Month: January 2021

Introduction

I obtained this 2-rail O scale MTH 4-6-2 K-4S (MTH 20-3473-2) on eBay circa November 2020. This model is unusual because it’s a 2-rail version with “scale wheels” and is equipped with a PS-3.0 control board that can operate in either DCS or DCC mode.

The Good News: No extensive 3-rail to 2-rail conversion was necessary, and no new DCC decoder was required.

The Bad News: This locomotive contained a PS-3.0 board in the tender I had not seen before. Also, this was my first conversion of a 2-rail MTH locomotive, and I had a few issues to learn!

Well, let’s seen how to proceed to convert this loco to DCC dead-rail operation.

Analysis of the Electrical Connections

I’ve done several MTH 3-rail conversions with PS-3.0 boards. Still, this locomotive was designed quite differently: it has a switch to select 2-rail or 3-rail operation (a potential problem) and another switch for DCS/DCC operation (easy to take care of).

This is a bit complicated. With this original design, the tender frame assumes the voltage from the tender’s uninsulated rear left wheels (whose right wheels are insulated) via a grey wire connected to the tender frame, which under 2-rail operation is “DCC track left” inputs on the PS-3.0 board. The right track’s voltage is picked up through the copper pickups connected to the tender’s uninsulated front right wheels (whose left side is insulated) and is connected by black wires inside the tender. In 2Rail operation, the 2Rail/3Rail switch will connect these black wires’ voltage to the “DCC track right” on the PS-3.0 board.

Under 3Rail operation, the left/right rails are connected electrically as ground or “DCC track left” (and the frame is now either ground or DCC left rail voltage). A grey wire from the locomotive (which is electrically connected to the locomotive’s center roller pickups) is connected as “hot” or “DCC track right.”

In the original design, several grey wires are connected to the tender frame to pick up the “DCC track left.” Our job is to completely isolate both DCC track right and track left so that the DCC amplifier we add will be the only source of DCC, completely isolated from the tender frame, which will become our battery ground.

We always want to operate in DCC mode, so we need to disable DCS operation permanently.

The following images demonstrate my modifications to isolate all DCC from the frame and permanently enable DCC operation.

These images show several important conversion steps:

1. Cut and seal off the two wires connected to the DCS/DCC switch. This will permanently enable DCC operation.
2. Cut and seal off the grey and red wires to the center posts on the 2Rail/3Rail switch to ensure the DCC track’s total isolation right and left from any other electrical connections. This step will ensure no unexpected connections because of this switch’s setting.
3. Disconnect the two grey wires mounted to the tender frame by one of the mounting screws holding the PS-3.0. One of the grey wires goes to the underside connector on the PS-3.0 board, and it needs to be connected to the DCC Amplifier’s “DCC Track Left” output. The other grey wire electrically connected to the tender’s left wheels should be sealed off. This step electrically isolates the tender frame from any other electrical connections, allowing it to act safely as a ground.
4. Provide DCC “Track Right/Left” connections from the DCC amplifier (which we will add) to the two grey (DCC Track Left) and two red (DCC Track Right) inputs on the PS-3.0 board. We mentioned one of these connections in step 3, and the other pair of DCC “Track Right/Left” inputs go to the “Track” connector on the side of the PS-3.0 board.

We need to move the PS-3.0 board forward slightly to make room for the battery, antenna mounting, battery switch, and charging plug. Also, we need to bend down the right side of the PS-3.0 board to provide sufficient clearance for the RF receiver/DCC amplifier that will be mounted on the inside top of the tender shell above the PS-3.0 board.

Also, I removed the two super-capacitors on the PS-3.0 board. The locomotive will then immediately turn off when battery power is turned off: we have no worries that power will be temporarily interrupted as with track power. I like the locomotive to turn off when I disconnect the power. This is not a required modification!

Dead-Rail Additions

The tender modifications to add a 14.8V LiPo battery, antenna mount, battery switch, and charging plug can be seen in several images above. There is nothing unusual about these additions.

I used a Tam Valley Depot DRS1, Mk IV receiver with a U.FL external antenna plug rather than my ProMiniAir receiver and separate DCC amplifier because of space considerations. The Tam Valley’s DCC “Track Right/Left” outputs are connected directly to the two “track right/left” inputs on the PS-3.0 board (on the side and bottom connectors of the PS-3.0 board), as shown in the images above.

Conclusions and Warnings

I cannot emphasize enough the need for complete isolation of the tender frame ground from the DCC voltages output by the DCC amplifier that provides inputs to the PS-3.0 board. If you inadvertently leave a connection of tender frame ground to DCC left (from various grey wires), you may cause a severe short circuit, or the PS-3.0 board will not operate properly. Trust me, I know from a couple of bitter experiences…

Still, this was a fun and reasonably-easy dead-rail conversion, especially so since I didn’t need to modify the locomotive at all.

Here’s the final video of the fully assembled dead-rail locomotive. The PS-3.0 provides a number of DCC functions including:

1. Directional lighting on/off (F0)
2. Bell (F1)
3. Horn (F2)
4. Start-up/Shutdown (F3)
5. Passenger/Freight Announcements (F4)
6. Marker/cabin/firebox lights on/off (F5)
7. Speaker volume (F6)
8. Smoke unit on/off (F12)
9. Smoke unit volume control (F13)
10. Numerous other features (F0 through F28 are all active). See the Users Manual for extensive details.

Thanks for dropping by!