HO battery power | Deadrail | Model Railroad Hobbyist | MRH
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- čas přidán 12. 09. 2024
- mrhmag.com - Geoff Bunza shows how he does HO battery power for locomotives, leaving the rails completely dead. Part of the November 2014 issue of Model Railroad Hobbyist magazine.
Have you looked into repurposed CD player motors for powering your locomotives? They are brushless, powerful, can run smoothly at low speeds, and can run at quite high rpms at only 4-5 volts DC. They may be ideal for such a battery application.
This kind of thing should have been on the Shelf a long time ago
Once DCC controls will switch that back & forth without reed switches to loose etc that will be a great idea! The lithium series of batteries open up a whole new world and yep - an enjoyable presentation of a great idea!
Considering the first powered model or toy trains were powered by internal clockwork drives it's just the hobby coming full circle.
OOOOOOOH Yeah MDC Diesel Boxcab =getting ready to do a version in n gague using a caboose and a Kato motor =hope I can pull it off
You will I'm doing the same thing
C'est se que j'attends depuis longtemps, bravos et merci..
Thanks for sharing.
I like this idea! you can run vintage trains like you could with DCC and still be able to use track power if you wanted. If you could put the circuit board in a boxcar and run a cable from the car to the loocomotive's terminals?
Geoff, I have several questions: Did you build the electronics, or did you purchase them pre-built? I have built 3 "Dead Rail" Loc's, using some Dcc/Sound decoders that have a remote, also used some Deltang 2.4ghz RF boards with Dual Stick controller. I recently obtained a Bachmann EZ App Locomotive that has Blue Tooth. I realize that should be an easy Dead Rail conversion, only have to add a battery, that is where the up-convertor would come in handy, Thanks.
Could you open one of these up and show how the components look inside the units? I no electronics whiz, but might be able to replicate this by seeing it in real life, so to speak. Thank you.
Is this available right now for HO scale where there is no need for an additional space to be provided for the battery pack itself? In other words all I have seen right now is applications where there has to be a dummy loco or box car or some other piece of rolling stock to carry the battery pack and it is connected to the lead unit loco. While this method addresses the issue of space it does not lend itself to being very prototypical. If everything could be placed in one loco and you are able to have sufficient run time along with recharging capabilities then this would revolutionize the hobby.
When is this coming to N scale?
If battery powered locos become popular, could all track except charging track be made out of, say, plastic thus driving the cost down? For example complex expensive turnouts?
This has already been happening on inexpensive "toy" G scale trains. I am presently looking at setting up an indoor G scale layout with a battery powered loco and remote. Just need to purchase rechargeable cells, the track can be a mix of either metal, plastic rails or both.
Not sure about plastic, but you could use cheaply available second hand brass track instead of brand new expensive nickel-silver track.
The problem with plastic track is that it wears out quickly. Wheels put a lot of wear and tear on the rails, especially on the curves. They really need to be metal if they're going to last a long time.
I have a set of F-40's that I want to do something very similar with. One is powered and the other a dummy. I figured I would put the battery in the dummy and run small wires between them. I would actually do this with every unit if it works out.
Interesting idea! Now, some big questions. How long would the battery last by itself? Is the loco with a stock motor?, or a special low power type? Could this system be adapted to multiple engines for a big train? Is this system a kit or pre-made?
You can get many of the details answered in this free construction article: mrhpub.com/2014-11-nov/land/#/83
The motors are stock from an original Bachmann HO GE 44 Ton Switcher-- they have great low speed/low voltage performance. This is designed and assembled by me. The article will show you exactly how you can build your own. It might be possible to construct a muli-loco lash up, especially if all had the same power units. They simply would all be addressed the same-- like multiple locos with the same DCC address. This would be the easiest, but it also could be done with one transmitter simulcasting to multiple addresses, or a broadcast to all receivers on one frequency.
On my initial test unit the battery lasted a bit over an hour. I did not do any real life tests on battery life.
Have Fun! Best regards,
Geoff Bunza
Battery power with radio or bluetooth signals to a hand-held controller is my ideal for HO railroading. Unfortunately, I cannot find an engine+controller set commercially available. Until that happens, my HO railroading equipment will continue to collect dust. Powered rail setups are just too maintenance-heavy.
It is going to take a manufacturer to take the plunge so to speak. The first place I would expect Bachmann, Kato or another manufacturer to use this is in a starter set. A basic engine some track and a few cars. What it might add to the cost of the motive power they'd probably save on eliminating the power pack. Phone chargers are dirt cheap. The issues of battery fires are pretty much a thing of the past. Look at it this way. A starter set that might get operated on a floor in a living area and then put away no longer needs a cord draped over the floor.
With battery power can these be ran with more than one engine in a consist?
Very interesting idea.
Were can I buy the HO battery trains?
Why was this not availible sooner by train manufactures?
Battery power is still in the experimental stage and not yet mainstream. The main problem is how to make it easy to recharge the onboard batteries in the smaller scales. With a DCC decoder, sound, speakers, a motor, flywheels, and weight for good pulling power traction, there's not much room left in HO locos for batteries too. So it's not fully developed yet, but give it a few more years and it should become more readily available as battery technology improves.
have you considered using LiFE batteries for this task?
Yes, I think they could be used (in terms of size, power density, etc.) but I have not looked into their charging characteristics in detail, so I can't recommend them one way or other. There is a great deal of battery R&D going on today, and I am expecting that better technology will be available in even a year or two. So I don't see this as the "ultimate" modeling solution at all-- just one alternative.
Best regards,
Geoff
Geoff Bunza Good to hear from you Goeff. They have a slightly different charging profile then a LiPO in Terms of peak voltages, however they are much safer. The biggest difficulty I have run into with them is setting up custom charging curves. there are How-To's within the RC Car sphere but I do agree it's too involved for a how to. Glad to see your knowledgeable. Best of luck with your projects!
Is it possible to run a battery powered trams in hills stations place such as gangtok,sikkim Country india !
Just have a Solar powered charger.
Too bad they don't make these any more even in HO
I ant sound, too.
Low speed control is pretty horrible looking, maybe just the motor being used? Just my opinion of course.
It could be the motor. But another way to provide better speed control would simply be to add another reduction step in the drive bearing. This could be simply by changing the pitch of the worm gears to a finer pitch. This would reduce the lead angle of the worm (if the worm is a .5Module or 25 DP and we switch out to a .25 Module or 50 DP on a single lead worm we have effectively doubled the gear ratio simply because for the same diameter the the finer pitched gear has twice the number of teeth*. There gearing could effectively be cut by using a fine pitched tap to cut the teeth on the worm gear. Goggle Free Hobbing. .25Module or 50 DP is about the same pitch as 3/8-16 or a M10x1.5 screw. I'd actually have to check just what size gear pitches are actually used. Another way would be to add a planetary gear reducer at the motor. But the would eat up room. Anything that increases the rpm of the motor versus the rpm of the wheels will lead to smoother operation and more pulling power. It also reduces top speed by 50%. As Robert Heinlein said "TANSTFALT"**. his I think would be most useful in yard operations and road switching operations.
Eventually I think we will see motors built right into the power trucks in smaller scales. The problem there is power output. The lower the torque output of the motor the greater the reduction drive needs to be to get any effective work out of the motor.
*This is something to think about. In reality any modeler with a small lathe and mill could do this. I personally would recommend steel for the worm and bronze for the worm gear. I don't think the engineering plastics, ie Delrin, will hold up at these sizes under any load.
** There Ain't No Such Thing As a Free Lunch. There's a price to be paid somewhere.
it is a Spectrum old 44 tonner drive well know for the poor running quality at low speed