Show Off Your Problematic/Dying Proto-Sound Locomotives Here!

Do dead PS/2 boards count?  Here's one of the boxes of dead boards that I have, there are several others.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

Do dead PS/2 boards count?  Here's one of the boxes of dead boards that I have, there are several others.

There's even dead PS2 3V boards in there. How did that happen? In my experience they're usually pretty robust as long as the layout they are operated on has adequate circuit and spike protection. 

Well Lou, I really don't know as they come to me dead, my mission is just to fix them.  I also have better luck with the 3V boards.

Maybe I should show you the box of dead PS/3 boards, that's an eye opener.

John,    Have you looked into what is failing on those boards for possibly repairing them ?  That's a lot of boards and you say you have a bunch of PS/3 ones also.  Unbelievable,  I'll probably add a few more boards to that pile once I sort out the defective engines.  

I have looked, and any obvious flaw I fix.  The 5V boards are simply not repairable for the most part, many of the failing parts are hidden in the board sandwich, and you can't separate them.  The 3V boards typically have stuff like the uP or memory dead, I don't have the equipment to replace those fine pitch parts.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

Well Lou, I really don't know as they come to me dead, my mission is just to fix them.  I also have better luck with the 3V boards.

Maybe I should show you the box of dead PS/3 boards, that's an eye opener.

I've yet to fry a PS2 3V or PS3 board on my layout but some other local acquaintances have, lets say, "interesting" wiring/circuit protection on their layouts. They've killed a few PS3 boards. They don't seem to hold up to their abuse as well as the PS2 3V stuff. Surprisingly they've yet to kill a PS1 board. Go figure.  

I believe you on the PS3 boards. Any short and they are dead. 

I guess I should not show my rolling cart filled with boxes of dead boards segregated by PS-1, 5V, 3V , PS-3, Lionel lest I scare someone G

I've gotten rid of piles of dead boards over time, and if you have all the dead ones you've accumulated George, that must be a really BIG box!

Nope, I have sent bunches back to MTH too. G

My collection.

The two/three double stack boards, top of picture had sound.  Early Weaver electronics. 

@GGG posted:

Nope, I have sent bunches back to MTH too. G

I had to send them back until they stopped taking them.  They still want the PS/3 boards back.

What a shame that many train enthusiasts have had to have their engines repaired in order to run again.  Out of curiosity, what operating system to you replace them with?   Also what does it cost typically to upgrade (rough range) as I image it depends on the type of engine that needs the work?   

I really admire you gentlemen that understand the electronics these engines are produced with.

I have two MTH PS/1's that work just fine, but I've taken the extra precaution of removing the battery when in long term storage.  I also purchased the BCM(?) a few years back to replace the MTH batteries and I always have a 10A fuse between the transformer and track.  I'm not sure if this amperage is too high or low for the application as I'm electronically challenged? 

Most of the locomotives I repair are already command equipped and are restored to the same system.  Occasionally, I get one that the owner wants to convert to a different electronics package.  I also do many upgrades from conventional to command.

To be honest, my PS-1 box is extremely small.  The top boards have been very robust with only an occasional failure.  The bottom boards do have failures, but they are usually fixable.  Diodes, resistors, transistor for motor function, occasional capacitor, and the voltage regulators.  Rare but occasionally I get one that I can not repair.  Pretty robust design they modified to improve by 96/97.  Well charged battery or a BCR used properly and they do extremely well.  G

I'm not quite sure of the purpose of this thread. I have numerous PS-1 engines some of which I still run regularly. Have never had a board failure. Run with BCRs. My experience is similar to GGG's. If you can make yourself content with the sound set and lack of speed control, which I can, I think they are quite satisfactory. When well broken-in and the internal friction is reduced, they even run nicely at slow speeds. Just my opinion.

MELGAR

I mainly created this thread because I find audio glitches and software failures in PS locomotives to be quite interesting. I thought I'd make this so that people could post video documentation of things like garbled/distorted sounds, clanks of death startup, etc.

@GameBreaker64 posted:

I mainly created this thread because I find audio glitches and software failures in PS locomotives to be quite interesting. I thought I'd make this so that people could post video documentation of things like garbled/distorted sounds, clanks of death startup, etc.

The problem with THAT is that these things happen quickly, without warning and aren’t repeatable. 

I'm aware that a lot of that stuff is usually spontaneous, but there are some cases where it's repeatable, say, garbled sounds because of low battery power, or getting a shutdown because you don't have sufficient track power.