Installing low cost battery R/C into the HLW Mack switcher.

[TonyWalsham]

Hello readers.

As discussed in the other thread I am going to show you how to do it.
This is not meant to be a totally one step after another article.
Rather, it will be presented as captions to a series of pics and should be easily understood.
If not please let me know and I will add info accordingly.
The installation will be done two ways.
1. With an external freight crate mounted on the rear of the chassis.
2. Fully enclosed in the cab.

I will be showing the former first.
Method A. The lowest cost way of doing the install is to make the wiring connections with soldered joints. This is my preferred method. You will require a good quality fine tip temperature controlled iron.
Method B. For those who never done any soldering there is any easier way of doing it without soldering but the suitable parts will add a bit to the cost.

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Method B will be separated by rows of asterisks.
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So here goes.

Remove the motor block from the chassis.
This can be tricky as it is held in by a barbed tab that must be levered out of the way. Use a medium sized screwdriver as shown. Twist the screwdriver and lift the motor block clear when the tab is free.


Remove the motor block from the chassis. It looks like this. Be careful of the brass tube holding the single light bulb.


Remove the two screws holding the body shell and weights to the chassis.


Remove the cab and it will look like this.


Remove the handrail and air tank mouldings. They simply unclip from underneath. Replace the weights, cab and screws.
You will end up with these bits left over. Great for kitbashing.


Remove the screws in the motor block.


Remove the bottom plate from the block.


Remove the top plate from the central part of the block.


As with all battery R/C installations the track pick ups MUST be isolated from the motor connections to prevent any back feed of voltage to the track.
Use a suitable screwdriver to pu***he pick up plungers out of their holders.
You may need a small dab of AC to hold the brass strips in place. Do not let AC get on the brass where the motor terminals and light wires rub.


Hold the top part of the motor block against the chassis and drill a hole where shown up and through the block and chassis. (B). This is at the end opposite to the motor terminals.
Do not disturb the pressed in light wires from their slots (A).


Feed wires through (B) as shown. Bare about 3/8" of each end and twist them. We soldered ours to stop them fraying but it is not really necessary.
Insert the wires into the same slots as used by the light wires. (A).
use small dabs of AC nerar the access hole to hold the wires in place.


Replace the motor in the top plate.


Reassemble the top plate to the middle part of block.
Be careful the power in wires and lighting wires are trapped between the plastic & the brass rod to make good contact. (A).


The motor block will look like this when reassembled.


Replace the motor block in the chassis and snap it back into place.
It will look like this with the motor wires coming through the floor.


I have done some work on the actual "crate" and the placement of components which I will add in a few days.

I hope you all enjoy the above.
Total time taken was about 1 hour so far.

[TonyWalsham]

Here is the second part of the "How to".

This concerns the way I installed the batteries and R/C equipment.

The "no solder" Method B is separated by rows of asterisks.

I chose to fabricate a crate and tray with sheet and strip styrene.
Feel free to do it anyway you like as long as the inside dimensions (shown in yellow) will accomodate the components.


I mounted the Hi-Tec Rx and EVO-2 under the top of the crate.
The RX was placed so that the antenna wire would feed through the front of the crate. I left enough room so the battery power in wires and motor out wires could be fed into the EVO-2.


The antenna wire was tacked to the FRONT of the crate with AC cement in a diminishing spiral. It is important you do not cross the antenna wire.
So far the range is good on the bench but this arrangement may change if the range is not good enough.


The tray was also fabricated in sheet and strip styrene.
A ¼" hole was drilled at the front so that it is above the hole in the chassis which permits the motor wires to come up through.
As I want the tray easily removable when I do the in cab installation I drilled holes for some small screws to temporarily hold the tray in place.


Here is the tray drawing and dimensions.


This is how I soldered the battery wires to the switch.
The 1 - 2 amp Polyswitch® is wired in series with the battery leads and is not connected to the switch electrically.



The next pic shows how I glued a 1 amp Polyswitch® fuse to the end of the switch. ON is towards the fuse.


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Method B using the RCS BIK-U kit. It is normally fused at 3 amps but I can change the rating for this loco.
The twist on cap puts the two snap connectors in series.
All the wires are fed into the appropriate screw terminals on the BIK-U.
A short wire jumper is required to complete the circuit.


Here is the wiring diagram.


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I drilled a ¼" hole for the switch exactly in the middle of the round moulding mark on the underside of the chassis.
(The ¼" hole can also be used to feed the Method B wiring to the BIK-U).


I then fed the switch down through the hole and secured it with the supplied nuts and washers.


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Method B.
As there will not be enough room on the tray for the BIK-U and the battery packs I drilled a ¼" hole in the centre of the end plate of the chassis 18mm down from the top of the chassis. Mount the switch so that the Orange Polyswitches® are towards the top. That makes the switch ON in the UP position.
The wiring will feed up through the previously drilled ¼" hole.

As the switch is rather obvious I fitted a black plastic switch cover over the toggle.
The nut and washer could be painted black to further hide it.
(As the switch would also be underneath the overhang of the tray it is even less obvious).

The ¼" hole 18mm down will allow the BIK-U switch assembly to clear the underneath of the chassis.


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Orient the switch so that the fuse is towards the front of switcher.


The motor and battery wires were connected to the screw terminals of the EVO-2.
I installed an RF Choke in each motor lead for motor "noise" suppression.
The batteries were placed in the holders and connected to the snap fittings.


The wires were tucked up into the crate and it was "angled" into position.


I wriggled the crate down over the components. They are snug fit. The crate is a press fit over the lip on the tray.


Still to be shown in method B is how to install the RF-CHK motor suppression pcb.

Assuming the batteries are charged you are ready to go.
If you wish you may want to make some straps to ensure the crate does not fall off during use.

Part # 3 will include wiring diagrams and drawings with dimensions I used for the crate.
I will also have a list of parts used and their approximate cost.

Thank you for your interest.

Best wishes,

Tony Walsham (RCS).

[Marty Cozad]

I have thought about buying a Mack from HLW but the battery was the issue. Plus i don't think it will pull much for me.

[TonyWalsham]

Readers.

As can be seen from my edited posts above I have finished the drawings as promised.
If there are any queries please feel free to comment.

Now for what it costs.
Would you believe a complete battery powered HLW Mack switcher for well under US$$200.

The soldered wiring version is as follows.:

1 x HLW Mack switcher. .................. US$40. (I got mine from San Val).
1 x Hi-Tec TX/RX combo. .................. US$40. http://www.towerhobbies.com/listings/cat-cat-j.html
1 x EVO-2 Motor Driver. .................... US$60. http://www.rcs-rc.com/Actionindex.htm
1 x Smart AA charger. ...................... US$12. http://www.batteryspace.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=189
1 x 24 pack 2300 mah AA cells. ........ US$30. http://www.batteryspace.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=245&HS=1
1 x DPDT ON-OFF switch. ................. US$ 3.
1 x 1 - 1.5 amp Polyswitch fuse. ......... US$ 1.
2 x 4 way AA battery holders. ............. US$ 2.
2 x 9 volt snap connectors. ................. US$ 2.
2 x RF chokes. .................................. US$ 2
Scrap styrene to suit crate. ................. US$ 2.
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........................................................US$194

If you want the no solder components you delete the switch, fuse and RF chokes and add the following:

1 x RCS #BIK-U. ................................US$27.
1 x RCS #RF-CHK. .............................US$13
3 x twist on wire connector. ..................US$ 1.
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.........................................................US$233

The US prices for the odds and ends are based on what I can sell them for here in Australia. They may vary in the USA but all are available from regular electronices stores such as Radio Shack.
The pack of 24 x AA cells from Battery Space is great value and will provide enough cells for the TX and loco power with 8 spare cells as back up.
Please Note: The RX is powered by the RCS part and does not need any batteries.
8.4 volts provides a nice trundle speed. It would be possible to add more cells to increase the maximum speed but the shape of the crate to accomodate them would have to change.
The "In Cab" version has plenty of room for 2 x 6 way holders to give 14.4 volts.

For those that cannot easily get hold of the extra bits and pieces I can offer a package deal for them. Please contact me off line E Mail

Thank you for your attention. I hope the installation has been of help.
I have finished the "In Cab" install and will post it as soon as I can.