max voltage

[jean-marie]

Hello,

Please, can you give me the maximum voltage for use:
- Big Haulers
- Spectrum (K27 and others)

Thank you very much.
Best regards, jean-marie

[armorsmith]

I can't speak for all of the Bachmann line, but I have run all of mine (K27, Spectrum Connie, and Big Hauler 10 wheeler) on a Meanwell 24VDC switching power supply with a 27 MHz trackside TE with no ill affects.  I know from having it open, the K27 is a Pittman motor - 19 VDC.  Due to the high gearing of that loco, I rarely run above about 14 VDC.  Same for the others, I don't run at full voltage - they run just WAY TOO FAST.

Hope this is of some help.

Bob C,

[Chuck N]

Most of the manufacturers of Large Scale engines suggest a maximum of 22-24 VDC.  Some manufacturers (Bachmann, USAt, and AristoCraft) engines would fly of the curves if they were run at 24v. Those give good performance at 12-15v.  LGB on the other hand needs higher voltages in order to obtain a reasonable speed (15-20v).  Their Mallets seem to require 20-24 volts. 

Accucraft because of the low gearing appears to me to require higher voltages (20-24v).  My Accucraft K-27 seems to crawl at 22v (track power) and my K-28 isn't very fast with a 19.2 battery pack.  Flat out at full power they both run at prototypical speeds with the max a little less than 30mph (scale speed) 

It all depends upon the engine, the track (radius of curves and grades), and load (length of train).  The one constant is NEVER go over 24 volts.  If you are buying a power supply get one that maxes out at 24v.  If you are going battery, you probably don't need a 24 volt pack..  I am using battery packs that put out about 19v and that seems adequate.

Chuck

[Jon D. Miller]

As a general rule I run all my Bachmann locomotives using 14.4 volt batteries. On occassion I'll use a 16 volt battery.

Locomotives are run using either Atisto on-board TE or RCS radio equipment. With one exception all locomotives are 1:20.3 scale. 

Even the K-27 with the Edington gear reduction case runs just fine on 14.4 volts.  But then again I'm not trying to duplicate Mach 1 speeds.

I'm still running a Version 5 Big Hauler and use 14.4 volt batteries.

JD