PS3 upgrade information.

Thanks Marty! & Mike!

Thanks Marty, a well thought out product range, will make upgrades a breeze.

One thing I did not touch on is you can replace any bad PS2 3 volt boards when needed with the upgrade board set and your locomotive will now be PS3.  This is not just for 5 volt replacement.  Just order the AE-1003v36 top adapter board plug it into the bottom board and you are good to go.  

It's been a long wait but this is indeed great news!

Thanks Marty

Marty, do the new Proto 3 boards also have to have the flash codes put into them for pantograph operation too?

That is the one that is not available yet.  You will see it.  The board will be flashed for your operation when ordering.  

Marty, which of the above are available to the hoi polloi and which are only available to those who get their mail with an MTH tech?

Thanks Marty. I have two blown PS2 (5V) steam locomotives I've been dying to get back into operation. Any word on when the steam conversion sets will be out? On the 5V steam, there's the MUX board issue to deal with.

Hello. I have a question concerning the speaker situation. Does the speaker (8 OHM ) in a 5 volt PS2 system need to be replaced in the PS3 upgrade as it did in the 3 volt PS2 upgrade with a 4 OHM speaker?

Does the speaker (8 OHM ) in a 5 volt PS2 system need to be replaced in the PS3 upgrade as it did in the 3 volt PS2 upgrade with a 4 OHM speaker?

Yes, if you want to preserve the engine's loudness. You can leave an 8 ohm speaker instead of the 4 ohm if you can live with reduced volume.

The reverse, however, is not true.

The PS32 boards will be available to the tech guys.  The upgrade kits can be purchased by everyone.  Matt, the boards you want are available now.  Total plug and play.  Pull the 4 pin, 5 pin, 7 pin, 8 pin, and 12 pin off your blown 5 volt board and plug them into the replacement board.  Good to go.  You do not have to do anything with the Mux.  Just plug in the board.  All existing wire stays in place.

Great news Marty, thank you. 

Marty, if someone wanted to upgrade a non MTH engine to DCS would they use the PS1 upgrade kit or will there be another kit with additional components like the older PS2 kits?

It sounds like all of the kits above reuse some of the components the engines come with.

Pete

Norton, "PS1" is the pre-DCS sound system.  When I upgraded my non-MTH locos to PS2, I gutted all the wiring except for the wires from the rollers.

Marty, could someone upgrade a proto 1 to proto 3 using the upgrade kit or aren't the necessary wires included? Also, is there a projected MRSP? Thanks
Nickstrains

RJR, I understand that. What I am asking is will this kit contain all the connectors, lights, couplers, tethers, etc that used to be included in the PS 2 upgrade kits or is it a scaled down kit that reuses those components and only intended for MTH PS1 engines.

Pete

Pete, I'm not Ralph.  Not having seen the PS3 kits, I won't venture an answer.  But, the PS2 upgrade kits did not include a volume pot (re-used the PS1 pot or you could use alternatives), and included a standard gap tach reader which might or might not have the proper gap for your particular loco.

RJR

Pete, the PS3 kit will have every item the PS2 kit had.  The PS3 kit will be less the battery and related wiring.  The PS3 upgrade I did was a PS2 kit with the PS2 board swapped out for a PS3.  Everything will be present to do whatever locomotive you want.  When Mike first came out with the PS2 upgrade kit, it was intended to do PS1 locomotives.  It did not take long before the guys were doing almost anything that ran on rails.

I have done 148 PS2 upgrades and 2 PS3 upgrades.  I  have done Weaver, 3rd Rail, Atlas, and Williams.  I am happy the guys will get the PS3 kits but more happy that all of us with PS2 5 volt boards will have a plug and play option to make those locomotives PS3.  

I know MTH bashers are lurking but I want to say I know how much energy MTH has put into this program and being an operator I am thankful to MTH and the great people at MTH R&D.

Apologies, RJR. Thank you Marty for the clarification. I am hoping MTH brings these kits to York.

Pete

No problem, Pete.  I've been called worse---much worse!

Marty, problem is, as I understand it, that the P&P to upgrade 5-volt to PS3 will not be made available directly to the public.  Have you been able to check whether a P&P 5 to PS3 board will fit inside a steam loco, where the 5-volt board is located in the loco/

At this point, as stated above, the only change to the PS-2 Steam Upgrade kit, is they remove the PS-2 board, battery, battery harness and heatsink kit and replace it with the PS-32 board, and heatsink kit.

Diesel could be the same, but they have not released it yet.  I think Diesel upgrade harness are the hold up.

As far as fitting they are similar other than connector location and height as compared to the PS-2 board.   There are some small locomotives where speaker is in the frame not in the fuel tank, or short tenders where the fit may be interesting.

As an example I am doing a repair to a 5V FF electric.  The shell is not tall and the speaker is inside the engine.  Despite a very long chassis, the room to place a 3V board is tight, and it looks like I need to mimic the upside down mounting.  With the 12pin connector elevated over the speaker edge.  Not sure if the PS-32 to will fit.  To be continued, and I will post pictures.  But it will work for much of the conversions and repairs, and it also can work with the PS-2 slave boards.  Actually has a 2 pin connector that is used for the motor signals with better output.   G

per Marty, "I know MTH bashers are lurking but I want to say I know how much energy MTH has put into this program and being an operator I am thankful to MTH and the great people at MTH R&D."

Amen, Marty! MTH guys are true model railroad genius's

Dave G.

nice Job MTH GREAT Design, Marty excellent update for ps3 boards and kits, do you know what the price for the kits steam ps3 upgrade?

Also will they be bring any ps3 kits to York Pa.

Alan

What is the material and labor cost to repair a PS2 5-Volt to PS-32 in a steam locomotive?

Bobby, every guy who does upgrades charges about the same.  The cost of the new upgrade kits will be about $25.00 more than the PS2 kit.  

Thanks for all this information Marty. I too am grateful for MTH 's hard work in making these kits available.

My question is will there be a DCS/DCC switch included in the kit or does one have to purchase that separately? As we all know there wasn't a DCS/DCC switch in the previous PS2 upgrade kit.

I know this is obvious but I feel it needs to be mentioned. I would be careful when replacing a blown board and reusing all the existing PS2 wiring, lamps, smoke unit,etc because if that original board blew on it's own you're OK but if there was some kind of short circuit that took out the original board and the short is not repaired you most likely will blow up the new board.

There is a jumper connection, so you could easily add your own switch or just use the jumper.  G

Here is a picture comparison on a MTH Premier FF-2.  PS-2 5V to PS-2 3V to PS-32. 

The PS-2 5 and 3V had a variety of ways to be mounted.  The PS-32 will have less, so some fits will be tougher as I mentioned in an earlier post.

More flexibility with sound files though and the latest flash code has the stm/diesel/electric/articulate and Quillable Whistle file.  Trolley and electric pantographs will require a separate flash, as will a few other unique engines I believe.

G

Thank you GGG. I assume the instructions will show where the jumper is and how to set it for either DCS or DCC.

Just pull this jumper of the top board and you are in DCC.  Thank you MTH.

George, I see you have the 16 ohm speaker in place.  I have two of those box cabs and plan to do them up and slave the second unit.  I am old as I remember those screaming by in Pennsylvania many life times ago.

Marty, I only remember the GG-1s...  This was for a customer that the 5V failed.  The cab is pretty short so I think there might be an issue with the PS-32 fitting, even on the diesel bracket.  Unless you go with a smaller or flat speaker.  Here is the final with a PS-2 3V upside down.  That fit nicely, but you can see the top of board is at the fly wheel height. and just enough room left for the truck harness to swivel, with the 12 pin just above the speaker edge.

This was the FF-2. Looks like MTH only made 2 variations of this.  Like a Y1 but with passenger effect.

It was neat with PSA "arriving in Philly, Villanova, off to Paoli".  Brings back memories.  G

Marty, is there going to be an option (other than what we do now) to have direct connections to LED's for upgrades?  For upgrades, I normally dispense with the bulbs and use LEDs anyway, it would be nice if that were PnP.

I have not heard any more on that John.  My friend Locolawyer is a huge LED headlight guy.  I just cut the incandescent bulb off the wiring plug and install a bright white 3MM LED with a 560ohm resistor on the + leg.  Works perfect for headlight and backup light.  I am sure that is close to what you do.  I have used this combination for years and never had a problem.  Myself I like the old look.

I imagine that would drive the price up.  Adding limiting resistors to the board, LED in the kit.  G

I do the same Marty, although I use a 220 ohm resistor.

George, why would it drive the price up, LED's are cheaper than incandescent bulbs, and the PS/3 board drives LED's directly.  You could omit the piggyback board, more savings.

John, the top board is needed.  It is just as easy to do it like mentioned. 

The way the kit is built, I agree it's probably needed.  My point was that a PS/3 locomotive doesn't need the top board and it runs all the LED lighting just fine.  I was hoping, apparently in vain, that there would be a kit to use LED's directly.  I suspect that I'm not going to get my wish.  It's clearly possible...

Maybe I asked you this before Marty. Will these have the fix for the polarity issue for 2rail? I have a UP 9000 I would like to put one in.

Thanks,

Ralph