MTH PS1 schematics ?

if battery is dead the board can be stuck in neutral.

some of the techs will see this and hopefully reply with help.

AS far as I know, MTH and QSI have never released a board schematics to consumers or technicians. Probably the lower motion board is the problem.  Forum member who goes by GGG may be able to repair yours, but the are not that expensive to replace. Joe has a point, the loco will not cycle out of neutral with a weak or dead battery. Does the sound continue about 5 seconds after the power is shut off?

I've never seen any schematics for the PS/1 boards, yes I am an MSC tech.  Perhaps the guy that has the most information that's still around locally is George (GGG), he posts here regularly.  He might be able to steer you in the right direction.

No schematic that I know of as mentioned above, but there is an exploded diagram parts list here; for a premier GP38 with PS1.

http://mthtrains.com/sites/def...loded/20dl15442e.pdf

BTW,  whats the model number of the Loco?

Thank you for all the answers. Here are details of my son's engine:

GP38-2 Diesel Union Pacific.
Model No. 20-2188-1
QSI ProtoSound.

I don't know what you're powering the track with but I struggled running older MTH engines. Then I bought the Z4000. It makes running them so much easier.

I think,  I've got some progress in diagnosing my son's train problem. What I did was disconnecting a battery and manual discharging all capacitors on PS1 motion board. This large cap 2200uF which is located on side of the board holds quite lot of energy. After assembling everything back. Train become responsive to direction changes.
from CW80 power supply.

Good Morning and welcome to the forum.

The Lionel CW80 does not like to play well with the MTH brand of engines.  If you look down the list on the right side of the page you will find more info on this issue.

Maybe we are just lucky but so far it worked well. My son started his trains adventure with Lionel a while ago.  I didn't wan to spent $$$ for power supply so we ended up with CW80.  We had some issues with this supply (blown fuse, fan noise, loose wires...etc ) but this was not related in my opinion to issue above. Thank you for your suggestions.

That CAP is for firing couplers only.  Need a fully charged battery, need voltage less than 10V to come out of the first Reset State.  After that run at any voltage.

As stated CW-80 wave form can be problematic.  G

I'm sorry  I can't afford toys like Z4000. Are there any cheaper reliable alternatives for MTH tracks?
Is it worth to replace CW80 which seems to work ?
What do i risk if continue using it, any seroius MTH trains damages ? 

I appreciate your help

There are many including other Lionel products. I have a Z500 that I got really cheap and it is my "go to" on the work bench.

 The CW80 may confuse the electronics of the PS engines I believe. They should come back with a reset. I'm not sure about permanent damage but I wouldn't be happy with running and constant troubles. The techs above can help with facts like that.

 There are so many good options out there that it's sad that one option causes so much grief.

So as I understand it you can now control direction but it just doesn't move?  By direction are you saying you're watching the directional headlight/back-up light assuming this engine has them?

And by direction you press the Direction button twice for each direction...that is neutral-before-forward, forward, neutral-before-reverse, reverse, repeat.  That would be a good sign that you are cycling through the directions correctly.

By asking about schematics are you comfortable messing around or swapping out parts at the component level?  If so the electronics that drive the motor are fairly straightforward if that's the "only" thing that doesn't work...

MTH has the Z500 (as stated above) or the Z1000. The Z1000 is 20 more watts then the CW80 and also has a 14 volt AC accessory output (non-adjustable) similar to the CW80. The Z500 has no accessory output, but would be less expensive.

I looked around for these online. The first place I found that had both was Charles Ro. They have the Z500 for $69.95 and the Z1000 for $99.95. Charles Ro is a forum sponsor and will have a link in the ads above or in the list of forum sponsors at the beginning of each forum.

Thank you for Z1000 suggestions. How much used units costs, where to look for them?

For successful train directions control I do understand pressing direction button on CW80 and train motion response on the track as moving through cycle fwd, neutral and bkwd.

In regards to schematics. I feel comfortable with electronics, swapping  components, datasheets ...etc. however my knowledge and experience is a bit rusted. Also my sight is far from perfection,  so its better for me to diagnose problem relaying on schema, service manuals than going by pcb traces only.
Thank you for asking.

Chris

I don't know what price range a used Z500 or Z1000 would be in, but they may not be a whole lot less than the Charles Ro prices for new ones? Some of these things seem to retain their values fairly well sometimes. 

I don't purchase many used items, but some folks here do and seem to have good luck. As for where to look you could try here on the For Sale forum or you could post a wanted to buy in the Wanted to Buy forum for starters. After that I guess ebay would be the next place to look and that is about all I can think of.

Don't be afraid to use the Lionel CW-80 with MTH PS-1 locomotives!  All mine are run with the CW-80, and work just fine.  Make sure there is a new MTH green battery in the locomotive, one that you installed.  Make sure you push the direction button with track voltage below 10V and it will leave reset.  If you get random horn/whistle sounds while the locomotive is running place a lighted caboose or passenger car on the track with the locomotive.  I've been doing this for almost 10 years and have had zero issues running my PS-1 locomotives.  Save the money for another car to put behind the locomotive.

Older PS/1 and QSI locomotives frequently have issues for me running on the Z-1000 on my bench and through the TIU variable channels in conventional mode, it's pretty much all chopped wave power that gives them fits.

Maybe you should scrap my comments on the Z500 & Z1000 then, per what gunrunnerjohn says above. I wasn't aware they were also bad for the PS1 stuff. I don't have any PS1 items so I have no first hand experience, just thought those were on MTH's list of OK transformers, but I guess they are not.

Most PS/1 runs fine with those transformers, but some engines don't.

All good advice.  Anytime you open up a PS-1 locomotive and see a white battery, properly dispose it and install a new MTH green battery or any high quality battery.   

Chriss,

I didn't see any email address listed on your profile, if you didn't mind, send me an email @ njtorqueracing@gmail.com