Adding a Protosound board to a conventional Lionel

Depends on what you are looking at doing?  Just the sound part, nope, but the whole PS-1 board set, reverser and sound set, should be.

Thanks, Sinclair.  It is the whole PS-1 unit, DCRU and all.  

No problem at all if the Lionel has a DC motor.  The PS/1 board is pretty much a fancy conventional reverse unit with sound.  I've put them into a few locomotives for folks.  Are we talking diesel or steam?

Does the Lionel locomotive have a can (DC) motor?  If so, it'll be a simple job.  There are only 4 wires to connect, power, ground, and the two motor leads.  If you want to control lighting with the boards, then it gets a bit more involved. 

I have the Lionel 6-11738, the Soo Line GP 38.  The unit I'm buying is for a GP 38.   It is my understanding the motors are DC.  It doesn't seem too complicated to install it.  I will admit I'm nervous as I've never done anything like it.  I'm super pumped to turn the loco into one with sound, though, too!

You can add directional lighting, but you need 1.5V bulbs for the PS/1 board.  I did one for someone with a 1.5V relay so I could have brighter bulbs.  The PS/1 also supports the electrocoupler, a nice feature.

You need a 10K volume control, as well as an 8 ohm speaker.  Also, you need a 9V 8-cell NiMh rechargeable battery.

Here's a sketch that I got somewhere that might help you wire this up.  This is for a steamer, but it gives you some basics.  For diesel you just wire the four tether wires direct to track and motors.

Thank you, John!  That is going to come in super handy.  The good thing for me is that the unit I'm buying has the speaker and battery too.  I'm getting the entire unit, so far as I can tell.  I was even provided a video of the board operating on a bench test--so I know it works.

How did you secure the board to the frame once installed?

The bottom board bolts through the bridge rectifier to the mounting bracket in the classic installation.  Here's one mount, note this holds the boards sideways.  You can also lop off the right end at the line if you need it shorter and don't want the electrocoupler feature.  There are other platform mounts in various installations, you just need to be able to plug in the connectors on the bottom of the board.  Note that there are two places that have a heatsink, and the one on the right needs an insulator as well, it can't contact the chassis.

I have 3 MTH GP38-2's, all with PS-1 in them.  If you need more photos, let me know.

Volume control has me stumped.  I know on a loco built with sound there is a screw you can turn. I doubt I'll be able to reproduce that.  Thankfully, according to the QSI manual I have, you can control volume through the transformer as well, but only for 100%, 50%, 25%, I believe.

I'll take any pictures you are willing to share.  I don't believe I can know enough before I attempt this.

Send me an email to my profile address, I have the volume controls in several sizes.  They plug onto the three-pin connector on the top board.  The speaker plugs into the two-pin connector near the volume connector.

So far so good.  Now to make it fit!