What is best way to get 3 ($1200 worth) PS1 steamers to run again? Just want e-unit , smoke and whistle optional. This has been a lot of $ for me to waste on nothing. John A
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I'd look at Dallee replacement units. Just E unit will run $45....sound a little more. Fixing the dead MTH is going to cost more....
I bought a lot of dead PS1 locos and used WbB or Dallee e units.
You could go with a simple bare bones electronic e-unit from Dallee. I put one in an old Williams brass steamer for about $45 It is a very small unit and takes up minimal space.
thanks Dave....I will look into Dallee products
Another option are Williams E Units. They are rated for 6 amps vs 4 amps for Dallee. Guys who do a lot of upgrades likely have buckets of them for small money.
Pete
If you have TMCC on your layout you can put an Electric Railroad company board in them for just a bit more than the dalee units and have full command without sound. and its just as easy as installing the dalee electronic E units. then you can run conventional or command. Rick
I only run conventional control, so I think I will go with Dallee....appreciate the input.
Sadly, I imagine that so many products failing causes many hobbyists to leave the hobby. manufacturers please take note!! John A
What are the symptoms? PS-1 is pretty robust, but they do need a good battery, can get some software conflict that can be fixed easily. They are over 20 years old, but still work fine. The smoke unit is independent of board, it is powered off track power, so just make sure switch is on. G
John A posted:Sadly, I imagine that so many products failing causes many hobbyists to leave the hobby. manufacturers please take note!! John A
Or it allows conventional runners to buy up dead locos cheap and for less than $50 have a great loco. I'd never bought a MTH GP-30 in D&RGW if not for it frying and owner almost giving it away.
"Sadly, I imagine that so many products failing causes many hobbyists to leave the hobby."
"So many"? How many?
"Or it allows conventional runners to buy up dead locos cheap and for less than $50 have a great loco."
Yup - I'm one of those, too ( the dead/sick loco buyer, not the "conventional runner"). I'm always searching for "...needs work...".
Had a RK ATSF 4-8-4 years ago - PS1 - it died. Put in an ex-Williams rev unit, kept the Protocoupler (swapped it for a mechanical one) for future use (used it), sold the loco for $100+. Simple, great runner, no sound. Everybody was happy.
I rarely see PS1 units in total failure. Id be willing to be your cheapest rout to working locos is to repair the PS1 units. Like GGG says, they are pretty robust and finding used boards is pretty cheap if you need them. Most likely, replace the battery, use the PS1 reset kit and you may get them all to work.
