There are some threads in the past about people trying to upgrade the AtlasO AEM7 to PS3. To my knowledge, I do not think anyone has done it successfully yet. The large horizontal motor in the AEM7 just takes up too much space.
When the MTH 44 tons came out, my son had the idea of using that PS3 system to power the AEM7 because of its small size. I scoffed at the idea... "That's a $400 engine? Who would buy a $400 engine to use the guts to transplant into an older Atlas engine?"
Well today in Allentown, we scored a premier MTH PS3 44 Tonner for... are you ready? $100.
I thought, there had to be something wrong with it. I was told it ran great and if it did not I could bring it back for a full refund. 3.8 miles on the Odom and 2 hours on the Chrono. It does indeed run great. So great, that I'm thinking of keeping it as is.
However, the original plan was to use it as a transplant into the AEM7. So my question. Can I use this board? I thought I heard the 44 ton used an "S" scale PS3 system because of the size. Will the the larger, more powerful Atlas AEM7 draw more current and possibly fry that PS3 board? Are there any other unintended consequences I'm not thinking about? Are there tests or measurements I can run?
Thanks!
Ron
