PS2 Board Testing???

MTH had a board tester that their techs received when they took the class. Need to find someone who has one.

I'll preface with this is just my opinion so don't shoot the messenger. You might first have to differentiate your pile into 2 categories, PS2 5V and PS2 3V. The wiring is similar but the connectors are just slightly different. Also some supporting equipment is different (example a 9V battery or BCR VS a 3V 2 cell or BCR) and a different speaker (16Ohm for 5V systems, 4 ohms for 3V). I guess you could get away with one common 16 Ohm speaker and both would play, but the battery/BCR , you kinda need the right voltage for a given board.

However, let's be honest here, if you have the older 5V boards, I would not test them. The price I might be willing to pay is vastly different between a 3V and a 5V. I'm not really interested in buying 5V boards if you say they work or not, testing them is literally zero guarantee they will work the next time they are powered. That's just the nature of that board series. I rate them just above scrap.

3V, you could test them, but since they are takeouts and I expect them to work (they are a pretty reliable board IMO), you testing them doesn't change my expectation on price. Especially since I don't know what you left for harnesses, these are not upgrade kits, so they are useful- don't get me wrong, and they definitely have value and a use case by people doing repairs and upgrades.

Further, are you then going to warrant the board given you tested it? I'm not saying that to be a jerk, I'm saying let's think this out. If you say tested and then it doesn't work, what's the remedy?

I had been buying cheap PS2 3V engines from a sponsor on the cheap typically under $140. However, that was complete and I had good complete wiring harness and a parted out engine when done. I also purchased a few PS2 3V tenders since the board and the bulk of the harness, speaker, and battery were all there, plus even an electrocoupler for $75-$80. Again, I still was getting trucks and frames and the usable parts so that plays into the math of what a bare board I was willing to pay.

You can ask whatever you want, I'm just giving one point of reference.

FWIW, here are a few posts on wiring diagrams.

PS2 3V https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/...70#41835031252649170

Also, if you were just making a simple test rig, you don't need a smoke unit either. I just used more of the 6V bulbs, one across the heater, one across the fan output. I'm just saying, it's not hard if you have a pile of takeout equipment but there are a few things like the tach reader, a matching motor with tach mount and striped flywheel, 6V bulbs on light outputs, and generally I don't go nuts testing the second lighting connector when just seeing if a board is dead or alive.

And then how far down the rabbit hole of testing do you go? Testing with conventional is easy (I use a Z controller and 500 brick) but DCS, then you need a TIU or one could use a DCS Wireless explorer I suppose. The cheaper infrared DCS might be problematic because if you cannot reset an engine to factory default ID1, then it would not work and might give you a false sense that board did not work under DCS, when in fact, it just needed reset to defaults by a more advanced DCS controller.

Find someone with one of these, makes short work of testing PS/2 boards.

https://mthtrains.com/part/ii-0000027

@Joe Allen posted:

https://mthtrains.com/part/ii-0000027

Try buying it.

you know there is an easier way if you can't find a ps 2 test fixture! just get an old ps 2 3-volt steam engine and take tender cover off and you can test the boards very easily only need the capability of changing from 4 or 8- or 16-ohm speaker. what do you think I used before I had bought a ps 2 test fixture! ps if your testing 5-volt board then you'll need a 8.4 volt battery or a 3 volt 2.4 volt battery or super cap!

Alan

@Alan Mancus posted:

you know there is an easier way if you can't find a ps 2 test fixture! just get an old ps 2 3-volt steam engine and take tender cover off and you can test the boards very easily only need the capability of changing from 4 or 8- or 16-ohm speaker. what do you think I used before I had bought a ps 2 test fixture! ps if your testing 5-volt board then you'll need a 8.4 volt battery or a 3 volt 2.4 volt battery or super cap

Well, not quite as easy as that.  The 3V boards and 5V boards have the same pitch connectors, but the shells are different and they are not compatible.  If you're testing a 5V board, cramming the 3V connectors in is very difficult and risks damaging the connectors.

Thanks folks!

I'm pretty sure they're all 3v PS2 boards, I had 2 Locosounds boards but they sounded like a box-o-rocks anyway and would not attempt to sell them.

Warrant the boards?  What is/was the MTH warranty on their boards?  Most of the ones I have were from the PS2 kits they sold.  I certainly wouldn't warrant the boards for a longer period than MTH does/did.

GGG (unless he's moved) lives close by so if I had to I could go see him, done that before.  I just felt I could test them myself and not have to hassle George with a box of boards, I'm sure he's got enough to do.

I may get another engine off Ebay or something just to use as a testbed.  Besides, I have a spare Deltang receiver I could put in it later.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

Try buying it.

I don't need one. I already have one, plus the harness for checking slave boards , LOL   I posted the link only to give Bob the idea of the cost they were originally. They come up for sale now and then, but I have no idea what you might have to pay for one on the secondary market.

At first I just used an engine to check the boards, but the test fixture is much easier and faster.

well, I can tell you this if you're lucky enough to find a ps 2 test fixture some techs or sellers want ridiculous price's just look on eBay for tiu etc more then double what they originally costs! ps mth still sells the harnesses for the ps 2 test fixture 3 and 5 volt harness for the fixture!

MTH Electric Trains (mthpartsandsales.com)

here above are the test fixture harness 3 n 5 volt

Alan

It would be quite possible to build a PS/2 testset, and having the cables would give you a leg up.

I was lucky enough to buy one of these test benches plus manuals and You are right  John You can test all the functions an engine can have in a second ,couplers front and rear smoke unit markers,numbers,strobes everything.

Ineed some Ps-2 5V boards and som e steam harness. If there are any left to buy

best regards to all of You

jorge

First thing I have to do is pull everything from the box to see how many I have and go from there.  I know there's a couple of TMCC and ERR boards in the mix but most are PS2.

Please add me to Your list,I will really appreciate it,I need some boards urgently

PS 2 5 and 3 also

thankyou very much

my best regards

jorge

So the 1st board I pull from the box is in a bag I labeled "MTH 20-2088-1" ACL F3 A w/unpowered A.  This was an engine I got from a fellow on the ACL/SAL forum.

The powered A unit had a Dallee E-Unit #400 installed with a Model DOT-22-A light module(?)

The unpowered A unit had a Dallee Sound Unit L-A200 #1064 installed with a Model DOT-22-A light module(?)

What have I got here?  Did MTH use Dallee components at one time?

It ran when I got it, not sure how to test it.

I pulled all the bagged up systems out of the box and found I only have 3 or 4 that I can ID as being PS2 systems, I guess all the other PS2 boards I had I sold to GGG a while back.  Still that's 3 that hopefully can be used by someone.  The others still to be looked at are ERR, Lionel, and Atlas.

More later.

Clearly someone has "upgraded" or "downgraded" it.  I've never seen or hard of MTH using Dallee components.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

Clearly someone has "upgraded" or "downgraded" it.  I've never seen or hard of MTH using Dallee components.

That's what I was thinking, strange indeed!!!

Here's 2 photos of the boards, top is E-unit bottom is sound.  The 2 large boards are the same and I'm calling them light boards for lack of a better term:

That one is an MTH MARS equipped CV (constant voltage) lighting board. We know it has MARS because of the additional riser card.

The lighting boards are stock MTH, it's the Dallee boards that sure weren't there when it was manufactured.

As I said, strange!

One of the other "PS2" boards came out of a RK 4-8-4 Northern, and it has a QSI stamped board on top but is stamped RK Northern MTH on the chip.  I'm gonna assume (!?!?!) that this was a legitimate board, not like the Dallee board above:

This is a PS2 upgrade kit I installed in a dummy Atlas GP9 years back.  Found that MTH powered trucks (from an old F3) fit the Atlas GP9 perfectly. That was one of the smoothest running engines I had, still runs smooth using BPRC but without sound:

Looks like I might have to rewrite my original comments, I have more TMCC, ERR, and "hybrid" boards than I do PS2!

Thus far I've seen no PS2 boards come out of your parts box .

@Lou1985 posted:

Thus far I've seen no PS2 boards come out of your parts box .

I'm as surprised as anybody

Here's one, a PS2 board out of a MTH RK NW2:

Guess this is the only true PS2 board I have left that came out of the original engine.  Sorry guys.

So I have this one, a board from the upgrade kit, and the board with QSI on it (is that a PS1 board?).  Also have another board that looks just like the QSI board but need to research it more.

Plus the ERR/TMCC boards...maybe I should get this moved to a general locale that would cover them all?

Still here Bob. Hope all is well. G

Let me know details regarding EER and TMCC boards, etc. 

The ERR and/or TMCC boards are usually pretty easy to test.  I actually cobbled together a test fixture for TMCC & early Legacy boards that I use for the purpose.  It grew over the years as new stuff came up to test.

If anyone is interested, I’ll be listing this PS2 test fixture on eBay tonight. Can be used for PS2 3v and 5v boards.  Was the prototype MTH used to develop the tester sold to the ASCs.  I only need one in my shop.  Tested with both boards using the test-all file to ensure lights work.

That should garner a lot of action Jon.

Being I didn't have a way to test the 2 PS2 boards and the 5 TMCC/ERR boards I have sold them all to someone who is able to test them.  Sorry I couldn't accommodate those inquiring about the boards I had, only wish/thought I had more to pass around.