# Need wiring connection info for PH Hobbies board



## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

I got one of these recently, but have no documentation on it.

Anyone have the pinouts?










Thanks, Greg


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

hmm.. bumping hoping someone will have the info. 

Only viewed by 50 people. I guess sometimes that's why people post in the public forum.


Help anyone? 


Greg


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## Del Tapparo (Jan 4, 2008)

Posted By Greg Elmassian on 29 May 2011 11:27 AM 
I got one of these recently, but have no documentation on it.

Anyone have the pinouts?










Thanks, Greg




I can only point out what is probably already obvious to you Greg - SPKR = speaker, ENG/WHS/BELL = reed switch inputs (but for interface to other electronics ? 7 wires?) Upper left is probably track power/motor inputs (some tracing may solve that). Two wires on top could be battery (or is that 3 wires?). Looks like the board has had some rework too! Good luck!


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Thanks Del, yep, the 7 pins for what should be 3 pairs is a bit confusing. 

The speaker with 3 pins is likewise, but I seem to remember that only the 2 outer pins are hot... 

I'm going to trace out the input to the full wave bridge that the 4 diodes next to the connector must be. 

The 3 wires coming out of the board is a volume control... the stock pot is at the ends of those 3 wires. 

Interesting also is the number of "missing" components. 

Thanks for the reply, 

Greg


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## BillBrakeman (Jan 3, 2008)

TRY THIS 

http://www.phoenixsound.com/support/support.html 

BILL


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Umm... Bill, do you think there is a diagram for the PH Hobbies hardware on the Phoenix site? Seems sorta like looking for a Ford manual on the Chevy site... 

Was there something I missed? 

Greg


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## BillBrakeman (Jan 3, 2008)

Well, EXCUUUUUUSE ME for trying to help.. 

Did you miss something? Obviously, Greg, you missed that whole Kindergarten unit on playing nicely with others, 
because you certainly are what my German grandmother would call a "Rotz" 

Bill


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## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

Easy there Bill, 
Greg didn't jump on you, trust me I know. ha ha 
Your Grandmother probably had a saying about Good Intentions too... While it was nice to try, you didn't help. 
On the off chance that maybe Pheonix had something regarding an ancient Polk Hobby system, I can see Greg wasting time looking for something you implied was there... 
I believe there are sayings for those who send others on wild goose chases too. At least some negative thoughts eh? 

Laugh it off, shake and have a cool one, life is too short for this nonsense. 



Happy Rails. 
John


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## K27_463 (Jan 2, 2008)

Uh, John, the PH in PH sound stands for Paul Housey, not Polk hobby... Polk had nothing to do with PH sound. Paul was a very early large scale guy. 
Greg the missing parts are standard on these boards. I never saw two the same, each production was cost reduction, and reliability was astoundingly poor, especially later on. 

But, i cannot locate the diagrams i THOUGHT i had...probably threw them out in frustration years ago trying to fix some failure. 
Before too much effort is expended, power it up and make certain it works for about 30 minutes . 
Del: the power pins are on the multi pin header near the c9 label, the other pins on that header were for a capacitor stack and small battery connection, so you should be able to figure out which by looking at the traces. That board is near to 30 years old . 

Jonathan/EMW


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## Gary Armitstead (Jan 2, 2008)

I agree with John on your comment. Way over the top. IMHO. I WAS going to reply to your post about going to Phoenix for help. PH Hobbies (the name on the card that Greg was asking about) is not the quite the same as Phoenix now, is it? Geesh!!! I'm glad I DIDN'T say anything then! The kindergarten comment was not called for at all. Greg is a good guy and is very knowledgeable. Nuf said by me.


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

I'll look for the power input at the start of the FW bridge. I'm a bit perplexed at the 7 pins for the sounds, but possibly 2 different whistles? It appears that each sound trigger has it's own matching ground. 

The board looks in pretty good shape for being 30! 

Greg


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## Dan Pierce (Jan 2, 2008)

That board was made after April 1990. 

Chips have date codes, and one was 9019. That was the year and week the chip was tested and labeled, and later sent to distribution, and then on to a customer like PH hobbies. 
Other chip has a 8926 date code, so the board is more like 21 years old max.


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## TonyWalsham (Jan 2, 2008)

Paul Housey did make at least one sound system especially for Polk. 
It had a reputation on a par with the other sound systems PH Hobbies made. 
He left the hobby soon after that experience.


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## W3NZL (Jan 2, 2008)

Greg, 
I have one of those boards that I saved from something, looked thru my wiring diagrams, but don't have one for that 
particular system... Mine still has the plugs with with wires on it so I can shed some light on it... The 3 wires sticking up 
from the center of the board go to the volume pot... The 6 pin jack in the upper LH corner, L to R, pin 2 & 6 R not used..
Leaving a pair for power & a pair for the battery... The rest R obvious, board date on mine is 12/89, and looks identical 
to Urs...
Paul R...


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Thanks Paul!

That correlates very well with what I tried to deduce from the board...

What throws me is the unused pin on the connector for the reed switches...

it has 7 pins, but only looks like 6 are used:


chuff reed
?
chuff reed
whistle reed
whistle reed
bell reed
bell reed
 The link below is what I understand for now..


*http://www.elmassian.com/trains-mai...-h-hobbies* 


Thanks, Greg


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## TonyWalsham (Jan 2, 2008)

Greg, 
From memory I think the unused pin on the chuff circuit was to allow for a hall effect sensor instead of a reed switch.


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Ahh, that would explain 3 terminals for the chuff then... I'll have a look at the circuit board... maybe that middle pin is power... 

Thanks! 

Greg


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## W3NZL (Jan 2, 2008)

Took another look at mine Greg, the wire on going to #2 pin has been chopped off close to the plug, 
so it wasn't being used... It came out of a sound car, and used a reed switch & magnets for the chuff, 
so looks like 1 & 3 R the 2 U want... If memory serves, that system had a really nice bell and whistle, 
but a mediocre chuff...
Paul R...


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