I have read all the posts. Agree that the Easy Peasy system is great but "eats batteries like mad." (Is this a case of "give away the razor; get rich from selling the blades"?)
One of the posts suggests two AAA batteries as an alternative to the hearing aid-type batteries that come with the Easy Peasy unit. Sounds good to me, especially since I'm using the EP unit in a caboose, so hiding larger batteries isn't a problem.
The question: has anyone seen an article about converting to a longer lasting, less expensive battery arrangement? If no article, does someone have actual experience doing this, perhaps describing the process on another forum or a website?
Will appreciate your wisdom.
AAA batteries are going to add significant weight to a passenger car compared to the button batteries supplied with the Easy Peasy lighting, and it would be hard to conceal them.
Thanks. This would be for a caboose and the extra weight is not a concern. Do you have experience with actually powering an Easy Peasy unit with two AAA batteries? I don't know the voltage of the hearing aid batteries -- and don't want to burn out the LED unit.
Hearing aid batteries are rated at about 1.5 volts. They differ in their capacity (mA/hr). For example the ones I use in my hearing aids are rated at 180 mA/hr which means for example that operating at 10 ma a battery would provide power for a little less than 18 hours. Your results will depend on the mA draw of the lighting system and which type of batteries you choose.
Scale Hogger Thanks. This would be for a caboose and the extra weight is not a concern. Do you have experience with actually powering an Easy Peasy unit with two AAA batteries? I don't know the voltage of the hearing aid batteries -- and don't want to burn out the LED unit.
ALL Batteries are rated between 1.2 and 1.5 volts depending on the electrolyte used to produce the voltage. That said... How many battery cells are really in that case. For that you must look for the inscription. A 9 Volt battery has six 1.5 volt cells inside of it (As I found out after I exploded one).
A big 6 volt lantern battery would have eight "D" cells in it arranged in four pears,
A, AA, AAA, C, D... They are all 1.5 volts. In case you wondered what happened to the "B" cell battery, well there is always one wise guy in the pack that has to be different. The "B" cell battery was an old radio battery (before AC powered radios) and was a 67.5 volt cell. Ever since the use of AC in radios, and the development of transistors, the old B cell along with the old "A" cell went bye bye. That said, the Russians still use the "B-Cell" designation for a 1.5 volt battery of the same length as a D cell but narrower like a C cell.
And now you know all that you did not want to know anyway.
ROAR
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
FYI: latest development.
I found online the AG3 "hearing aid" type batteries Rapido uses: a pack of 100 for $3.69 -- yes, that's correct. The source is FocalPrice.com. (I last paid $11.95 four FOUR of these batteries at my LHS.)
Caveat emptor: I have not yet ordered, so I cannot vouch for the reliability of the seller.
I have abandoned the idea of adapting the Easy Peasy kit to use a longer lasting AA or AAA battery.
My thanks to all of you who responded to my initial posting.
JHF
Is there an off-the-shelf lighting system that uses capacitors rather than batteries?
I recently bought the MTH 20th Century Limited passenger cars and they use a capacitor module that both looks and works GREAT. It takes about 1 minute for the cap to charge up on each car after you put them on the track and about 5 minutes to discharge once you remove them. No continual and costly battery changing on each car or needing; nor remember to shut them down when you turn off the layout for the night.
MTH indicated in the literature that came with the cars that replacement modules were available. I'm wondering if you could fit one in one of your Rapido cars. Course, there would be an initial outlay for the module but it would pay for itself over time from the need for batteries.
Tom
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
LION has been trying capacitors and even rechargeable batteries with no joy in Mudville. I once saw some 12 volt 4 farad caps at All Electronics but I did not buy them when they had them and now they do not have them.
I tried 5 volt 0.22 farad caps with a regulator but that was not to my liking either.
So when you find the majyck bullet, please let me know. In the mean wild this one might have possibilities.
Add a full wave rectifier, a power regulator and we are talking about $8.00 per car... times a fleet of 48 cars...
Sorry... $400.00 is NOT in the LION's budget
You could try an N battery. Not N scale, just N. They have the same shape as a AA battery but maybe 1/3 the size. I don't know what their current capabilities is but I would suspect somewhere between a AA and a hearing aid battery. Haven't seen any holders for them though. I don't think their weight would be all that significant.
..... Bob
Beam me up, Scotty, there's no intelligent life down here. (Captain Kirk)
I reject your reality and substitute my own. (Adam Savage)
Resistance is not futile--it is voltage divided by current.
I owned a set of nine PRR Rapido HO cars. But I sold them later because 1. although they looked great, they were not prototype, and 2. the Easy Peasy lighting system was not well thought out.. In my case, there were 18 batteries, a hefty replacement cost. The batteries tended to jam in the poorly made holders. If I ever had forgotten to turn the lights off and walked away for a day, I might well have thrown the whole bunch out a window.
I have three sets of MTH cars with full wave rectifiers, regulators and capacitors. A better, trouble-free design that works equally well on DCC and DC. There's good intentions and there's practical. It would be great if someone did offer aftermarket lighting as good as the MTH.
Hal
hdtvnutIt would be great if someone did offer aftermarket lighting as good as the MTH.
There is a gentlemen that specializes in aftermarket lighting. I would say his lighting modules are better and predate MTH's modules. He is out of Richmond, Texas. I attended a clinic of his on LED lighting and it was quite impressive. He has a website which is http://www.richmondcontrols.com/
He has some very impressive lighting not just for rolling stock and locomotives but for vehicles and buildings (especially radio towers) as well.
Colorado Front Range Railroad: http://www.coloradofrontrangerr.com/
Generally, I've been pleased with my Rapido passenger cars with the Easy Peasy lighting system. It's not hard to remove the roof and replace the batteries. ..... Once, I had a problem with a the reed switch not working. All it took was a brief exchange of emails with Rapido's office, and a replacement circuit was promptly mailed to me without cost to me. ..... Nornally, I do not bother to turn on the lights, and of course, that saves on batteries. When I do use them, I try not to forget to turn them off when I am done running the train. .... Replacement LR41 (AG3) batteries are very inexpensive on eBay.
GARRY
HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR
EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU
Here is some advice I hope you will find helpful.
The batteries used in these cars are NOT "hearing aid" batteries. Hearing aid batteries use zinc air chemistry. . They pack a wallop for power output, but they do it via a chemical reaction with air. The moment you pull the seal off a hearing aid battery, it starts to react with the air, and as such, it will be dead in a few weeks whether you use it or not.
These batteries are coin cells that are either alkaline (LR41) or silver oxide (SR41). The batteries packaged with the kits are alkaline. The silver oxide type will last about 30% longer, so buy those when you buy replacements. You can find these on the internet for $1 a piece or less if you hunt around.
3. If you are adept at minor soldering, you can unsolder the battery holders, and bend them so they are a little bit wider, but are still the same height, and then solder them back in. Now they can accept an SR45 silver oxide battery. SR45's are exactly the same height as SR41's, but they are 9.5mm wide instead of 7.9mm. They are NOT wider than the circuit board, so you should have no problems fitting the board in anywhere you used to.
Battery life:
The circuit draws about 1.6mA.
LR41 capacity about 30 mAh, so battery life is about 30/1.6 = 18.75 hrs
SR41 capacity about 44 mAh, battery life= 27.5 hrs (nice improvement just by using a better battery!)
SR45 capacity about 65 mAh battery life = 40.75 hrs
But wait... there's more! If you carefully seek out the RIGHT SR45, try to find SR45SW made by Renata. These are a "low drain" type, which means they do not have the surge capacity of an SR45 or SR45W, but they last longer, and since these cars draw so little current, the low-drain type is all that is necessary. They are rated at about 75-80 mAh. I am in the process of getting and testing some of these, so I cannot say if this will really pan out or not, but if it does, these would provide 75/1.6 = about 47 hrs of battery life.
Any of these options, the SR41, or modified holders with SR45's, or maybe the SR45SW, will provide significantly longer battery life than the stock battery/board combination without compromising the fit or looks of the product.
Good luck!
Wow! How neat to get such a thorough, well written, creative response to an old posting! Really appreciate your pointing out the difference between hearing-aid and coin batteries. I have found great prices online for the batteries you mention ... some almost too good to be true (like 100 for about $6, including delivery -- but who needs 100?).
I've gotten sidetracked with other projects and havent done anything more with the caboose, other than install a very nice set of marker lights.
Do you know if the coin batteries in the Rapido unit are in series or parallel? Assuming they're in series: since each of the two coin batteries is 1.5 volts, I have wondered if I could hook up two AAA batteries (3 volts total) and make the LED circuit work. If yes, I would venture to guess that they would last a VERY long time before having to be replaced.
Thanks again. I'll appreciate any further thoughts. JHF
Hi,
First let me say that I would not trust those big trays of 400 or 500 batteries that are on eBay. They are all alkalines, not silver oxide, for one thing. And there is a high likelihood that many of them will be no good at all or will have very short usable lives. At $1 per battery, brand new, from many of the on-line jewely or electronics stores, I'm more than happy.
The coin batteries are in series. You can readily see this because if you pop one out, the circuit turns off. Two AAA batteries would pack an enormous lifespan for this application. AAA alkalines have a capacity of around 1000 mAh, about 15-20 times what those coin cells have (Depending on what coin cell you use). But I would not use AAA's because they would be enormous in an N Scale passenger car and impossible to conceal.
But they certainly would operate the circuit just fine.
And THANK YOU for the nice compliments!
Many thanks, MMagliaro. Appreciate your wisdom about the cheap batteries. "If it sounds too good to be true ...." As I may have mentioned previously, I never bit on those offers, not needing 100 and also being a little suspicious of the quality question.
I was hoping you'd confirm my hope about the Rapido circuit being series -- and you did! Also my thought about using two AAA batteries as an alternative to the two coin batteries. Good news -- especially good because the caboose is HO and there's room even though I already have a battery and holder in it for the marker lights! I know it will be heavy, but that's not an issue.
All the best --
To close the loop on this, I recently discovered a correction to my calculations.
The *relative* lifespan amongst all the different batteries I quoted is correct, but the actual run-time in hours is not.
The Rapido circuit draws more like 6mA, not 1.6.
Therefore, I would expect the stock batteries to last more like 30/6 or about 5 hrs, not 18-20 hours. The SR41 would be about 44/6 = about 7, and the larger SR45, if you modify the coin holders so they fit, about 68/6, or about 11 hrs. Not nearly as satisfying as 20,30, or 40 hours, but that's what it is. Your AAA, with 1000 mAh life, would be 1000/6, or about 166 hours. You might also consider an "N" battery (shorter, and little fatter than AAA) or a AAAA (quad A). They are harder to find, but much smaller and still provide plenty of life for this. Good luck.
You might also consider an "N" battery.
At 37 cents each, even if HALF of them are no good out of the box, you're still way ahead of the $1 each price. 3/4 of them could be bad and you'll still come out ahead. 25 working batteries for under $4? I'd still order the big trays if I had a fleet of the cars.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
On a purely economic basis, you might be right. However, if a lot of the batteries aren't "dead", but don't last after you install them, then you will be changing batteries very often, and that to me is not worth it.
If I could get 5 batteries for the price of 1, but I had to change them every week instead of changing one battery in a few months, I'd gladly pay the money and use the better batteries. I'm not saying that I KNOW this will happen. I'm just suspicious of anything that cheap.