PS3 upgrade information.

How can it be that you techs are installing PS32 boards but don'know the price?

MSRP for the required pieces.

PS3 Stacker Board      $205.00
PS3/2 Board (w/ black 5volt PS2 connectors)    $25.00
Protosound 3/2 Heat Sink Bracket Kit    $8.00

Ouch!

I'll hang onto my PS2 stock.

MSRP for the PS/2 board is $200, so it's about 10% more for the PS/3 replacement.

That's less painful.  I was thinking in terms of a comparison with the MTHRRC price for the straight upgrade kit.

Dave,  you can.  Please try it.  BUT just load the sound file not the PS-3 flash.  You may have missed my earlier post, but by procedure the engineers are still leaving the hardware table/speed ratios in the PS-3 sound file when they make it.  So the PS-32 should be able to find it.  The one caveat may be that the light configuration may be different. PS-3 has more variations.  You can always go back to the PS-2 sound file.  G

Dave, if you see this, I have tried more times than you know to see your shop in person. Once again, this week, I planned to stop by on our drive home. I forgot that you're closed on Mondays. I'm going to make it there as part of my bucket list I swear!!!

George,

I will give it a try.  Thank you!

Dave

George,

Works!  The Light functions seem to be working properly.

Thank you for the tip!  

Dave

I mentioned I would post some pictures of the PS-32 installs as replacements for PS-2 5V boards in the engine.  Here are a few.  So far I have installed this in a bantam Turbine engine, 4-6-0 RTR Tender, and now a Dreyfus and Unshrouded J in the engine.  The fits are tighter and you need to be creative with board mounting. For the J the heat sink could mount directly to a chassis screw, so I reversed the metal mount board and used it for support of the front of the board only.

You really need to do a lot of fitting an locating to ensure the shell can go back on and that wires, which sit much higher up then the PS-2 boards have clearance and nothing that can pierce or pinch.   G

with the current cost increases on locomotives, I am looking to upgrade many of my Williams and Third Rail brass steamers as well as some die cast MTH ps1 locos such as:

PRR t1

PRR Centipede 5 stripe set

Are these worth the upgrade?

GGG, just curious but does the board have to located in the boiler or was it just an option and that's where you decided to put it? Thanks for the info and pictures. 

The easiest way to put in the replacement board is if you can put it in the same place as the original.  If not, you have to do quite a bit of rewiring.

The board can be located anywhere.  George stated that he was replacing a 5vPS2 board which was probably originally located in the boiler.

Dave

Curve, I felt all my old locos were worth upgrading, but I did work myself.  You have to do your own cost/value analysis.  Some of my best running locos are the old upgraded ones.  They're broken in.

"Probably" Well was it in the boiler or not?

I'm sorry I didn't recall what George stated. There hasn't been any postings on this thread in almost 3 weeks. I didn't have time to re-read the entire thread.

So are most 5vPS2 boards located in the boiler? I haven't done an upgrade in along time and I've only done 4. None of the locomotives I did had the boards in the boiler.

Many of the older locomotives had the boards in the boiler, even smaller engines they managed to cram them in there.  Makes it interesting to replace them with the retrofit board.

Thanks John. To be clear I wasn't saying that the boards were never in the boiler just that I never worked on a locomotive that had them there. Obviously, you guys have worked on many, many more locomotives than I have. I guess I got lucky on the few upgrades that I did. It doesn't sound like fun to fit the board in the boiler.

What about upgrading a Lionel or like 'Curve asked about a Williams locomotive? Where do you guys put the boards then since there is no original board?

GGG's photos seem to show a loco with a lot of space in the boiler.  I have 2 5-volt board locos left.  I should be so lucky. 

For most upgrades, I put the boards in the tender as that's what the upgrade kit is wired for.  I put one in a boiler and hand-wired it, but the rest have gone in the tender.