I believe it is a ps3 model.

H1000,

You are correct!  The only RailKing GG-1's  I can find with the remote controlled or motorized pantographs have PS3. The Premier GG-1 models started back in 2005 with the PS2  3V  boards.

I have the 20-5548-1. I have included a few picture's of the inside of the locomotive. I was wrong about them not being hooked up. It looks like there are a couple of extra boards that are wire up to the motors. What kind of things should I look for to diagnose the issue?

Well, I'd first just check to see if everything is connected.  FWIW, that IS a PS32 board, so it's apparent that the repair was done with the correct board.  This may be as simple as the wrong chain files loaded, you need the PS32 chain files for the GG1 for the pans to function.

Here are the correct chain files for your GG1

PS32_Panto_Smoke_3528-CPF.zip

I flashed all 4 files. Still no luck with the pantographs. Are there any other easy to check areas? Thanks for the help so far!

Start checking all the wiring.  Also, a frequent issue with the MTH pans, AAMOF the most common issue, is the belts that raise/lower the pans, they may need to be replaced.

Could be a bad board panto board they do fail.  Do the directional marker work?  Can't remember if it has a switch for turning them on and off on the chassis?  Then are they turned on to operate via the soft key?  Does it have the original PS-2 3V file.  Not sure how a PS-3 sf would work since the voltages for PS-2 panto are higher.  Also could be motor or band issue.  Have you moved the pantos manually or with a battery to the motor.  MUST Remove the 10 pin to the chassis before doing this to avoid circuit board damage. G

If the motor runs and the belts are fine, the problem with the pantographs could be the motors being out of time. I bought a very little used Penn Central EP5-5 that had one pantograph that didn't work. You would think that the belt would slip to get it back in time, but no.

Timed the motor with the pantograph and it works great. When you take it out of the box and unlock the pantographs, the rear one should come up and the front one should not.  I thought that maybe the original owner forced it up causing the problem.

@Joe Allen posted:

When you take it out of the box and unlock the pantographs, the rear one should come up and the front one should not.

It depends on what mode it was put away with.  You can retract both pans and then power down, they will be both down.

@GGG posted:

Could be a bad board panto board they do fail.  Do the directional marker work?  Can't remember if it has a switch for turning them on and off on the chassis?  Then are they turned on to operate via the soft key?  Does it have the original PS-2 3V file. 

GGG, The directional lights do work. There isn't a switch on my chassis to turn them off. I will try the battery method and report back.

I think you are going to ave to change out the pantograph operating board to the PS3 version.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

It depends on what mode it was put away with.  You can retract both pans and then power down, they will be both down.

Right from the engine manual:

Automatic Operating Pantographs Your MTH electric type engine is equipped with Automatic Operating Pantographs. The Automatic Operating Pantographs must be unlatched before power is applied to the engine. To unlatch the pantographs, hold the base of the pantograph and gently pull up on the contact slider. The rear pantograph should open to its full height. The front pantograph should rise slightly to unlatch, but remain collapsed.

                 Though I haven't used it, I think there is a switch for the Pantographs to turn them off which will lower them. It's the only way if running conventionally. I think I lowered them remotely with DCS before returning the engine to the box.

Which set of files determines the soft-keys that are displayed on the dcs remote? Is it the config files or the sound files? Right now it doesn’t seem like there are any pantographs soft-keys on my remote.

Sound file, but need right flash code too.  Chuck, PS-3 panto not needed for PS-32.  It operates them fine.  G

@GGG posted:

Chuck, PS-3 panto not needed for PS-32.  It operates them fine.  G

Yep, I did one of these a couple months ago, worked fine with just the board swap with the right chain files.

Can you tell me that if MTH has to install flash codes into board for pantographs to work or can this be downloaded for proto 3  or other boards from their web sight?

OK on the panto boards. With a PS3 chain file I didn't think that they would work.

Well, you're not using a PS/3 chain file, you're using the specific PS32 chain file for pantograph equipped locomotives.

and smoke unit size.  Some electrics used small smoke.  In his case it is large smoke.  G

@shurlock1 posted:

Can you tell me that if MTH has to install flash codes into board for pantographs to work or can this be downloaded for proto 3  or other boards from their web sight?

You can load them yourself with the DCS loader, the trick nowadays is finding the files.  In this case, I posted the correct chain files previously in this thread, here's a link:

PS32_Panto_Smoke_3528-CPF.zip

Thank you, John.