Now with grandchildren its time to try to have my Pittsburgh MTH PCC streetcar working again. I've looked everywhere for any tips on where to start. I place it on the tracks, I get no lights, a faint buzz, and nothing else. I'm sure the battery is dead, but without any lights? I've been handy fixing old electrical items, but this is something new to me. Can anyone give me a starting point.? thanks in advance for any tips you can afford.
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You do need a good battery to start.
If your trolley is #30-5107-1 with Proto-Sound 2 the instructions are on the MTH website. The battery test instructions are on page 17 followed by Troubleshooting on p. 18.
Even with a low battery you should get lights and PS2 sounds when track power is provided. That you have neither ony a "buzz" sounds more sinister.
Replace with a correct rechargeable battery and see what happens. The buzz usually indicates that something is shorting/overloading the board.
Have you ruled out that the layout or the transformer could be the problem? Does any other powered unit run on those same tracks?
Bill
Jon and Paul's advice is sound. I believe this is a PS-2 5V engine, so the chances it is dead are high. It is an expensive repair, so unless that specific engine has sentimental value best to look for another one. You can always swap out shells. I upgrade one for a gentleman in Pittsburg and we had the same discussion. Since his children gave it to him as a gift he authorized the upgrade. G
Thanks to all for the great advice, my PCC may be old, but it doesn't have a whole lot of hours on it. I was hoping for something simple, but swapping the body with a running model sounds like the best way to save it. Can the new chasis be re-programmed with Pittsburgh stops?
Yes you could load the Pittsburgh sound file to another PS-2 5V PCC. G
its the 30-2543-1. I hope I didn't cause confusion as it is the castle Shannon to Pittsburgh line.
Jake:
So that's the first Pittsburgh PCC with PS-2 and it has the 5-volt system.
Thanks,
Bill
Bill, There is no 9V PS-2. The voltage designation has to do with the voltage necessary to run the processor. The PS-2 5V boards are the first PS-2 and the battery is the 8.4V version. They were replaced by the PS-2 3V boards around 2004. That uses the 2.4V battery. It actually gets more complicated as far as actual voltages needed, but we will leave that alone for now. G
Bill, There is no 9V PS-2. The voltage designation has to do with the voltage necessary to run the processor. The PS-2 5V boards are the first PS-2 and the battery is the 8.4V version. They were replaced by the PS-2 3V boards around 2004. That uses the 2.4V battery. It actually gets more complicated as far as actual voltages needed, but we will leave that alone for now. G
George:
Thank you for that explanation. I was obviously not aware that there was a difference between the battery output and the board voltage and will save your message for future reference.
Bill
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