PS3 Steam Kits Available

MTHRRC.

I'm waiting on a couple from MTH, they're not in stock right now.

 

I don't see them at the MTH site but the vendor I ordered them from says 11 still available. I was surprised they were offered at the same price as the PS2 kits. Early reports indicated they would list north of 200 bucks.

I guess I will know for sure when I get a shipping notification, hopefully tomorrow.

 

Pete

 

 

They're still $150 for MTHRRC members.

Bird in the hand. I paid 161. I wanted to try one before stocking up. I plan to pick up a few more at York.

 

Pete

I have an older proto 1 steam engine.  can a Ps3 kit be installed to bring it up to date ?

Sure, that's what they're specifically designed for.  Non-MTH stuff can be done too, but typically the MTH stuff is a bit easier.

 

Shipping is $12 to $13 so kits for club member run about the $162 range.  Price goes up after this run.  I think they were still meeting old orders and honored the price.  G

.  I think they were still meeting old orders and honored the price.  G

Yes that's true midge and Debbie told me they will honor the old order for a while longer!

Alan

So, has anyone actually ordered any PS3 kits from MTH and received them yet? I have yet to find them on their website. The vendor I ordered mine from shows a part #50-1911. Searching on that number produces no results. 

The MTH website will always remain an enigma to me.

 

Pete

One of the 3 certified MTH Dealers in San Diego County says the price ranges because I am not a MTHRRC member. He told me last week about 200 dollars. All I know is I won't have money for what I want to buy for Christmas.

I thought 161 bucks was a good deal and you didn't have to be an MTH club member to get that price. Today the sale is over and the price is $170, still not bad for non members.

 

Pete

Join the club, get the $149 price.

 

One of my older orders did fill last week.  G

yes I got my order and called and ordered another one before the price goes up!

Alan

what George said is true the part number is 50-1911 steam and 50-1912 for diesel kit but diesel kits not available yet I think George had said he thought they were waiting for the diesel harness's

Alan

p.s. and yes these part numbers do not work on the MTH website for these kits!

 

I got a diesel kit.  I imagine if you order 1901 or 1902 you get the 1911 or 1912.  G

Does not make sense does it George. The good thing is at least you got the kit . Do you know if they will honor the $149.00 price for a while like they did with the steam kit?

Alan

 

George they probably trying to save money and not have to change the boxes with the 50-1901 and 2 labels . who cares as long as we get the kits that's all that matters! George have a nice day.

Alan

George do you have the software to lock in the engine id we create when we install the kits on the engine or do we have to send the board to MTH if we want the id  and address locked in so it won't go away on a factory reset?

Alan

also just want to make sure I download the correct files for PS 3, If  I  understand it correctly they can use PS 2 files or not I don't want to take a chance of wiping out the flash that MTH installs ? don't want to have TO SEND BACK ANY NEW BOARDS because of a loading sound file mistakes  Alan

Any authorized service center should have access to the dealer loader which gives you the ability to read and load the serial data file.  So, yes I have it and that is the loader I always use.

 

If using a steam kit you should just load a PS-2 3V file of your choice.

 

The diesel kit is pure PS-3.  I have a customer train coming in for this upgrade, so I will check the flash code when I get it, but I imagine you can use either PS-2 sound file, or load the whole PS-3 file including the flash code.  G

Alan,

do you have the software to lock in the engine id we create when we install the kits on the engine or do we have to send the board to MTH if we want the id  and address locked in so it won't go away on a factory reset?

There is no software to lock-in an engine's DCS ID#. It is always assigned by the remote when the engine is added and a Factory Reset will always change it back to the Factory Default setting.

 

In order to lock-in an upgraded DCS engine's name to prevent it from vanishing when it's Factory Reset, one must use the MTH Service Loader Program, rather than the Consumer Loader Program. Only MTH ASC's have the Service Loader Program. Further, using that feature requires an ASC password.

thanks George n Barry for the answer have a nice weekend!

Alan

I have a beautiful 3rd Rail steam engine, can I install the PS3 kit on it?

You should be able to but it won't be a drop in install like it would be if it was a PS1 engine.  I intend to install mine in a 3rd Rail engine. It will depend on the size of the engine of course. You might want to install extra rollers on the tender and maybe a smoke unit depending on what you are starting with. 

 

Pete

So lets make it clear that Protosound upgrades are not "drop in" ever. Its always an almost total rewire

Yep, I don't ever see "drop-in" installations, as much as it would be neat.

 

In all honesty, one of the smoothest installs I did was n s Williams brass Class J. Worst one was MTH DMIR Yellowstone

Oh, I did the Yellowstone, that was a lot of work.  Another PITA upgrade I've done was the Railking PS/1 General 4-4-0.  I had to mount the tach reader directly on the motor, and I had to do a lot of Dremel surgery for the tether cavity.  I also had to cut down the tether locomotive connector and relocate the diodes.  The space in the tender was at a premium as well, so that took more work than usual.

 

You never know which ones are going to be easy, and which ones are going to toss you a curve ball.

 

Yeah, I thought for sure that the Yellowstone was gonna be be a cake walk since it was so huge and had lots of room but nope. Then I had a tender plug short and it kept eating boards

For me drilling a few holes for mounting components and switches and cutting traces on a smoke unit are drop ins. Taking the bodies out to the machine shop and milling cavities for connectors and tethers or fabricating mounts for pickup rollers is not a drop in. Its all relative, I guess.

 

Pete

Someone probably mentioned this and I didn't see it, but do the PS3 upgrades come with LEDs? Thank you-

The steam PS3 upgrades are based on the PS32 board set and have incandescent bulbs.  Though I haven't seen it yet, the diesel kit is reputed to be pure PS3 with LED's.

 

Well Pete, you do a few Protosound upgrades and you will find that it is the same procedure for all locos. You may need to mill out some MTH bodies and do all kinds of other nonsense to get it to work. So yeah, I have not had one that was even close to what you describe as "drop in". I will say that I'd prefer steam to diesel any day. The diesels take forever for some reason

As John said, the steam is same as PS-2 3V except it has the PS-32 board and no battery.

 

Diesel is a PS-3 with new PS-3 harnesses and all LEDs.

 

Never did the Yellowstone, unless that is the one with Vanderbilt tender those are fun, but try a Shay and Cab Fwd, wiring is lots of fun on those.  G

The Railking cab forward wasn't too bad, I don't remember any special issues with that one.  Is the Premier model a bigger deal to do?

Just a little  Unit length requires extending wires, placement of the wires so not seen requires the rear to be fully disassembled.  Oh and that SLIM tender with the speaker directly in the middle of the chassis required me to drill and tap into the tender shell an mount the board to the tender shell.  Enjoy the pictures.  G

Good-looking job, GGG.  2 thoughts:  You could save a lot of space by using a Digikey supercap instead of the AA battery.  Smaller or different shaped speakers are available from electronics supply houses.  I have had to use a few.

looks like a great update job as usual for a great repair tech, looks like a cab forward, was it a PS 2 5 volt boards or was it a ps1 engine before the upgrade?

Alan

Does anyone have any suggestions on isolating the smoke pot on a shay upgrade. The smoke pot is different than the rest.