Railscope Question

[Justraincrazy]

I hope someone can help us figure this one out.  Had a railscope engine, lumber stack, inductor coils, and capacitor running for four years.  Ran fine using rechargeable 9v batteries.  Recently put engine on tracks with a 9v transformer replacement powering the lumber stack and had a picture, but the picture was very, very dark.  Set TV to maximum brightness, and could just make out the outlines of layout items.  Strange, and thought I'd ruined lumber stack electronics with the replacement transformer.  So, bought another railscope recently, which came with new lumber stack, hoping twin sons would each have a railscope engine. Tried new engine on small circle of track on floor hooked up to TV in train room, but without capacitor or coils, just to see if we got a picture.  We got the clearest, brightest picture ever, using regular 9v batteries and using either lumber stack.  Installed on layout, expecting perfection.  Picture still very, very dark.  New engine appears to have the same problem, using either lumber stack.  Checked engines on another TV, same problem - dark picture.  So, it's not engines, not electronics, not TV or connections.  Can battery voltage dramatically affect picture brightness?  Are the inductor coils and capacitors really essential for operation?  Do newer transformers not produce the interference the coils were designed to reduce? Our newer 40 watt Lionel transformer produced no interference at all when engine ran on small loop without capacitor or inductors.  Help!

[ADCX Rob]

As the lumber stack has much better battery life than the loco camera, a true 9v alkaline battery in the lumber/receiver/rf unit will perform much better than 7.2v or 8.4v rechargeables.

For the loco, I have always used power from a remote battery pack consisting of 8 AA nicads mounted in a 9707 stock car.  At an average 1000 mah, these will last quite long between charges and reduce your battery budget considerably.

Using the chokes and capacitors is a hit & miss experiment - use what works best after trying several combinations.  It depends a lot on the size and configuration of the layouts.  I have had some small simple layouts where they're not needed at all.

[gunrunnerjohn]

Has anyone ever considered building a small power supply and powering the unit from track voltage to eliminate batteries?

[Boyd]

Back in 90, 91 or 92 Classic Toy Trains had an article on converting them to run off of track power. I don't know what issue it is and I don't have my old issues handy.

[ADCX Rob]

gunrunnerjohn

Has anyone ever considered building a small power supply and powering the unit from track voltage to eliminate batteries?

That might introduce even more noise if not isolated properly.

Get it to work right in the first place, then try the power supply idea.  Even better, a filtered, isolated circuit setup to just charge the onboard batteries might be the trick.

[Justraincrazy]

ADCX Rob - Thank you so much for your response.  Most people simply reply that I'm crazy to keep using the Railscopes but, I'll admit, I think this old tech Lionel stuff is too cool to toss away so easily.  You touch on what I've been thinking.

First railscope, hooked up exactly as instructions say, worked on two Radio Shack rechargeable 9V batteries for a long, long time. 

Recently, my engineer friend gave me a transformer claiming to put out 9V to replace the battery in the lumber, which is located under our layout.  Tried to use it, but the railscope picture was very dark.  Pulled transformer and put in old reliable rechargeable batteries, showing 9.6V on my voltage tester.  But railscope's picture was still extremely dark - even with room lights on full and TV brighness at max.  I checked the little transfomer and found it putting out 15 volts - so much for trusting the gift at face value!  I figured I'd fried the lumber stack's electronics so, I bought another railscope engine and lumber stack (no coils or capacitor included).

When second engine arrived, I made a little circle on the floor, attached a 40watt Lionel transformer that was laying around, installed 2 regular 9V batteries from my workshop, hooked it up to the TV and - bingo - perfect picture.  Rechecked everything on the layout, installed the new lumber stack under there, and turned everything on.  Back to a dark picture.  Tried both engines, both lumber stacks, both cable connections, the recharged but old "rechargeables", and the regular, but used, 9V batteries.  All produce the same result - a very dark picture, or some signal to the TV.

I'm going to go buy new 9V quality batteries, just to see if I can get a picture - thus proving it's all up to the power requirements.  I like your "followup car with 1.5V batteries" idea (assuming the rest of the railscope equipment can be made to work), but how do you route the wires between the engine and car?

I have seen more recent cameras and equipment advertised, and may have to fall back to replacing the cameras in the railscopes with new stuff, but I'd hate to be throwing away a system that works.

Although we have a flat screen on the wall so everyone can see the railscope in action, everyone still thinks the little red Lionel TV hung between the two control panels is far more cool.

Thanks again for your thoughts and ideas.  Glad to know someone else out there who doesn't just snicker at the word "railscope".

[TrainLarry]

Since all the electronics, batteries and transformers seem to work on your little circle of track, the only thing left is the track of your main layout. Since the track itself carries the signal, if it is dirty, or the track pins are loose or dirty, that would affect the signal from the loco to the receiver (lumber pile). The lockon that connects the lumber pile to the track needs to be clean and free of rust, as do the wheels and pickup rollers of the loco.

Larry

[ADCX Rob]

I don't monkey around with a lockon connection for the lumber stack.  The best layouts for RailScope are usually smaller anyway, so I make the connections right at the transformer.