MTH PS-2 Startup Checklist

The PS 2 3 volt engines will run with a dead battery. They just won't save memory from one startup to the next, as in having to add it to the remote every startup.

@FortyFivePalms posted:

Hello Folks,

I've temporarily put aside my Lionel locos and and am dipping my toes into the MTH pool. I first purchased a no-frills  MTH Railking 30-2148-0, cheap, that needed repair. Got it fixed and I'm really impressed with it's performance, and I've already got a DCS controller, so I am ready to step up to a PS-2. My research indicates that there were lots of problems with the earlier versions of PS-2 and I'm trying to avoid any land mines, any tips on what to look out for?

Also, I read several accounts of new, or almost new, PS-2 diesels that had been sitting for years, encountering problems due to the battery being discharged. In fact I'm looking at a brand-new PS-2 being sold as parts; seller says it tested completely dead and he suspects that it is a 'blown' board. Can the discharged battery do that kind of damage? Is there a startup/test procedure I can follow to minimize the chance of this sort of occurrence?

Thanks in advance!

The early PS2 products use a 9-volt battery and a 5-volt board. Later ones used lower voltage batteries with a 3-volt board. I have both types. I substitute a BCR if it has a 9-volt battery and a BCR2 if it has the lower voltage batteries. I've had no problems with either version using BCRs and BCR2s. A discharged battery might do damage due to corrosion but not because of low battery voltage. With a BCR or BCR2, there is no battery voltage present and that has never had any adverse effect on any of my engines. I run conventionally and apply 10 volts track power to charge the capacitor for at least one minute before interrupting the voltage to run forward. I continue to run PS1 and PS2 engines that are more than 20 years old with BCRs and BCR2s.

MELGAR

PS2 3V with a low battery will have low volume as well. It'll barely be audible no matter how high you turn it up.

If the engine you are looking at is the PS2 5v version with the 9V battery, most common failure is a bad cap, mainly those with wincap brand capacitors.

I have several PS2 5V engines, oldest being 20-2255-1 that must have sat for years and had the original white nicad battery. I replaced it with the newer NIMH MTH battery(half the price of bcr's and no wait to charge, I'm cheap). None ofine have experienced capacitor issues, fortunately for me is that none of mine have any wincap brand capacitors.

Another issue of concern are the speaker magnets disintegrating. My newest older PS2 5v engine has this problem, so I'm replacing the speaker.