Hi Everyone
If you were looking to Add an engine to your collection would you go for a PS3 or a PS2 3V ?
all comments welcome with pros and cons
Thanks
Prentice
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One has a battery one does not. The PS2 you can take out the battery and use a super cap which makes the two boards equal. really no difference between the two after the battery swap. Maybe sound files between the two?
What about Reliability Issues are they Equal or is one more reliable than the other ?
The early PS2s use the earlier battery or BCR1. I prefer the later PS2s (battery or BCR2) because my LHS says they have fewer issues with them. Otherwise, I have had great luck with both. If I found an engine I really liked, I wouldn't let any of these choices stand in the way of making it a part of my roster. I do buy BCR1 of BCR2 -- so that adds an extra 20 bucks or so to the cost of the engine, although, you can make a super cap for a lot less.
Mike
Mike
I dont mind the extra cost for the BCR, I just Installed 5 BCR-1 in all my Engines last week
They all worked out great i just had to do a little cutting on the tray where the BCR goes in
so the BCR would fit on the SD60M engines
The Bcr was slightly taller and was hitting aginst a lip
Regards
Prentice
It really depends on the specific locomotive and pricing. I don't shy away from any of them. That being said, I base any offer for a locomotive with a 5V board on my assumption that I'll be putting a new board in it sooner rather than later.
Prentice, I second all that's above: and PS2 I have bought gets a BCR pronto. Don't hesitate to spend the extra dough-re-mi.
Mine get the home rolled version. 
I just cut the leads off the old battery and solder them to the supercap, job done.
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@gunrunnerjohn posted:Mine get the home rolled version.
What kind of caps are those???
@AGHRMatt posted:What kind of caps are those???
They're 1.5F 5.5V supercaps. I bought these off shore, but here's a suitable one from Digikey: Cornell Dubilier DGH155Q5R5
GRJ: Can I use this type of supercap (DGH155Q5RS) in the MTH PS1 loco's as well??
Peter......Buco Australia
@Buco posted:GRJ: Can I use this type of supercap (DGH155Q5RS) in the MTH PS1 loco's as well??
Peter......Buco Australia
No the PS1 board uses a pair of those in series. As luck would have it you can hollow out the old MTH rechargable battery and both those super caps will fit in it. I used to add Zener Diodes across the caps but stopped doing that as long as I buy the caps from one seller and they are identical. As to the question of dependability of PS-2 3v vs PS-3 my impression is on dependability the two are very close but the PS-2 3v may have a very small advantage. However the PS-3 boards have fewer signal reception issues than either of the PS-2 boards. When purchasing locos for me it's a toss up between the 3v board and PS-3. Just avoid the 5v board if your not ready to install new boards. I've converted about 15 of the 5v boards to TMCC and though not taxing from a technical standpoint doing it in a neat professional way can at least for me be a bit time consuming. The MTH boards take care of the chuff and puff timing but when converting to TMCC you either purchase a Super chuffer from Gunrunner J or cobble together all that chuff and puff wiring yourself. Wish MTH would get the kits back in stock. j
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One thing I have found is that when you power a siding without a watchdog signal, I can always control a PS2 by pressing startup. My PS3s will take off at full speed 50% of the time.
Is there any way to tell 3V vs 5V boards except for opening them up? i.e. does it say on the outside of the packaging etc?
@LT1Poncho posted:Is there any way to tell 3V vs 5V boards except for opening them up? i.e. does it say on the outside of the packaging etc?
The charging port on the bottom of the engine is round for the 5v engine and the 3v engine has the 2 pin connector for charging. You can't miss it
Here's a selfish plug but I'm selling a 3 volt board, if anyone one needs one.
@John H posted:One thing I have found is that when you power a siding without a watchdog signal, I can always control a PS2 by pressing startup. My PS3s will take off at full speed 50% of the time.
The very reason that the four channels of my TIU have these Watchdog generators connected. 
I don't need any rocket DCS engines on my layout! 
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Getting back to the original question:
I prefer 3V PS2 over PS3 because most of my engines are steam. The color of the PS3 LED lighting and "Rule 17" behavior are not what I want.
I think you may be able to turn off the Rule-17 feature. To change the LED color, that's a bit more work.
I'd be a lot happier with my PS3 steam if I could disable the Rule 17 behavior. I have the DCS handheld controller and the WiFi, and can use either to do whatever trick you suggest. Thanks!
This got into the weeds but here's the basic rule:
Either PS2 3V or PS3 is fine. You will get better sounds (and possibly quilling whistle, depending on model) with PS3, but either will run reliably.
PS2 5V is a no go, unless you get it stupid cheap. It will randomly die at some point. If you can't swap to a PS32 board or do a TMCC upgrade to it on your own then pass on any PS2 5V locomotive that comes your way. You're looking at a ~$300 repair bill to have someone fix a dead PS2 5V locomotive for you.
@700E posted:I'd be a lot happier with my PS3 steam if I could disable the Rule 17 behavior. I have the DCS handheld controller and the WiFi, and can use either to do whatever trick you suggest. Thanks!
Doesn't look like it's controllable with PS/3, I was remembering that I can turn it on/off with Lionel Legacy. I'm a little surprised that there's no control available in PS/3.
@gunrunnerjohn posted:The very reason that the four channels of my TIU have these Watchdog generators connected.
I keep 4 MUs on two sidings that I power through the 2 variable channels that I don't use. I have them set to fixed. I switch them on the input side so they send the watchdog when switched on. It just took me a long time to come up with that idea. I have a couple of PS2 engines on other sidings, but they don't take off, and I can press Startup and they are in command.
@John H posted:I keep 4 MUs on two sidings that I power through the 2 variable channels that I don't use. I have them set to fixed. I switch them on the input side so they send the watchdog when switched on. It just took me a long time to come up with that idea. I have a couple of PS2 engines on other sidings, but they don't take off, and I can press Startup and they are in command.
I have a total of 13 individually switched sidings, I just found it easier to always have a WD signal, that way there's no mistake. I worked on a scheme with switches, relays, and a TIU channel, but this is a whole lot easier.
I don't want them starting up until I'm ready since they have sound, smoke and lights.
@John H posted:One thing I have found is that when you power a siding without a watchdog signal, I can always control a PS2 by pressing startup. My PS3s will take off at full speed 50% of the time.
Your PS3 stuff is probably locked in conventional forward and needs a reset. I've never had a PS3 locomotive power up in conventional by accident and take off. It'll just turn on the headlight, charge the super cap, power on, and just sit idling. I can just hit startup on the DCS remote and it's ready to go.
One problem is if you start up in conventional and it's sitting on the siding, a subsequent quick power cycle will result in it taking off. A cure for this if you don't run conventional is to lock it in neutral.
Been switching out the 3v batteries with supercaps when needed or anytime a shell comes off. I read somewhere that 9v ni-cads were a better replacement for the PS2 5v setup instead of supercaps? Would a rechargeable 9v lithium battery be a suitable replacement for the 9v ni-cad?
@gunrunnerjohn posted:The very reason that the four channels of my TIU have these Watchdog generators connected.
John, I am not familiar with the watch dog signal generators. Please explain.
@ScottM posted:John, I am not familiar with the watch dog signal generators. Please explain.
Below is the thread I started when I was trying to come up with a reasonable solution to managing DCS yard tracks. Thanks to the major contribution of @stan2004, we ended up with the solution in the first post.
