Hal,
Check out the battery rail forums at Freerails for more info on this. There is much information over on that site for RC control of trains.
Phil Randall
TX.
Check this thread out:
https://ogrforum.com/t...-ironbound-rr?page=1
Andy Romano has been running his "Ironbound" layout via Battery power for several years.
Simon
I really like the idea of using batteries to power my trains vs all the wiring and shorting on the tracks, complications on reverse loops, isolating sidings, etc. I don't like the idea of removing engines from the rails to plug to recharge. I like the idea of moving the engines to a refueling siding/recharging station where the rails of the siding are the plug to the on board battery. Power in to charge instead of rails to power a running motor so I would not have to plug the battery into a charger. One just runs an engine over the charging rails that are isolated from the layout. Engine could be controlled by a RC remote function to connect the battery to rail power to charge. One could run a set of engines onto the charge track and charge them at one time. Just mind games.
Phil
Great idea, phil!
I'll go that route if and when I go to R/C Battery.
Bad Order
Phil
That is an excellent idea!
Bruce
QUESTION for STAN 2004:
Stan, would that MTH wireless hand controller (the middle one in your picture) be compatible with the factory MRC PRODIGY ADVANCE 2 DCC Sound System in my Atlas Gold Series GP-35 Loco?
I'm currently usng an old MRC DC Analog controller, which can selectively trigger Horn or Bell just by a quick blip of the direction control. (The MTH hand controller has dedicated buttons for Horn & Bell, which I like!)
Would I have to use a compatible Receiver with the hand controller to send signals to a Speed Control and the other elelctronics in the Loco?
I would be using a 4-cell (14.8 volt, 4000MAH ) LiPo battery for the drive power.
Please excuse the long question, but I would like to get as much info as possible, and you sound like you're quite knowledgeable on the subject.
I may have to quit my allegiance to the "old technology" and accept the new emerging systems!
Thanks,
Bad Order Hal
Originally Posted by phill:
I really like the idea of using batteries to power my trains vs all the wiring and shorting on the tracks, complications on reverse loops, isolating sidings, etc. I don't like the idea of removing engines from the rails to plug to recharge. I like the idea of moving the engines to a refueling siding/recharging station where the rails of the siding are the plug to the on board battery. Power in to charge instead of rails to power a running motor so I would not have to plug the battery into a charger. One just runs an engine over the charging rails that are isolated from the layout. Engine could be controlled by a RC remote function to connect the battery to rail power to charge. One could run a set of engines onto the charge track and charge them at one time. Just mind games.
Phil
Could easily be done. Place a diode on the inbound (hot) side of the locomotive connection to the wheels so that voltage from the charging track can come in, but not out of the locomotive to keeps it from feeding voltage onto the tracks when running. If you wanted to get real fancy, you could feed AC onto the track and incorporate a bridge rectifier into the mix so the position of the locomotive (forward or backward) would be irrelevant. I'll draw up something later and post it.
CVP products makes the AirWire system which is essentially a wireless on-board DCC decoder for large scale engines, but can just barely fit into an O scale Geep. The batteries would have to be carried in a dummy locomotive or box car, though. That could be integrated into the mix and you'd have all the bells and whistles (pun intended) of command control running wireless with on-board battery power instead of relying on the tracks.
[A Scene In The O.R.]
"Scalpel"
"Hemostat"
"Rib Spreader"
"Wipe my forehead, Nurse...thank you."
"I think that'll do it...you may close, Dr. Harris."
**************************************************************************************************************************************************************
Anyway, I think it was a good idea to photograph the internal organs of my Atlas SW-9 Switcher before dissecting, as I plan to use it as a Guinea Pig for studying the feasibility of transferring to Battery Power.
(I see the blue and yellow wires are the track voltage pickup leads.)
Dr. Bad Order
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Dpesn't look like there'd be much space for an RC receiver in there; batteries would have to follow in a dummy unit. Nicely done dissection, though.
HEY MATT,
The receiver wouldn't have to be installed in the Loco, or anywhere else on the train!
HERE'S THE TRANSMITTER AND RECEIVER: TX on left, RX on right.
The Receiver would be plugged into the Base Unit of my MRC Prodigy DCC system, after I've bought the Wireless upgrade, which I'll pick up on Sunday.
The Transmitter will be a Wireless hand-held unit and the Receiver would plug into the Base Unit on the original system that I abandoned 11 months ago in favor of my old Analog DC unit!
BAD ORDER (My loco's electronics were never dissected!)
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