PS2 5v upgrade to PS3

By far the easiest route is to use the PS32 board with the 5V connectors.

You remove the battery, board, and that ugly flaking speaker from the tender.  The PS32 board and a 4 ohm 2" speaker is all you need to replace them.  This leaves all the wiring intact and makes it a simple upgrade.

John, are those conversion boards/harness available? I have a couple MTH steam engines I was thinking of working on…

Tom

You don't need any harness to swap out a PS/2 board for the PS32 board.  If you're talking a complete upgrade, that's the upgrade kit.  IF you have 5V boards to replace, I have some 5V PS32 boards available.

@Rod B8s posted:

I’ve been tasked to upgrade MTH item number 20-3051-1 to PS3.  I see that the engine harness plug will work with the PS3 upgrade harness.  Can I just leave the board and lights in the boiler and replace the PS2 board in the tender?  Photos are attached for clarification.

Aside note from your PS upgrade, ….do yourself and your customer a solid,….that Pittman with the J434 ending prefix can and has eaten nose bushings for breakfast given the weight and mass of the PS2/PS3 flywheels. Not an overly common issue, but I’ve seen more than 2 or 3 that have done it,….so here’s your golden opportunity while the locomotive is apart to harvest the Pittman and service the motor …..easy to do,….what you’ll find is the oilite bushings COULD be bone dry, there’s a cotton wiper behind the copper retainer that holds the oilite bushing in place, ….sometimes putting drips of oil on the outside isn’t enough, especially if the locomotive has been sitting due to a board dying, etc,….if you take the motor apart, you can saturate these cotton wipers for a long happy life ….

Pat

I forgot to mention that locomotive has the MUX boards, so you can't just "upgrade" the tender and use the locomotive the way it is.  However, you can just put in the PS32 board in the tender, replace the speaker, and not tinker with ANY of the wiring harness.

John, How much for the PS32 board with the 5v connectors?  I’d like to save my upgrade kit if possible.

GRJ, same question here  - How much for the PS32 board with the 5v connectors?

I have a Railking PS2 Decapod that I ran on dirty track with plenty of sparking and now sits on the dead line. I'd like to see it running again someday.

Dale

@Pennsylover posted:

GRJ, same question here  - How much for the PS32 board with the 5v connectors?

Since you don't have an email in your profile, send me an email and we'll see if we can get you fixed up.

John,

Will he need a PS3/2 flash file?  Are these flash files needed on all ps3/2 upgrades?

Bruce

The PS32 boards came with the standard diesel chain file.  For diesels with the standard smoke unit, that normally works.  For any other configuration, steam, small smoke unit, electric with pantographs, trolley, etc., you have to load the appropriate PS32 chain file set.

Be very careful when working with this engine.  The Light Mikado has virtually NO clearance between the wires above the engine drive gear box and the MUX board.  The best advise is leave the engine alone.  When you place the boiler shell back on the engine frame be very careful to get a good fit with no binding or pinching of the wires.

Replace the 5v board with a ps3/2 board.  You have to load the ps3/2 small engine flash code before you load the sound file.  Do not mess with any of the wiring near the MUX board.  Your best bet is get an MTH ASC Technician to do the job for you.

Bruce

@bruce benzie posted:

Replace the 5v board with a ps3/2 board.  You have to load the ps3/2 small engine flash code before you load the sound file.

I was under the impression there was only PS32 steam chain files with the flash code for large and small smoke units, not locomotive size. If so then the large smoke unit chain file would be used for this Mikado, since it uses the full size smoke unit.

Lou, you are correct.  The PS32 FLASH code for steam engines is either for small or large smoke units.  It has nothing to do with the size of the locomotive.