Seems a 2-board kit would be no harder to implement; presumably, it would eliminate need for a mux board.
These upgrade kits are used for a lot more locos than just PS1s, and I'm sure non-PS1 upgrades are a major portion of revenue. In fact, I've never had a PS1 but have upgraded both whistle-only MTHs & locos of other mfrs. I'm not aware of any desire by MTH to limit upgrade kit sales to PS1. I'm sure the MTH Comptroller is very happy when they are used to upgrade Lionel, Williams, Weaver, etc. to DCS. In fact, one of the MTH executives told me that they are working on (didn't say how hard) a kit that won't need a flywheel just to permit bringing DCS to more non-MTH locos.
Although I may be totally beserkshire,* I still don't see the point of having one board for diesel and a completely different board for upgrade steam, with different lighting, and a third for factory steam. It certainly increases production costs.
*I shall some day resolve the Berk's problem, but that's another story.
I think I'll drop off the thread. What MTH has produced is what it is, and while I don't understand the logic, we have to live with it until MTH makes further changes. No point is discussing what might have been or should have been.
Ralph, You know I am teasing.
MTH Makes X amount of kits and they always seem to sell out. But they were made to upgrade expensive MTH conventional engines bought before PS-2 was released. Not repair PS-2 engines. Which is what many of the current kits get bought for by some. Or necessarily convert other engines, though I am sure that is part of the market now. I think you over estimate how many kits are sold. I dpn't think it is a major revenue stream. And you can probably make the case, you sell a few less trains because of upgrade kits.
Conventional engines don't have MUX.
You would need to go to different harnesses for PS-3 Steam and since production steam don't use harnesses anymore you still would need to create a new harness.
If you followed a flow diagram you would start off with the primary concern being a replacement part for PS-2 5V and 3V engines when you no longer can produce a PS-2 3V board. So PS-32 fit that needed. The repair should be a basic board drop in, not a complete rewiring of the engine.
Second was to create the new Upgrade kit. For Steam, choosing to use the PS-32 board allows you to drop it right into the box, and just remove the battery and battery harness. Done. MTH did not make the PS-2 3V upgrade kit for steam with production features. So why expect that for PS-3. They are in the business of selling new trains.
Diesel was different, but they had to create the new diesel harness for a kit, the production versions are different in each engines and they needed one with universal output. But they no longer had to produce the 5 harnesses required for PS-2. Which also were specifically made for the PS-2 3V kit. So it makes sense to go that route. Especially since the single PS-3 diesel board is $25 cheaper then the stacker board. So in the end other then LED being more expensive then bulbs at the retail level, the PS-3 diesel kit probably is less expensive to make then the 3V kit. For steam it would have been the opposite and the kit would have cost MTH more to produce.
Trust me, when you get your first PS-3 diesel kit you will see it will be a little harder to use and require more work upgrading diesel engines. The complexity of the smaller gauge wires and requirement to change Every bulb with LED will notch this one up.
There are other subtleties too. G
