Two Quick Questions on PS3 Upgrade kit And 1 observation

Yellow is +  White is -

Forget the upgrade.  Let's try the Panettone. 

David Minarik posted:

Yellow is +  White is -

Thanks David. If you blow up the lower picture on pages 18 and 19 of the MTH PS3 instructions it certainly looks like whoever did that one did it wrong. I guess I will have to re-solder the wires. I don't know why MTH didn't specify which is the positive. Thanks again. I don't want to make any costly mistakes. 

I really don't think it makes any difference with an electromagnetic speaker, unless you're trying to phase multiple speakers.  But if I'm wrong, I'd like to get the reason; I can always learn.

IMO you got the heat sink right.  I've done 3 so far and did exactly what you did on the heatsink.  Also had to bend the opening slightly to get it to fit over the rectifier.  I believe I followed how the speaker I removed was wired (in terms of yellow/white and +/- and didn't have any issues).

The tender stuff was much easier then the tach board holder.  IMO the MTH instructions for how to mount the tach bracket were worthless for the 3 engines I did.  I had to custom cut the plastic to get it to mount where I needed.  I think the assumption is the 12 o'clock position, but I needed mine in the "corner" at 4 or 8.....  The one case that would work at 12, I had to buy some shim stock on and custom reverse mount it to get it close enough to the flywheel.

There are experts here that can give you sound advice, like GGG.

cause it'll make the sounds come out backwards

the polarity wont make any difference that you will notice, if it were a stereo hi fi system then you might hear the difference as one cone on the speaker might be going out when the other one is going in and would be out of phase. remember it's only a train. hope it all works for you enjoy the upgrade process as you will get self satisfaction that you did the upgrade and will be glad when it works great

1 good luck hope all goes well with the final testing!

Alan 

The only danger of reversing + and - voltage on a speaker (they are polarity insensitive) is that the - side of the speaker may also be indirectly connected to the chassis somewhere. If, however, the speaker is truly isolated, then reversing + and - makes absolutely no difference at all.

Barry, if either lead of the speaker is connected to the chassis, swift cooking of the board will soon follow!  There is no common ground on the PS/2 or PS/3 boards, everything but track power must be isolated from the frame.  I normally connect the yellow to the +, but I've seen them wired the other way and the sound seemed fine.

John,

Barry, if either lead of the speaker is connected to the chassis, swift cooking of the board will soon follow!

Really?? I had no idea (sarcasm intended).

Barry Broskowitz posted:

John,

Barry, if either lead of the speaker is connected to the chassis, swift cooking of the board will soon follow!

Really?? I had no idea (sarcasm intended).

 What was this supposed to be saying? Why muddle the issue? If either lead was connected to the chassis, it wouldn't work at all!  All your statement did was confuse the issue.

Barry Broskowitz posted:

The only danger of reversing + and - voltage on a speaker (they are polarity insensitive) is that the - side of the speaker may also be indirectly connected to the chassis somewhere. If, however, the speaker is truly isolated, then reversing + and - makes absolutely no difference at all.

 Why is it so hard for you to admit you made a mistake? <Sarcasm intended>

John,

Have a nice day...

Vadarthdad, Alan, John and Barry. Thank you for the excellent information. I will put an ohm meter and check continuity between the plus and minus of the speaker and chassis ground. MTH does warn about this. I think I got a good solder joint but no harm in checking it.

Speaker polarity doesn't matter and as John stated the speaker is isolated from chassis ground.  Any stray contact from the speaker wires to the frame of the speaker can short the audio amp.

Also, the motor lead yellow is + for forward direction.  G

For motor direction, I use a DC bench supply to check the motor(s) for direction before wiring, that way I don't have to guess which way it'll go.  As George says, the yellow lead goes to the positive lead, so when the motor or motors go forward with the bench supply, I've identified the positive lead.  Since dual motored stuff typically has one motor running backwards, you can make sure that wiring is correct as well.

If you are new at upgrades, it is easier to follow the directions than to question them.

+George has replaced many an audio amp for people.

For some reason---maybe cause it doesn't matter, maybe---the steam upgrade kit instruction manual for PS3 no longer says which speaker wire to solder to which terminal.

Note that GGG's advice re speaker wire also applies to the wires inside the speaker.  I found one in a kit that intermittently touched its frame; happily, it didn't blow the amp.