5 volt boards not available, so what to do if one fails?

There are 3volt replacements for them that have the connectors for replacing 5volt boards. Plus you also need to change the speaker, battery, put in a charging port and a hardware kit to mount the board. It takes a little work but it's actually better in the long.

At least with the 3volt you can seperate the boards if something goes wrong and just replace the bad one instead of the whole thing like a 5volt.

Any service center can do it.

Those replacement boards work great. Good point Ralph made about the replacement of only one board if a problem comes up. I have replaced the boards in my GG-1 fleet with these boards and it gave me some 5 volt boards for repairs. The board numbers from MTH are AE-0000015 for the power board and AE-0000016 for the processor board. If you are doing a GG-1 with operating pans the processor board number is AE-0000018.

Not to mention, you have so many more 3v sound file choices to choose from versus 5v choices.

What does this "process" cost...to replace the 5v board and get up and running completely??

3V boards also support DC operation which may not apply to you now but who knows what the future holds.

But if you are going to invest what I assume will be hundreds of $ in an upgrade, why not hold off and see how PS3 upgrades play out. You don’t say if this is steam or diesel but the tether changes, hot bulbs become LEDs, NO battery, more memory for better sound, and more.

One thing for sure is don’t throw away your 5V board-set. Even if DITW, my guess is their scrap value is more than you might think. If you looked into costs to fix your 5V engine, I’d be curious what you found.

A failure that takes out both boards on a 5V probably doesn't have scrap value. The components on the board aren't available and not much help out there to isolate problems on the boards.

The 3V boards have a MSRP of $200. Waiting for a PS-3 upgrade kit may be a long proposition. As stated the 3V with 5V connectors is an easier swap. G

The parts are about $180.
About 2 hours labor.

quote:

What does this "process" cost...to replace the 5v board and get up and running completely?

I had a 5V failure replaced with a 3V system in 2011 at the LHS. It cost me $250 - the same price that I paid in 2010 to have a PS1 engine upgraded to PS2. I thought the PS2 5V repair might be cheaper since the engine was already PS2 but the LHS claimed it had to replace just about everything - kinda the same situation when a PS1 system is replaced with a PS2 system. Everything gotta go.

Even the headlights and such. The speaker was the biggest hangup though. The 3V speaker is bigger than the existing 5V speaker and the LHS tried and tried numerous speakers without success. Had to ship it to MTH to get it fixed. MTH reamed out the opening that the speaker fit in - something that the LHS, to his credit, was hesitant to do. MTH charged an extra $69! The LHS tried to get me to pay the extra $69 but I refused since in my eyes we had a deal for $250. He got MTH to somehow back off the billing.

- walt

Walt, upgrades are not always a slam dunk. Sometimes crazy things like that do come up. Sometimes the one that seems easy will kick back at you.

Marty,

Apparently!

I don't blame the LHS - he tried really hard to get a speaker in there. Tried several, most sent to him by MTH itself.

The LHS worked with MTH over and over trying to get a speaker to fit. Why MTH couldn't confirm BEFORE sending a new speaker that it fit is beyond me - and the LHS guy! They kept sending him speakers that were too big. I saw an email that MTH sent to him CLAIMING that they confirmed that the speaker fit in my style engine!!!! The LHS showed me how the speaker was too big to fit in my engine so I don't know what MTH was thinking.

My only issue was him charging me for the MTH bill. Actually, I think it was small of MTH to charge him!

- walt

Was that for your switcher?

Walt, did your repair person have the speaker chart from MTH with speaker sizes on it?

And just how long does it take to get these 3 volt kits?

Al W.

The 3V are available.

quote:

Was that for your switcher?

Chuck: yes, it was for my Iron City cream colored switcher. I think it's SW-9 Railking. Well, I know it's RK but since I also have an SW-1 I'm not sure which is which SW-

Marty: I don't know all that transpired but according to the LHS, and the one email that I saw that MTH sent to him, they tried a bunch of different speakers. I am 100% sure that the one that MTH claimed would fit would not fit - I saw it in person.

- walt

For reference:
Early flat PS-2 speaker...BF-0000013
For later Ps-2 speaker...BF-0000031
These are both smaller diameter than the standard PS-2 speakers.
\ Both are 16 ohms.
Both are for SW1500, that take the smaller speaker.

quote:

Originally posted by mrmacher:
Not to mention, you have so many more 3v sound file choices to choose from versus 5v choices.

Why does the board voltage make a difference?

quote:

Why does the board voltage make a difference?

Sound file size.

c

So the 3v board has more memory on it?