PS 2 Surging and over heating

I would pull the shell and run it on a test track.

But you don't know what component was hot, so no one can advise you.

Ill have to take shell off as suggested see what getting hot. Have no clue what causes surging.

Both my MTH PS-2 Amtrak Genesis went this way.  I was running at 79 mph per the DCS hand held controller, and as I crossed my Atlas O double tracked truss bridge, a loud bang was heard, like a fire cracker or a scale shot gun blast!.  The locomotive that suffered the failure immediately lost all of its tires as the lead unit continued to pull.  i immediately stopped the train as soon as I could.  I also smelled a very strong electrical burning odor.   I was running mine together in a lash up using DCS pulling a 7 car K-line 21 inch Amtrak set and had only completed two loops in a layout that measured 20 by 13 running on gargraves track with ross custom switches.  

 Once I opened the locomotive I found what appeared to be a capacitor cover loose inside. Apparently this is what caused the loud explosion inside the locomotive as the capacitor had a catastrophic failure.  The plastic car body was warm to  touch aft of the cab area as you have described on your unit. It may be possible that your unit is about to have a similar failure.   Soon after this happened, my second MTH Amtrak genesis had the same failure as it was pulling 5 Atlas O Horizon cars.  Now I have two dead PS-2  Genesis that I have to decide how to get repaired.  I am a bit apprehensive about having more PS-2 boards installed after two consecutive failures.  I also had a PS2 SW1200 fail this way also and surged like you described and the shell was abnormally warm.  I love the K5LA horn on the MTH genesis locomotives, but I am leary about spending more money on PS2 since I have had so little luck with it.  Maybe you can contact MTH customer service for help to see what they have to say.       

A wrapped up traction tire can cause similar problems.

MtRail, the ps2 3-volt boards are rock solid.  If you had 5-volt boards, they did have capacitor issues

John, I agree that a wrapped up traction tire could cause it to bind and surge, but my other two failures did not have any traction tire issues and yet the board fried and heated the shell to abnormally high temperature along with the electrical burning odor. A1Hobo should check his traction tires for sure. 

Rory

RJR.  Yes my boards were the early 5 volt boards.  Are the 3 volt boards really better?  Would MTH install 3 volt boards a a replacement  if I sent my two Genesis in for service?  Or are my units eternally tied to 5 volt boards due to economic reasons.  Simply said, can a repair be done economically from 5 volt to 3 volt?  Or would it be better to go buy a new locomotive and make these into dummies and sell them on Ebay as non operating units ?   I really would like the locos to work again, but do not want to chance another firecracker board pop!  Thats a lot of money to throw into the wind.  Thanks for your input. 

Rory

PS2 3-volt boards are rock solid and as near to perfecr as possible.  You could buy Ps3 upgrade kits and install them yourself, or there was a special 3-volt board to replace 5-volt boards, that only techs can get.

PS2 upgrade kits are no longer available

I suggest you email GGG or gunrunnerjohn and aak for a quote.

I replaced all my 5-volt boards with 3-volt myself, but I have some skills in that area.  The PS3 steam upgrade boards are easy, but the ps3 diesel boards are a bit more complex due to fine wiring

RJR.  Thanks for the information.  I only have those two diesels to repair.  

There’s no tire issues, sounds like it getting beyond my electrical know how real quick. I have another diesel that needs attention so it sounds like I need to just send them both in for repairs. Been a tough year on my diesels.

Just curious, but were either of you still running these engines with the original white battery?

 The engine had been running as a middle engine in a lash up.....

Unfortunately if the  speed  of  different engines is off a tad the engines will fight each other and eventually one wins, the other burns out.   

Repairs can be done with either PS-2 3V though these boards are at the end of the manufacture cycle, or PS-32 board which is the repair replacement for both PS-2 3V and 5V boards.  Additionally for diesel, you could go the route of PS-3 upgrade which would involve the additional labor of a changing all the bulbs to LED and a complete rewiring of the harness.

Normally the engine just gets the PS-2 3V or PS-32 upgrade.  G

I agree with Gregg's observation, before doing a lashup, it would be a good idea to set all involved engines on a track, uncoupled about 6" apart, and then create the lashup.  Run them uncoupled for a few laps, and see if the gap changes.  I would guesstimate that the effect of even a slight difference in speeds will result in the faster one overheating.

I did as suggested in running independently to check on speed variances before creating the lash ups. I ran the engine again last night independently and something is just not right. Though it did not heat up as before. It seems to be struggling like it’s tight or on a bind, curves or straights.

 GGG, you have done excellent work for me before, so I’ll be getting in touch.

You could unscrew the motors and turn the trucks by hand to eliminate a mechanical problem first. I had a piece of ground foam caught in the gears once. Had to remove motor to get it out. One motor was dragging the other truck because it wouldn't turn.

John H , I was thinking something similar to that, thanks for the suggestion, matter of fact thank you everyone. Not knowing much about these engines, I’ll take all the advice I can get. It’s very much appreciated.

Gregg posted:

Unfortunately if the  speed  of  different engines is off a tad the engines will fight each other and eventually one wins, the other burns out. 

 

Gregg,

I agree with your statement. But, by way of a comment, I have run these two MTH PS-2 steam locomotives (an 0-4-0 and an 0-6-0) double-headed for years on conventional AC without any problem.

MELGAR

There is an electrical difference.  In conventional, both locos' motors are getting the same voltage and presumably are the same motors.  Under DCS, the speed control will cut voltage to the slower motor, since it is being dragged, and raise voltage to the faster, since it cannot go as fast as it should due to the load of dragging the other loco.

RJR posted:

There is an electrical difference.  In conventional, both locos' motors are getting the same voltage and presumably are the same motors.  Under DCS, the speed control will cut voltage to the slower motor, since it is being dragged, and raise voltage to the faster, since it cannot go as fast as it should due to the load of dragging the other loco.

RJR,

Yes. That is why I meant to suggest that running conventionally may be an advantage in this case.

MELGAR