Conversion from track power

[saydan 1]

Hoping to get some help...

I want to convert from track power to battery...can this be done at home or do I need to send my locomotives into the shop?

What is needed to make the conversion?

Thanks

[TonyWalsham]

Hello Saydan.

It depends entirely on which locos you are considering converting to battery power.

Some locos are easy, some are not so easy.
If you can tell us what you have we can give you a better idea of the complexity.

Other things to consider are whether or not the batteries and R/C equipment are on board the loco or to be carried in a trail car.

Will you be having sound?

Is cost a consideration?

What sort of batteries will you be using?

Will the loco also be required to run on track power?

.

[saydan 1]

Thanks for the response.

I have 3 USA locomotives (GP7, S4, GP38-2) and would like to install the battery in a trailing boxcar.  All 3 loco's have Sierra Sound already installed.

I guess I didn't know you could operate on both track and battery power.

I don't know anything about batteries; maybe I'm better off sending these loco's down to St. Aubins and let a professional take care of installation.

Again, Thanks

[TonyWalsham]

Who, if anybody, you send your equipment to to be modified depends on the brand of R/C you intend using.
Save a bunch of money and do it yourself.
If you are confident in pulling the locos apart you will find modifying them to accept power and control from a battery trail car is very easy.

Here is how I have modified the USAT locos to accept trail car power:  http://www.mylargescale.com/Community/ForumArchives/tabid/100/Default.aspx?TOPIC_ID=27819

Actually installing the stuff in the trail car is a breeze.
Here is how I have done it before:  http://www.mylargescale.com/Community/Forums/tabid/56/aff/35/aft/115595/afv/topic/Default.aspx

A cable is supplied so that connecting the trail car to the USAT loco is a simple plug in operation.

Whilst trail cars are an ideal way of getting your feet wet in battery R/C, they do have some drawbacks.  You will always have them tagging along when switching and they make setting up sound systems much more complicated.

[kstrong]

What's your reasoning behind wanting to use a trail car as opposed to putting everything in the locomotives? Batteries are small and light enough so they can easily fit inside. (The only drawback with diesels is that making them removable for charging may be a bit difficult, meaning you'd have to plug the locomotive into the charger, taking it off the rails to do so.)

As Tony mentioned, trail cars do have their drawbacks, especially in your case where you've got sound systems installed in the locomotive. You're going to need a wire running forward between the loco and battery car for each of the sounds you want to trigger. That, plus directional power to the headlights, motor, and battery power forward for the sound board and other accessories (smoke, lights?), and you're running 10, maybe 12 wires between the two. Not the end of the world by any means, but just something to think about.

With today's technology and where your starting from (only three locos), I'd wonder if you wouldn't be better served putting everything onboard each locomotive. In the grand scheme of things, it's really not all that more expensive than building a trail car (and pretty much on par with building 2 so you can run more than one train).

I'm also a firm believer in trying to do the installs yourself, as it frees you from having to rely on someone else should something go wrong, to say nothing of the expense of shipping your loco back and forth and paying someone else for the work--money that will likely buy another receiver and/or sound system for you. The hardest part of doing any installation is trying to figure out what already exists in the locomotive, so you can correctly tap into it. Some locos are easier than others, and some control manufacturers make it easy to just plug their product into a locomotive's existing wiring. Much depends on whose R/C system  you go with and which locos you're going to install into.

Later,

K