WALTHERS ML-8 PLYMOUTH SWITCHING TO BATTERY POWER!
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- čas přidán 12. 09. 2024
- Here's a how-to for getting this small HO scale shunting locomotive up and running with the S-Cab system.
S-Cab information:
www.s-cab.com/
My first dead rail conversion:
• DEAD RAIL INSTALL IN H...
Battery test:
• S-CAB "DEAD RAIL" TINY...
Bachmann S4 conversion:
• Will the S-CAB battery...
How smooth and quiet everything is!
Yes! However, I am Aby Normal in that I turn off the digital sound effects on the locos. The sound gets on my nerves after a while. Sometimes I put in a CD of railway background sounds which I like better.
Looking good!
Thanks, Dave!
Cool project! Very nice video!
And I didn't even burn my fingers at all! :) Thanks!
It's perfect in a power failure, That would be perfect for a Tyco Chattanooga steam locomotive..
Yes, except I need the power to charge up the battery. :)
@@StanFerris Damn! I forgot my bad, Also, Thank you very much for answering my comments.
I enjoy answering the comments. Have a great weekend!
¡Hola Stan! Interesting video and, well filmed and narrated. Running my layout, with DCC control and, assuming you have DCC as well, can you explain why you use a battery powered system with DCC? If your layout there is DC, I understand and, please ignore my question. Un saludo. Gary
Hi Gary! Three years ago or so I set my small switching layout up as a fully functioning NCE DCC system. After the "honeymoon period" when all the rail was new and before messy painting and scenery, household dust (I live in the dry desert), etc. it ran flawlessly. Then, over time the stuttering and stopping of the locomotives began and grew worse and worse. Everything I did to the layout was geared around track maintenance. Finally, after removing things that were in the way (trees stuck to my sweater sleeve, etc.), and spending what limited time I had for running trains on cleaning track instead-- I decided to bite the bullet and add the S-Cab dead rail system. To be fair, I'm only in the honeymoon period on that, so as we get into 2021 I'll have a better track record to judge. My NCE gear is still functioning but I haven't touched it since going battery power. It's a couple hours work to get a locomotive converted over, but after that, it's been a "no-touch" experience for me. No excessive track cleaning (I run a track cleaning car around the main sections once in a while). I flip the switch on, run some trains and flick the switch off. I don't plug or unplug anything. I don't have any interruptions at all. It's been exactly what I thought running trains should be.
Hi Stan. A full and totally understandable reply. The NCE Dead Track system, not that I have investigated it, must simply do everything my own DCC live track system does, but instead of sending the AC square wave instructions via the track feed, it sends the instructions via a wireless system. I assume though, when you say dead track, there is a voltage running which supplies the power to charge the batteries, which in turn supply the feed for the receiving circuits and the power for accessories - lights, horns etc.,?
So just so I don't confuse things-- the NCE DCC system is not "dead rail." I have the entry level Power Cab NCE version. It puts pulse-width-modulated voltage into the rails, and you send commands through the rails to a decoding receiver in the loco, just like all DCC systems. Some decoders have sound built in, some don't. Most have lighting effects. Dead rail is where the loco gets it's power from an on-board battery pack, and it's instructions come from a wireless hand control. The S-Cab system I installed charges the battery from the NCE power that was already in the rails, so I do not need to manually plug the battery into a charger. There are a number of "dead rail" systems out there, but no industry standard yet, so it is more of a cottage industry, requiring the potential user to do a fair amount of investigation and fiddling. So far for me, it's been well worth it, but time will tell!
And I should also add that my NCE DCC is not wireless. The cabs have to be plugged in around the layout.
OK, I've got my head around that Stan. You have in fact got a system to control the loco and accessories and, I would know it, a good quality 'Stay Alive' unit, albeit needing more space than the loco itself, on this occasion.
Instead of the large grey carriage why not something more like a maintenance wagon with lockers, tools, and a crane or something.. Yes I know you need a certain amount of space to fit the electronics. It would look a bit better than a large grey wagon.. (in my view anyway).
Tim, I totally agree with you. Coal is the main theme for my layout, so I use the small Plymouth attached to the shorty coal car (that install was done on a previous video). I needed to do another installation that would never be used on my layout to demonstrate keeping the existing circuit board in the loco, so I just grabbed that larger WM carriage as an example. After I did the video, it was taken apart and was never used. Great observation! Thanks for taking the time to comment!
Very nice lets just hope it doesn't blow apart i don't trust those Chinese made batteries be careful.
Yes, always keep an eye on the battery packs.