PS-3 Upgrade Kit

Supposedly another batch of PS-2 3V kits are coming first.  That is why sales was still taking orders for them.   G

What is the price of the proto 3 board for 5 volt proto replacement?

The MSRP of the 5V replacement PS3 package is $230 for the two boards vs. $200 MSRP for the PS2 replacement.  For either of these you have to add the heatsink and speaker, for the PS/2 you'll also need the battery/charging harness.  It ends up being around $25 more expensive to use the new PS3 package over the existing option with the PS2 3V replacement board.

Thanks John, I would rather put the regular ps2 board in. I bought a ps2 3 volt just for this project.

Hi i just tried to order a ps2 board steam kit but the gilr said she did not know if they were going to get anymore ps2 kits and also she did not know when the ps3 kits will be ready to ship as they do not have all the parts for the ps3 kits!

Just called them less then a hour ago!

Alan

They are waiting for a new shipment of PS-2 board to make the kits.  The boards they have in stock are retained for repairs.

At some point the PS-2 kits will go away.  They are close on PS-3 but still working through some issues and decisions wrt the kit.  G

Anyone know do these PS3 5V replacement boards have the "stopped/on - running/off" cab lights like new PS3 units do?

Don't know, they have different flash programming designed to take the operating characteristic from the PS-2 sound file used.  YOU DO NOT use a PS-3 Sound file with these boards.   So I suspect not.

No one know what the actual board capability will be for PS-3 upgrade kit yet.  The prototype is for the PS-3/2.  G

The replacement boards act just like a PS/2 as you load the same sound file.  The ones I've installed have not had any lighting enhancements over the existing stock boards.

As George says, nobody knows what the PS/3 upgrade kits will do yet.

John, I do.  Information soon to be released by MTH.

OK smarty!   I know you were testing the early beta, but for us great unwashed masses, we don't know what it's going to look like.

Maybe not tomorrow, but soon

Spoken by Rick, in Casablanca, to Ilsa.  Soon followed by, "Here's looking at you, kid."

Marty, I heard things are changing so the Steam and Diesel kit may be different then originally expected.  G

Next your going to tell us the new Web Site will be up soon...LoL! 

Not my call to make.  I am just a beta tester who does what he is told to do.  

 YOU DO NOT use a PS-3 Sound file with these boards.

Why would you not want to utilize the greater audio dynamic range of the PS3 design?

Because they are specifically designed and programmed as a PS/2 replacement.  You use standard PS/2 sound files.  Hopefully, the PS/3 upgrade kits will be a different animal.

well Kristie told me she did not know if they were getting anymore ps2 boards or not, that's why I'm trying to buy 2 ps2 board kits, before they are completely stopped making them all together!

Thanks for the added update George,john n Marty!

Alan

Marty i know you can't tell us much about the new ps3 board kits, but do you think they will be dependable as the ps2 kits are now?

Alan

I'm confused if the ps3 boards are not done yet  how come you guy's have been trying to repair some of them? and is there going to be another design ounce these kits are produced will there also be a different version of ps3 boards, so how many versions of ps3 boards are there going to be?

Alan

PS3 boards have been out for years, since around 2011 I believe.  They're in pretty much all of the product line now.  The upgrade kits and the retrofit boards for older locomotives are the ones that are new.

It is complicated to explain, and I don't think MTH has finished determining what they want to do as far as upgrade kits.

The current PS-3/2 board is designed as a repair board for a PS-2 5V.  It has a stacker board to convert the output meant to drive LEDs, to drive bulbs too.  So the original harness of the engine plug into this board.

PS-3 does characteristics different than PS-2.   So this PS-3/2 has special flash coding installed.  It allows you to load a PS-2 3V sound file for the engine in question.  The Flash program grabs the speed control info and other characteristic like ditch lights or markers and installs it where a PS-3 would use it's chain file.  Again it is meant to repair a PS-2 engine, not upgrade it.

You could load a PS-3 sound file, but a PS-3 sound file doesn't have characteristics.  So the engine would not know what to do.  If you load the chain file, you over ride the flash program, now the stacker board may not work right. Or the characteristics are wrong for your engine.

Also, there are plenty of flash code specific files for engines like COORs, GG-1 with remote controlled pantographs, small smoke, bi-directional ditch, trolley, that still need to be made.

This is not like going from Windows 7 to windows 8.  Much more complex.  So it just needs to sort out some more.   G

This is really interesting stuff (at least to me). Thanks for the information.

4.3.2???? 4.31 hasn't been issued yet.  Of course, what problems is anyone having with 4.3 that has them chafing at the bit for a new subversion? 

One thing I haven't seen explicitly stated (I probably missed it) is whether or not the PS-3 upgrade kit will allow the original proto-1 (PS-1) engines and the non-PS-1 engines (simply a whistle or horn) to be upgraded to PS-3.  I do have a couple of engines that I would like to upgrade to PS-2 if it is possible.

It was my understanding that the upcoming PS/3 upgrade kit would allow for upgrading MTH and non-MTH locomotives similar to what is possible with the PS/2 kit.  It wouldn't make any sense for MTH to restrict their market if they're going to sell the upgrade kits.

Paul, you conclude by saying "PS2."  Before DCS, all locos I bought were only whistle or horn.  I have upgraded them all to PS2.  Other than higher cost, I don't know what PS3 would gain you.  I haven't found batteries to be a problem; I have on occasion used smaller batteries with no problem.

RJR, Not all where just whistle or horn, there were Protosounds too.

Paul, Yes it will.  The PS-2 board is becoming obsolete.  So the MTH's plan is to transition the Upgrade kit to PS-3 board.

PS-3 board has to become a replacement board for PS-2 3V also.  Just like PS-2 3V became the replacement for PS-2 5V.

If you want them done, I recommend getting them done with PS-2 if you can.  PS-3 will be more expensive and still no date when they will be available.  G

As I understood the question, he was asking if non-sound locos could be converted, and I answered in the affirmative.  You're correct that he mentioned PS1, but I was assuming (one should never assume) that the ungradeability of PS1 was a given.

I agree with your last recommendation.

I find it hard to believe that MTH would release a PS3 board that can't use PS3 sound files.

So I did a little checking...the PS32 info sheet that went around a few months back say's...

 PS32 board...

"Loading software into the PS32 board is just like the PS2 3v board. The sound file must be in the 3 volt format. The serial number loads the same way as PS2 also using the loader program. The DSP software loaded into the PS3 board is universal for Steam, Diesel, Electric, Articulated Steam, Steam with Quillable whistle."

This does not say you can not load a PS3 soundfile into a PS32 board. It does however state that any soundfile loaded must be in the 3V format.

What is the advantage of a PS3 Upgrade kit for $200 vs buying a Rugged Rails PS3 Loco and doing a transplant of the guts to the engine of your choice?

The transplant option is less expensive...even more so if you sell off the Rugged Rails donor as a dummy or for bit/piece parts.

Ron

This is effectively what I stated, except I explained why.  So what is your point?

Using a PS-3 that has different software, hardware and different format to replace a PS-2 board, requires special coding to make it work as a PS-2 board with PS-2 sound file.

Not sure what is so hard to understand.

When my computer was upgraded to Window 8, my older printer that was XP based, would no longer work.  I had to load a different firm ware to trick it into being compatible.  It works as a printer, but lost some features in the process that would work with XP.   Not really a hard concept in my mind.   G 

Does MTH still market the Rugged Rails line and, if so, can you really get one with PS3 for $200??????

Not new, but on the used market you can find them.

Pulling the wiring out of them leaves you with a fairly basic set, so if you want markers, cab lights, etc., you'll have to manually add wires to the harness.

I'd rather do it with the upgrade kit for $150 for MTH-RR Club members.

The reason I am interested in the PS-3 upgrade is that I have a number of the original protosound and non-protosound (whistle and horns) engines.  Of these, there are a couple of the higher priced premier engines that I really like and the cost of a PS-3 upgrade would be a small percentage of the cost of the engine.  I certainly would not waste the cost of an upgrade on an engine that only cost me a couple of hundred dollars to start with.

However, there are a couple of other reasons that I would like to upgrade to PS-3 and eventually have an all-PS-3 stable of engines.  First off, I don't want to reply on a battery being charged determining whether I scramble the electronics board to the point where it must either be reprogrammed or, worse yet, it becomes unusable.  I have worked in a hi-tech environment all my life and have loved it, but that doesn't mean that I want to have to worry whether my engines will go "off into the weeds" when I put them on the track after an extended period of time.  This can happen with old protosound engines.

That brings me to my second point... Eventually all my trains are going to end up with the grandkids.  The grandkids are not going to have the background (and version knowledge) to understand how these engines have to be treated to avoid possible catastrophic results when they drag them out years from now.  I can see a lot of these engines not running when they first put power to them and a lot of them finding their way to the trash bin.  Hopefully, with PS-3 and the absence of a battery, they will at least run.  I guess the days of dragging an old 1950's era train set out of the closet and expecting it to run are gone with many of this generations engines... hopefully, PS-3 might alleviate some of the potential problems.

Oh well, enough rambling... When I start these "trains of thought", I usually have an idea in mind initially and then end up on a "side track" wondering what the heck I was going to write about.  I hope I at least expressed some of my concerns.

First off, PS/2 boards don't get scrambled with a dead battery.  Second, a $24 BCR will give you the same capability as the PS/3 boards.

Truthfully, with my current level of experience with PS/2 and PS/3, I'd rather have them running on PS/2 boards.  I laid in a bunch of upgrade kits for that reason.

I don't have PS-2.   My post said PS-1.  BCR's are an option, however.

You said you were interested in the PS/3 upgrade, I just suggest that PS/2 is a viable option.

Here's what you wrote...

Don't know, they have different flash programming designed to take the operating characteristic from the PS-2 sound file used.  YOU DO NOT use a PS-3 Sound file with these boards.   So I suspect not.

I have 4 PS32 equipped engines running on my layout right now that has PS3 soundfiles downloaded into them. There is no problem whatsoever with these engines.

Your analogy of using a Windows XP printer driver on a Win 8 machine isn't quite right as Windows will go out (if it has permission) and find the correct driver.

Better yet I'll put it this way...The AE-1000035 is loaded with software 3239 which is a rather generic driver which will work with both PS2 and PS3 sound files...This is MTH confirmed.

I have 4 engines using the PS32 boards with PS3 soundfiles loaded onto them and they work just fine...and they sound terrific!!