RC and Battery for a beginner

[RadioJoe]

I'm beginning a garden railroad in a situation where track power is not a viable option. My plan is to use battery power, but this seems to be more complex than I'd anticipated. I'm not one to tear apart and rewire a locomotive; I'm a modeler, not an electrician.

So my question here is if I were to purchase a locomotive such as the Spectrum Baldwin 2-4-4 Forney, what else would I need to make it ready to run, and what's involved in doing that?

[Kevin Strong]

The Forney has the "plug-and-play" socket in the coal bunker, so converting to battery is actually going to be quite simple. You can use any of the R/C systems designed to work with the socket (Aristo's "Revolution," QSI's "Magnum" with G-wire receiver, or RCS's "Elite" R/C). None will require any additional wiring, though you will have to figure out where you're going to put the battery. There may be room in the bunker for a 14.8v Li-Ion battery pack, I don't know. They're not that big--around 3" x 3" x 3/4", and will give you between 2 - 4 hours run time depending on load. Along with the battery, you may want to include a charging jack if you can't easily remove the battery to charge it separately, a power switch, and a fuse.

Of the three options I mentioned, the "Revolution" will be the most compact. All you'll need to do is plug in the receiver into the socket, hook the battery to the PC board in the bunker, and you're off and running. There is no sound included with the Revolution board, but it's compatible with a number of after-market sound systems.

The RCS "Elite" receiver also plugs into the socket, and gives you the same throttle controls as the Revolution. There's a second receiver that you have to make sure you have room for, but that should be able to be hidden in the cab without any trouble. (It's not large, around 1" x 1 1/4" x 3/4" plus or minus.) Also, like the Revolution, there's no sound, but aftermarket systems are compatible.

The QSI Magnum/G/-wire combination gives you motor control and sound. The decoder plugs into the socket, and like the RCS system, a separate receiver has to be mounted elsewhere. It's around 2" x 1" x 3/8", and can also probably be hidden in the cab without trouble if there's no room in the bunker.

If you've been getting Garden Railways magazine over the past few issues, I've been covering these various systems; their relative advantages and disadvantages, and some installation advice in my "Garden Railways Basics" column.

I use all three systems, and would have no problem recommending any of them to anyone.

There are other systems on the market that would work equally well, but they aren't "plug-and-play" with the on-board socket. You'd have to remove the board in the bunker, and wire each appropriate wire to the corresponding terminal/solder pad on that particular system. If the Forney is like the 2-6-6-2, there's a plug-in wiring harness to assist with this, though personally I'd remove the socket altogether and hook the wires direct to the new electronics. Space is tight in the Forney.

Later,

K

[Kevin Strong]

Add RCS's "Beltrol" system to the list of Plug-and-Play controllers. (Sorry, Tony, I just read that you introduced this). Like the "elite" system, there's still an additional receiver in addition to the plug-in board, but these are also very small and easily hid in dark corners. The Beltrol system uses off-the-shelf 2.4 gHz R/C transmitters and receivers that are commonly used for the R/C car/boat/plane crowd.

Later,

K

[RadioJoe]

Kevin, thanks for that very helpful reply. Now, let me see if I get this. And I'm kinda combining threads here.

I could pick up, say, an Aristocraft Revolution transmitter and receiver, plug it in, and then what I would need would be a battery car to power everything.

Or, and if I understand correctly, I could get a set such as what Tony posted today, along with a cheap transmitter (we don't plan to do complex operations) and a battery, install and connect everything and I'd be good to go.

[Kevin Strong]

In both cases, you would need a battery car only if you couldn't find room on the loco to put the battery. That's the main reason why I'm partial to the new Li-Ion batteries. Lots of power in a very little space. I'd be willing to bet that if you could find a 14.8 volt battery in a 2x2 array as opposed to a flat pack (4 cells side-by-side) that you could easily hide that in the cab if there wasn't room in the bunker. You could probably easily get the flat pack in the cab, too, but you'd probably see it through the windows.

But beyond that, yes. You'd simply connect the battery to the board that's already in the Forney where it says "battery," (or whatever it says, I don't have one here), then plug the Aristo or RCS board into the socket, after removing the "dummy plug" that comes stock. Then you're off and running. The same holds true for the QSI/G-wire combination.

Later,

K

[Tony Walsham]

The ESC package I have announced is specificaly for the K-27. The plug in part will be a bit too big for the smaller Plug'n'Play equipped locos.
Assuming Bachmann will once again kindly give me permission to announce products as they have done with the K27 deal, I will shortly be announcing another package using a different PnP ESC that will fit the smaller locos.