i saw this in a railking ps2 3v loco. Anyone else ever do this? Batts this way are much cheaper than the mth plastic wrap pack but i dont want to blow up boards. Would the mah be critical? Id go with aaa for a smaller footprint with the holder. Discuss!
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Why not go with a supercap replacement, never worry about those batteries again? I make mine, cheap and permanent.
If someone was really adamant about having NiMH batteries and wanted them to be easy to replace, the battery holder is the way to go...
When it comes to the 3 volt PS2 boards, I'm with John on this one. Supercaps are cheap and easy to make. Plus they are smaller than a pair of AAA batteries!
Image credit goes to GUNRUNNERJOHN from a previous post.
What they said. But taking your question at face value, (q1): yes, you can use a 2x AAA battery-holder with individual batteries and this has been done before.
Doing the math is kind of nerdy, but the energy stored in the supercap suggested above is equivalent to a ~2 mA-Hr battery pack. Any AAA battery you buy today would be in the 100's of mA-Hr, so (q2): not critical.
The pros and cons of each method have been exhaustively discussed on OGR so not going there. 
The sticker says don't use alkaline batteries. 2 alkaline batteries give 3.0 volts; rechargeable NiMH or NiCADs give 2.4 volts. Also, they are not rechargeable, which means you'd be taking the loco or tender apart regularly. If you can afford a $250+ locomotive, you can afford an $8 MTH battery or a pair of AAA NiMHs.
Gunrunnerjohn gave the best suggestion. That's what I use in all my PS2 locos, except 2.5F rather than 1.5.
stan2004 posted:Doing the math is kind of nerdy, but the energy stored in the supercap suggested above is equivalent to a ~2 mA-Hr battery pack. Any AAA battery you buy today would be in the 100's of mA-Hr, so (q2): not critical.
True Stan, but you omit an important fact. There's no reason for more capacity for it's intended purpose, which is why PS/3 went to supercaps.
Would you carry five gallons of water to go for a walk in the park? 
Depends on the Park. :-}
GRJ, was there a reason you switched from 2.5F to 1.5F. Based on your earlier recommendation, I went to 2.5F on all my PS2 locos
I found that 1.5F works well and it's a bit easier on the charging circuit. I also got a good price on a lot of name brand 1.5F parts. Since I also use the 1.5F parts in my YLB product, I figured they could do double-duty. The PS/3 stuff uses two 5V in series to yield 2.5F, so apparently that's a good value. 
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