RailKing SW1500 PS 2 Dead

Sounds like the PS-2 5V board internally shorted a diode and that is generating your short.

Dead batteries are a heavy load on the charging circuit.

You can unplug the 7 pin connector and see if the short goes away, if so the board is shorted.  You can then unplug all the other plugs accept the 7 pin and see if it still shorts.  If so, board is dead.  G

I assume you tried conventional mode with no luck.  But do you get the faint relay double-click as you bring up the throttle/voltage (before the breaker pops at half way)?  That would be a good thing.  Double-click or not, pop the shell and try what GGG suggests.

Guys, if you are using any battery in MTH trains that is white in color, it is a good idea to put it to rest.  You will do well to listen to any advice GGG gives you.  Any old white batteries should be replaced with a new green MTH battery or a BCR if you have a 5V PS-2 board.  I see guys who will not part with them and they do not test them with a load.  People have two choices on this subject.  Choice number one is to listen to good advice and number two is to not listen.  Number two can cost you.

I recently had a person try to fire up an early PS-2 that had been in storage for six years and not change or charge  the battery.  He told me the battery looked good to him.  Guys, the battery is fairly inexpensive and boards are not. 

Marty,

Yes, my battery is white.  I was not aware that there was a problem with the white batteries.  All of my MTH trains have been in storage for several years so I have not followed the DCS forum.  What is the problem with the white battery?

Earl Staley

Earl,

What is the problem with the white battery?

There's no "problem", per se. They're just very old and no longer function as they should.

All rechargeable batteries have a "life". NiCads, in particular, suffer from memory effect.

Barry, I have found that a new battery is cheap insurance against seeing a locomotive back again on the workbench.  When dealing with old boards it is always wise to dump the white battery.  I see more people recently that just want to go to a BCR and be done with a battery issue.  If someone who is still sporting an old white battery does not want to go new, I refuse to work on the engine.

As you know, I still have many 5V locomotives running on my layout.  I have dumped all the white batteries.

The only help with old 5V boards we as forum members have available is forum member GGG or do the 3V replacement.

 I am still trying to figure how some people who do not own a meter can look at a battery and state it is good.  What a great talent to have.

Marty,

When I don't have a meter handy, I just use the "tongue-on-the-terminals" trick on a 9v battery.  I can't determine the exact voltage but I can certainly distinguish between a fully charged, partially charged, and dead battery.

GGG, I will be doing the checks you suggested in your first post later today.

Earl Staley

Earl

The meter test is not conclusive unless the battery is tested under a load. Even if it test good that way it can go bad the next time you use it.

None of the MTH locos,Ps1 ,Ps2  etc, need a battery,they all can be replaced with an appropriate BCR. Many people install the BCR after the charging system is damaged trying to charge a bad battery and the BCR is then blamed for frying a circuit already damaged.  I have BCRs in all my PS1 and PS2 locos and have had zero problems.

Dale H

I did the first part of your test.  I disconnected the 7-pin plug from the top board and the short went away.  I reconnected the 7-pin plug and the short reappeared.  I assume there is no point in continuing the test by removing the other plugs.  If that is not correct, let me know and I will continue removing the plugs.

Since the short appears to be in the upper circuit board and the board is not replaceable, is there any repair that can be done to the board or are my PS-2 boards history?

What are my options to restore the engine to serviceability?  I know I can either operate it in conventional mode with a Williams reverse unit or install an ERR Cruise Commander for TMCC command operation.  What DCS options do I have and are replacement boards readily available?

Thank all of the responders for all the help...

Earl Staley

You can obtain a 3V board with 5V connectors, you also need the kit with the speaker and battery harness, and the 2.4V battery pack.

There are a couple of diodes that you can reach to replace, but I'm not sure if they're part of the charging circuit or not.   Maybe George has tried replacing them?

Earl, Now that you know the board is the short, pulling the other plugs and seeing if the short clears while the 7 pin power connector is still in may isolate the fault to a specific connector and function.  Maybe smoke is shorted, or lighting harness.  If the short stays when all but the 7 pin is removed you know you have an internal board short.

At that point the board can't be repaired.  At least not by me.  You would need professional equipment to desolder the pins that connect the 2 boards, than maybe you could find something easy and repair a component.

You could go with any basic DC motor reverse unit, a LocoSound Diesel board, or upgrade to a PS-2 3V board.

Or go the TMCC route.  G

Earl, you would do good with the 3V board replacement set.  Put in a BCR as the guys stated but please do not count on the taste test on a battery.  George gave all the information on this subject and you can take his information to the bank.

If the short clears when removing one of the other plugs you still want to listen for the relay double-click when power is first applied.  Note that the battery itself counts as a plug.  Since you apparently have a well-developed tongue sensor, try your nose.  Sniff the boards for that burned electronic component smell; you might be able to isolate a deformed or charred component which while impractical to replace may close the case for it being a dead board.

Another option for DCS is to wait for the PS3 diesel upgrade kit to come out.  And no, I have no more info on when this will be other than what I read here.

Given that the PS/3 kit will probably not give this particular locomotive any additional capability, I can't see waiting around to see if it'll even work in the engine.  If he goes for a new board, I'd think that the PS/3 3V board with 5V connectors is probably the way to go.  One other cheaper option is if you can find someone that has a used 5V board for cheap, it would be a drop-in replacement and not require replacing speakers and the battery harness.  I'd only go that route if the board was half the price or less than the 3V replacement and was warrantied to be fully functional.

I have an SW1500, it's a fairly inexpensive locomotive, so spending a lot of money to get it running would probably not be warranted.

GRJ, the SW1500 already shipped in PS3 so I'd think it would work in his chassis.  The increased sound memory in PS3 vs. PS2-5V allows better sound fidelity.  There's no battery in PS3 relevant to the problem at hand. There have been other threads on this topic so I won't re-hash PS3 vs. PS2.

But to the matter at hand, in terms of capabilities, PS3 will have the capability to be serviced/repaired further into the future as it would be current technology.  At some point PS2 will become impractical to service for typical life-cycle reasons.  No doubt this will happens to PS3 too, but I'd think that date would be years later...in my opinion of course!

And yet another idea if desired roadname is not offered in PS3 is to see if the PS2 shell fits on the PS3 chassis. The PS3 SW1500 seems modestly priced and not that much more than the cost of buying the PS2 upgrade kit plus the labor cost to re-wire a PS2-5V chassis.

That's why I figured that spending a lot of money to fix this one probably wouldn't be a good investment.  For the current PS/3 to be put in there would require a change of the speaker, and all the lights.  Since the wiring harness and the connectors are totally different for PS/3, that's a much larger job than the PS/2 boards.

GGG,

I disconnected a total of 7 connectors plus removed the battery per your directions while leaving the 7-pin connector connected to the top board.  The short is still present and I did see a whiff of smoke come from the engine and there is a strong burnt electronics smell.  I assume from these tests that the board is probably history.

Earl 

It would be pretty special to bring it back to life after you let the magic smoke out.  I think you are correct as to the status of the board.

Pull the 7 pin.  It is not uncommon for the pickup wire in the truck to find the ground wire.   Power up with no connection to the board.  Last effort.

Marty. I did that earlier (see my post about 10 or 11 posts above).  There is no short with the 7-pin plug removed.

Thanks for all your efforts in resolving my issue.

Earl Staley