Protosound 3 upgrade kit questions

@Santa Fe 3751 posted:

All, 

I am well underway into my first Protosound 3 steam upgrade kit. Instructions have been easy to follow up until now. However, after I finished installing the tender harness into the board, I am left with one unlabelled black wire pictures below. I assume it is a grounding wire, but the wiring diagram does not claim that it is. So, am I correct in assuming that it is a grounding wire?

Yes the black wire with a ring on the tender harness is a ground wire.

Is it ok to reuse the existing incandescent lights from a Protosound 2 5v dead engine in this engine without modification? Do iAI need to plug in the eight pin plug for marker lights if this engine does not have any? how is my heatsink? Thanks.

As long as the bulb is 6V then you can reuse it no problem. 

If you are not using the marker lights then you do not need to plug in the marker light harness. Everything will work fine without it.

Heat sink appears to be secured fine. Make sure there is heat transfer compound where the heat sink screws to the bridge rectifier as well and where the heat sink screws to the tender floor. 

 

I've done 8 PS3 steam kit installations. They get easier as you go along. I replace all the 6V bulbs with LEDs and run all the LEDs in the boiler off the headlamp circuit (headlamp, markers, number boards, cab light, firebox light) so the locomotive is dark unless addressed. 

Thanks lou1985. Almost done, test run in conventional mode went well, but I am unsure how to power the 6 ground lights above the driving wheels. There are no other leads in the engine to drive these lights. Can I for them into the headlight output? thanks.

The headlight outputs only support a max of four of the 60ma 6V bulbs, I think you better consider an aux power supply from track power for those.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

The headlight outputs only support a max of four of the 60ma 6V bulbs, I think you better consider an aux power supply from track power for those.

Understood. Any recommendations for an aux power supply? The instructions refer to a "convenient" existing constant voltage power supply board that my model did not have. 

I have some of those "convenient" CV power supplies from MTH locomotives, I can offer up a good price, drop me an email to my profile address.

Update! I received the constant voltage board from John yesterday and wired up my ground lights and they work.

The other lights, however, are WAY too bright and do not respond to dcs control. I was puzzled as there was no catastrophic short or backwards wiring (checked it myself.) I assumed that I have lost headlight control. 

That being said, I just wired it up to the CV board and viola, she lit up. So final question, I am not bugged by the headlight being on all the time, but if the board somehow was damaged and lights no longer work, could the entire board be taken out? Now, it works perfectly with motor control and sound, just no lights. Like I said, I do not care about the lights, but I care about sound and movement. Thanks.

The way too bright headlights sound like you have a shorted FET on your PS32 headlight output board or you have some errant wiring.  The headlights are 6V, and the PS32 board controls them using PWM to supply an effective 6V to them.  However, if the FET gets shorted by grounding the headlight output briefly, you'll then be getting around 18-20 volts on the headlights and lose headlight control.  That sounds like what you are seeing.  First off, make SURE all the wiring is OK, and note that NOTHING but the track power inputs to the PS32 board is connected to frame ground.  Anything else that hits frame ground is very bad for the PS32 board's health.

If the FET is cooked, it's possible to replace that FET on the PS32 top board.  Obviously, you have to have the proper soldering iron and the skill to work with small SMT parts.  The FET is a FDN5630.

If all the lights went bright, the other issue may be the Top board is not fully seated into the bottom board of the PS-32 set.  Press the top board above the pin riser and make sure it has fully seated.  G

Good point on the boards, I take all of mine out of the carrier and using Kapton tape, I securely tape them together right at the connector.  I've had a couple work their way out in shipping, necessitating a return trip, not making customers happy!  The pin engagement of those little connectors is really small, looking to be no more than about 1-2mm!  There was no earthly reason to go with something that marginal, just poor design.  The same geometry board-to-board connectors can be had with much better pin engagement.

Another trick is, after screwing the boiler to the chassis, take your multimeter and check all the pins on the engine tether for continuity to ground. Only the 2nd pin from the left on the bottom row should have continuity to ground. The other 9 should not. If any of the other 9 pins show continuity to ground pull the shell off and check that circuit for shorts to ground. It's the best way to keep from damaging the board on power up.