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I'm planning a few locomotive upgrades (diesel and steam).  Are there any important considerations when thinking about electrocouplers?  For instance, if I change an MTH engine to TMCC (ERR cruise commander), will the electrocouplers on the MTH engine work okay with the cruise commander?  Are there any known situations where you have to be careful with electrocoupler or control system swaps/upgrades?

Thanks!

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PS/2 and PS/3 electrocouplers are NOT interchangable with Lionel or PS/1 couplers.  Lionel (Atlas, K-Line, 3rd Rail, etc.) and the older MTH PS/1 couplers are all compatible with the Cruise Commander, or any R2LC or R4LC equipped locomotive. 

The PS2 and PS/3 couplers have a much lower impedance and are designed for more current at lower voltages.  They may work for a time with TMCC, but it's likely your coupler triac croaks at some point.

I have an older set of PS 2 F-3's they came with couplers on the back of both A units that are fixed and two different sizes in height.  I am guessing these were produced before proto couplers were on both ends.  I have a boat load of PS 1 couplers and I am not concerned with them functioning it's just that the original fixed couplers look odd.  Does anyone know if I am able to mount PS 1 couplers on the rear of these?

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Has Anyone really tested PS-2 couplers against TMCC Triac?  It is a short pulse.  I do not see why it would not survive long term.  You could always add a resistor to the line if you did want to limit current draw.

The more important factor in my mind is form of the coupler.  There are long and short ones plus when you get to Lionel and Atlas and brass, they have many different mounting shapes and positions.  Many times that is the harder issue to resolve.  MTH only has 2 basic couplers.  51mm and 44.5mm.  Shape is same. 

If converting to PS-2 or 3, the Lionel couplers and PS-1 do not work.  The resistance is too high for the electronic pulse PS-2/3 puts out.  G

I have replaced the coupler triac on two upgrades that were done leaving the PS/2 couplers.  I also replaced the couplers with the correct type. Perhaps a limited example, but after the second example, I decided that I'd simply use the correct coupler and avoid any future incidents.

As you note, the Lionel couplers don't work with PS2/3, I actually added a relay to an Atlas diesel installation to switch track power when the PS/2 coupler pulse tripped it as the coupler was "unique", and there was certainly no compatible MTH coupler.

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