Battery-operated Prime Movers

[Anonymous]

Do not think "rehostats/servos. There many RC aircraft and car / boat speed controls that are very small and light. Some can handle as much as 60 amps continuous. Some are combo receiver/control units. These types are fully proportional speed control---fwd and rev.

As for the heavy battery----Lithium-Ion is the way to go. The Li-I batteries are very light for the energy they can store.

All the above---as well as very high efficency motors---are in use in the electric
RC aircraft at this time.

[Marty Cozad]

I think i undewrstand what your saying, but,,, where can you get these and how much?

[Anonymous]

Motors, batteries, and controllers can be obtained at most walk-in hobby shops.
Another source is mail-order hobby shops----Tower Hobbies, for one.
Prices start around $50~60, and can go up from there.

[TonyWalsham]

The problem with using regular Digital proportional R/C ESC's is that they are usually designed for a maximum of 7.2v - 9.6 v. Way below what is needed to run LS trains on battery power.
Plus they can "glitch" very badly whenever spurious RF signals are present. This means they can jerk backwards and forwards destroying the loco gears.
There are available specialist R/C systems designed for use with LS trains that take care of these problems.
These can start from as low as less than US$100 for a 2 amp system complete with R/C equipment. Most of them are small enough to fit inside the loco with the batteries and sound systems.

Best wishes,

Tony Walsham (RCS).

[Marty Cozad]

Tony, my man,
If I were to buy batteries from you, strong enough to run 2 SD-45s, and 35 cars at a reasonable speed, what would you suggest and what would be a ball park price? You know I use DeWalt tool batteries and am very happy with then , BUT for the size. I have tried using Black/Decker 18 volts ,cause they hide better, but don't last half of what a DeWalt 18volt.
Thanks for your GREAT wisdom.

[TonyWalsham]

Hi Marty,

If it were me I would install the batteries in the locos along with the R/C and sound.
I would go with 19.2 volts of Sub "C" cells mounted in the SD-45 fuel tanks.
I did it with one SD-45 and used 3,000 mah NiMh cells.

For your type of operation I would recommend a trail car as you do now.
The biggest capacity that will fit of either NiCd or NiMh consistent with the recharge capability.
The trick is using batteries that can be recharged easily.
I only sell batteries for Australian LS'ers.
There are plenty of battery suppliers in the USA.

Best wishes,

Tony Walsham (RCS).

[Marty Cozad]

Tony,
I've been to couple of battery "only" stores with my trains and most sales folks just scratch their heads and look at the trains.
I've had couple of folks wanting just a "start-up" RC battery set. Do you have any thing like that or what would you recomend.?
Like, :
two batteries
charger
RC unit
wire harness.
I need to visit your web page again.
I tried two 12 volt 4 amh in series to run 2 45s with 60 cars but got only 1/2 hour run time.
I personally don't mind changing batteries cause its a lot faster than cleaning rail or wiring problems.

[Anonymous]

Hey Marty, always enjoy your pics! I've dealt with Batteries Plus here in Columbus Ohio, they rebuild my cordless drill batteries for half the price of a new one. I think if you tell them how many volts and what kind of batteries you want and provided a encasement the engine car or seperate, they could make it fit

[grandpopswalt]

Marty,

I think you need to determine what the current draw (amps) of each loco is when pulling those 60 cars. I suspect it is going to be very, very high. A similar pair of engines (USA trains PA-1) pulling 36 cars draws about 8 amps. It would take 2 4000mah /24volt battery packs in parallel to run the train you've described for an hour.
8 amps = 8000ma for one hour. A 4000mah pack would last about 1/2 hour. That's an awful lot of batteries! A NiMH "D" cell is 4500 mah and you'd need 40 of them to get the capacity you need. You'd be tying 20 in series and then tying the other 20 in parallel. However, I've never had much luck with parrallel hook-ups of rechargable batteries. Maybe someone else knows of an 8000 mah battery that could be made to fit into these engines. Good luck!

Walt

[Marty Cozad]

Walt, thats some good figures. Most regular running is done with one 18 v deWalt and I get 2 hour s or so. I have 7 batteries for work so its not a problem. Changing batt only takes a minute. So I run as much as I want.
Its funny, when visitors come the, the 2nd thing they say is," lets see a long train on here".
My USAT passenger cars will have their own battery car once the full bag comes out. right now they draw off the engine batt. Which is fine, no flickering. Night running is a blast.

[TonyWalsham]

Hi Marty.

QUOTE: I've had couple of folks wanting just a "start-up" RC battery set. Do you have any thing like that or what would you recomend.?

Don Sweet is putting together package deals for trail car installs.
Perhaps you should get your friends to contact him.

I wholeheartedly agree that in your situation a trail car set up provides the easiest way to power a consist and maintain accessibility for swapping out battery packs.

Best wishes,

Tony Walsham (RCS).