Switching Electronics?

Yes, you should be able to do that.  G

Make sure both are 3 volt boards.

The easy way to tell is by the charging plug under the tender.

3 volt systems use a small rectangular 2 pin socket.

Older 5 volt systems use a round single pin socket. Hopefully your fried berk is the later 3 volt system.

If they are the same the boards should be fully interchangeable as GGG said.

Rod

What would it matter if it is 5 volt or 3 volt if he is gutting the entire engine. and moving the ps2 boards to the Berk. If it were me I would remove the entire set including everything in the tender and under the shell. from the 2-8-0 except the Motor and Tach reader.  If i am wrong in this someone let me know

Bobbie,

What would it matter if it is 5 volt or 3 volt 

A simple board swap is about 15-30 minutes of work. Swapping a 5 volt for a 3 volt board also means cutting and reconnecting all of the leads for the lights and smoke, and also swapping the battery, charging jack and speaker. The would take hours.

That's why.

barry,

is it possible to have the original engine  boards repaired/replaced, instead of gutting a new engine?  Also, how would he have protected the electronics in the first place?

Regards,

Joe

There are several options here.  First, if the engines are the same PS type.  Then the board is a direct swap in.  You may have to swap the heat sink mounting bracket from the bad board to the new board, but every thing else will just plug in the good board.

It the bad engine is a PS-2 5V system (8.4V battery) and the good engine is a PS-2 3V (2.4V battery), then the harness connections are different, and that would require using the good engines harness assembly, battery and speaker.

Or a PS-2 3V with 5Volt connectors could be ordered via MTH.  This would allow the original wiring harnesses to be used, but the speaker needs to be changed to the 4ohm version, and the battery needs to be changed to the 2.4V version, plus you need the new style heats sink.  This would be worthy of a large engine with lots of features.  (Marker lights,  number boards, cab lights,  etc...)

The cheaper route is to get a MTH Steam Upgrade kit and that will have everything you need to make the engine a PS-2 3V engine.

G

Joe,

s it possible to have the original engine  boards repaired/replaced, instead of gutting a new engine?

That would depend on the nature of the problem. Some problems require simply a FET or another component replacement while some require a more extensive repair Sometimes the board cannot be repaired.

  Also, how would he have protected the electronics in the first place?

Typically, fast-acting fuses or circuit breakers are all that's required. The TIU channels already have TVS protection built-in.

Barrry,

Would a Z 4000 trip fast enough to protect these engines?

Joe

PS thanks Ranger Rick for letting me post my questions on your thread.

Joe,

Would a Z 4000 trip fast enough to protect these engine

Most certainly.

I have no additional protection on the Z4000 circuits that power all 10 TIU channels and have never had any kind of an issue in 8 years of operating the current layout.

Thanks to all of you who have replied to this thread. And Joe, no need to apologize about asking other questions in this thread. That is what is so great about this forum....finding answers to so many questions. I think I can do this, but do wish I had some of you expert folk looking over my shoulder.

Rick