Best recipient loco for "remote Thomas" transplant?

Can't suggest a loco, but I would check how much current Thomas draws and select a loco with similar power requirement.

Pete

According to my Z4000, a remote Thomas draws 12-20 watts.  Not many candidates (outside of Superstreets and a few clown cars, etc., all at around 5-8 watts) draw less.  My thinking is that BEEPS and the Hall class, which the Z4000 meters say draw no more than twice as much power as Thomas, are among the few that might be handled by the board.  Time will tell!

My own expectation is about 66% that this will work but almost certain the board will overheat.  I plan to install heat sinks on the rectifier and output components just in case, but . . .

Sometimes you can only find out by trying:  years ago my son and I had a '98 Z28 in which we I installed a dry NO injection kit and gradually upped the injection boost - 75, 100, 125 - etc. getting lower 1/4 mile times with every step.  Apparently the motor had a 50% safety marginbecause it it came apart, spectcularly, at about 200 Hp boost. (Yes - we had a blown motor, but a lot of fun in the mean time and more building up the new one). 

How about fitting it into that nice new 0-4-0 that you got today Lee? 

Follow the trend. Get a Lionel James or Percy and install it.

Gerry

Lee,

Did you ever pursue this further?  How much space do the electronics take up?  Could they be retrofitted into a steam engine, or would they have to go into the tender?  I'm hoping Lionel will sell the remote package separately at some point.  I'd like to have remote control on some older trains I have without an expensive tmcc/legacy upgrade.

KC

Yes, and it did not work.  I grafted Thomas's electronics into the Lionel Hall class scale loco (as for the Hogwarts train).  Ultimately I chose that rather than a BEEP because, a) there was no room in a BEEp for the extra board - at least not easy room, and b) the Hogwarts loco had only one motor only slightly larger than Thomas, c) I had a big roomy tender to put the board in. 

It ran briefly and then died.  It might have been something I did wrong, but I decided it was problably not the best Idea I ever had. 

I would love Lionel to offer upgrade kits for their new remote.  I'd fit them to some conventional locos.

Glad you will be the first to try this!  Cheers!

How about a RMT Bang?  I am very pleased with its performance, and should be a bit more room than a Beep.  -Ken

Lee, you are ever the trailblazer. I'm going to get one an do the same to a small loco.

If it also fails, at least it will prove you didn't do something wrong.

Lee,

It might work in one of the assorted plastic body 4-4-0 "General" type locos Lionel has done over the years. They are relatively light, and there's space for a 103-100 type reversing PCB. So there should be space for the Thomas board.

Just a thought.

I suspect that the boards can only handle a small, small motor.  The Hall had a bigger motor and that current flow might have overloaded the board and burned it out.  I recall examining the board carefully before the transplant and determining that, among other things, it had a rectifier that would definately handle all the power and more - if I did overload and blow something it was not that.  

When it refused to go any more, the idle sound (the chuffing that the board makes through the tiny attached speaker - that makes for Thomas) still worked but it would not run.  that might be a clue to what went wrong, whether it burned out or I did something wrong., I don't know.  

I recommend a second try with a 520 box cab

The later "Generals" use essentially the same motor used in the current conventional "Scout" loco. Except for being spur gear drive vs worm, it's the same basic motor used in 'Thomas'.

I've got a backlog of projects that won't allow me to get back to this for quite some time, but I really hope someone works with this more - or that Lionel puts us all our of our misery by offering an upgrade kit.