MTH 20-2251-1 UP Weed Sprayer

Bruce,

       Sounds good to me. My friends and I have dozens of engines with 5 volt boards and only one has failed because a roller insulator didn't get seated right on a new RailKing GG-1 from 2000. It shorted out the board and another 5 volt board took its place. No problem with it in years.

       I have bought a few broken engines with 5 volt boards over the years that wasn't working properly and I had George repair some of them that could be fixed. ( lights and sound ).

      The 3 volts and PS3 boards aren't bullet proof either.

Sadly Bruce, the PS/2 5V board can fail right out of the box, especially if it's 18-20 years old.  There's no reliable gauge of when or if the board will fail.  I've had some that failed with very low hours, and others that have over 1,000 hours on the clock still running fine.

Yes Joe, the 3V boards aren't perfect, but there's a number of factors in play. 

• #1, they're way more reliable than the 5V boards.
• #2, they can be separated and many more components can be replaced if they do fail.
• #3, they are newer than the 5V boards, so stuff like electrolytic capacitors that dry out in time have more life left.

With the 5V board, I closely examine the 330uf capacitor near the edge of the board, it's the largest cap on the board.  For whatever reason, I've had an inordinate number of failures of that part.  If I see ANY signs of bulging or leaking, or it's the WINCAP brand, I replace it immediately!  It's a difficult fix, but with a fine tip soldering iron and by prying the boards partially apart, I can replace it.  Of the twenty-odd dead boards in my 5V graveyard, over half had signs of that capacitor leaking, and all but one of the leaking capacitors was the WINCAP brand.  That's enough evidence for me to suspect that particular capacitor brand.

Obviously, to replace the 330uf cap, the easier issue is getting the old one off, I just chop it up and then remove it's leads from the PCB.  The tricky part is getting under the sandwiched PCB's to solder the new one in place.

John,

  How many PS3 boards have you repaired?

Thanks, John

I will check that cap.

bruce

Joe Allen posted:

John,

  How many PS3 boards have you repaired?

We were talking about PS/2 boards.  The PS/3 boards are much less repairable, only a handful of components that it's practical to repair unless you have some expensive rework equipment.  However, I've repaired a number of the PS32 boards due to shorted lights, etc.  There are some parts on the PS/3 boards that can be replaced for various failures as well, I haven't had enough through to see what all can be fixed.

I have been running mine for 10 years. No issues. Enjoy! 

gunrunnerjohn posted:

Joe Allen posted:

John,

  How many PS3 boards have you repaired?

We were talking about PS/2 boards.  The PS/3 boards are much less repairable, only a handful of components that it's practical to repair unless you have some expensive rework equipment.  However, I've repaired a number of the PS32 boards due to shorted lights, etc.  There are some parts on the PS/3 boards that can be replaced for various failures as well, I haven't had enough through to see what all can be fixed.

Well, I was thinking if the 5 volt board was replaced it would most likely be replaced with a PS3/2 board, since the 3 volt PS2 boards are no longer available, and they aren't much more friendly to repair than the 5 volt board that Bruce has.

Sorry John, I left out the 2 commas.

Actually, that's not true at all.  The 3V boards were MUCH easier to do component level repairs on than the 5V boards.

The topic was 5V boards and you kept talking 3V boards which is no longer available. PS 3/2 boards are what is the replacement now.  I will have to make sure I check my threads before I post.  I know and I think most know that have repaired MTH boards that you can separate the PS2 3V and not the PS2 5V boards. I meant the PS3 boards aren't much easier to repair than the ps2 5 volt boards as the components on the board are very small.

I would not change out a perfectly running  PS2 5V for a newer board to do the same thing in my opinion, but that's just me.

I don't change out running 5V boards either, but I do plan on the much greater likelihood of having to replace them.

John,

checked the 330uf cap, I agree, easy to remove, but too much time and effort and insecurity in replacing it.  Simpler and cheaper to go ps3/2.

bruce

Well, if the repair goes bad, I also replace it with the PS32 board.

I guess I just have too many other things to worry about besides an model train engine to stop working.  Besides when if the board goes bad, there may be PS4 by then.