R/C Bachmann Annie

[Dave]

Greetings from New Zealand, Hope you all had a nice start to the New Year.
      I am going to put R/C in my " Annie" and am wondering if 12volts is enough to get a reasonable speed ,pulling 3 J S Coaches around 8ft curves, and up 3% grades and so forth.
I'm always open to advice so if anyone can help me here I sure would appreciate it.

                    Cheers

                           Dave in Waikino

[Loco Bill Canelos]

DAve,

12 volts will work OK, but more importantly will be the battery rating in mah.  I am using 14.8 volt lithium ion battery packs I make myself.  Since my grades are less than 2% on my mainline I get over 5 hours run time with an Annie pulling 10 cars using four 3.7 volt 2600 Mah rated Tenergy brand batteries with built in protection  circuits. Theoretically a 1300mah pack would give me only half that time.   My sons layout is very different with Grades as much as 5%(but mostly long 3%) on the mainline. My same train will run only 2 1/2  hours on his grades with 7 cars.  In my case I never run at full throttle, so 14.8 volts is more than adequate for me.  I rarly exceed 8 volts when running.  I install the batteries so that they are easy to change by lifting the coal load. 

When using two USA Trains GP38-2s  (4 motors) pulling 10 Aristo hoppers and a caboose my son only gets 1 hour run time using my batteries. He uses 14.8volt 5600mah battery packs to get two hours run time, but pays a lot more for the batteries.

I am not really an expert, but am giving you my actual experience.  In simple terms  more volts = higher speed and more Mah = longer run  time.   Also longer trains and higher grades means less run time.   my personal recommendation is to go with a 14.8 volt battery pack with as many Mah as you can afford, but with only three coaches 12 volts will do unless you like high speed.

I am sure most of the electronics experts can say it better than I, but hopefully my personal experiences will be of some use.

Have fun  with your conversion!!

[Dave]

Bill,
   Many thanks for your advice. It has answered quite a few questions for me. I am toying with the option of a 1.3ah sealed lead acid battery @ $35 or the other option is 10 NI-MH batteries @ $6.50 each. They are AA @ 2500mah. It looks like a price over weight decision. I am leaning towards the AA batteries as i can squeeze them into the Tender with the R/C gear and a simple sound board. I can also use the same Tender with a Pearce 2-6-0 live steamer that a friend has lent to me for an indefinite period. I hope he forgets about it. I wish.

                   Regards

                          Dave

[Kevin Strong]

Good Grief! $6.50 per cell for a NiMH battery??? I get 4 of 'em for $12 from the grocery store. I get 2600 mAh Li-Ion packs for $45ish. (www.all-battery.com , they'll also have good prices on NiMH cells.) I don't know what shipping to NZ would be, but I'm sure there's got to be a similar on-line store on your side of the globe.

Later,

K

[Loco Bill Canelos]

Dave,
The 12 volt 1.3 ah battery = 1300 mah which will result in lower run time

I am also amazed at the high cost in NZ.   All  battery has a 14.8 3600mah pack for us$32 http://www.all-battery.com/144vnimhpackseries.aspx   Lithium Ion pack can be had for US$49
http://www.all-battery.com/148vli-polymerandli-ionbatterypacks.aspx.  I use the set of 4 3.7volt 2600 Mah  for US 29 and make my own packs using standard Tamiya leads for under US$30. Their smart chargers are low cost as well and have worked well for me.  It may be that the cost of shipping is prohibitive, and I am not sure how the NZ dollar value compares with US dollars, but it couldn't hurt to look into it. 

All Battery is the lowest cost battery source I have ever found!!

I used the l-ion packs in my Connies and Annies with excellent results.  I use the TE revolution R/c and Sierra or Phoenix sound boards and it all fits with no problem.  If you are interested I can send you a set of slides I used on how to battery power an Annie.  These are slides I used during a clinic I give on how to do it.  just email me, my address is NOT private and I will send them to you. 

Hope your friend forgets about the steamer  too 

[Dave]

Thanks for the replies Kevin and Bill.  Yes, the cost of goods in NZ is quite high and the exchange rate of 77c in the $1 adds another 25% on the cost of importing Train related gear from the US,plus postage, a bit beyond the realms of most people. I purchased a 2 Truck Shay about 18months ago, from Trainworld, and it ended up costing a tad over NZ$400. The same Loco would sell on the open market here for at least NZ$650.
  Track is virtually unobtainable, and when it is,people want $15/ft. Hence my Railway is not finished for the want of 20ft of flex track.
   I guess its a case of supply and demand,we only have a population of just over 4 million so we don't have the demand for high quantities of Garden Railway products and this reflects on the prices.  The upside is, this is a lovely country to live in and I enjoy my Model Railways, I must do, been doing it for 50 years.

                   Cheers to all

                      Dave

[Loco Bill Canelos]

Yes you surely live in a beautiful country, hope you get lucky and find that last bit of track, in the meantime enjoy your railway!!!