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So while I wait to get a replacement capacitor for my first PS2 5V project board, I decided to pull out the last of my PS2 boards, a 3V board marked "good" and give it a checkup.

All went pretty smooth, but I had to fabricate a rudimentary 3V battery to provide the power that the 2.4V pack couldn't.  It's old, has almost no charge, and I'm not sure I have a way to charge it.  So I doubled up some 1.5V alkalines just for the test phase.

Got everything hooked up, but I left the motor, light and smoke terminals unconnected. 

Speaker I tried first was an 8 ohm.  When I powered up, I could hear the relay click, and I could hear the speaker "ramp up", but it was EVER SO SOFT.  If you were more than 6 feet away you wouldn't hear it.  I checked that the volume pot was adjusted all the way clockwise, but nothing would raise the volume to a reasonable level.  But otherwise it sounded like it was making the right noises.

Also noticed that the bulb connected to the front headlight pins wouldn't light.  It would when I applied direct power to the socket, so I know the bulb is good.

But best news, I was getting the variable voltage across the motor pins, so I know it would push my engine (If I ever got an engine for it).  So I would generally rate the board as "good, with things to troubleshoot"

I tried a 4 ohm speaker but no difference so I immediately turned off and put the 8 ohm speaker back.

Any thoughts?

 

  1. Does the absence of any connectors on the smoke harness, the secondary light harness or the motor harness cause trouble?
  2. Does my 3V AA battery pack feed it too much voltage?  I saw you guys were feeding it 5V through a capacitor when making BCR's so I thought I'd be safe.
  3. Does it matter that the headlights don't work?  Is that a clue to anything?

 

Thanks a bunch.

 

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Four ohms is right for the speaker for 3V PS/2 and any PS/3 boards.

The stuff you mention not plugged in isn't causing your issues.

Get the right battery (or a supercap replacement), you don't want a primary battery as that may damage the charging circuit.

If you have short the lighting output to ground, even momentarily, it probably killed the FET that drives the light.  Those can be replaced.  Did you toggle the light on/off on the DCS remote?

Thanks John.

I don't have a DCS remote, everything I have is conventional. The only reason I even have these boards is because they came as part of a grab bag of electronics from the auction a few months back. But with the number of engines available that appear to have been raided for their boards, if I can get this working right I could have a fully functional PS2 loco for a hundred bucks or so.

I guess it's possible the previous owner cycled the lights off on their DCS, and it's just staying that way. Is there a way to recover factory settings using my rudimentary KW transformer? I know the programming of the PS2 boards requires some pretty coordinated whistle and Bell buttons pushes, which I don't have. (Safe for the external whistle and Bell controller that I built a while back but had stopped working recently).

To be clear, will the 3V alkaline pack damage the board just for testing? Should I yank it now? I've not plugged in the charger because I don't have one. 

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