A number of stupid questions - yes, there are some stupid questions!

Martino

Martino

Photography, The GWR, Aviation, Travel, Cars.
Country flag
I didn't think I'd ever be posting this scenario, but I'd appreciate some advice.

I have looked through the battery power forum and have read a whole heap of threads, particularly Mobi's Dummies Guide to converting a track powered loco to battery. As some of the posts on all the threads are from a while ago, I thought I'd seek info that may have changed.

I'm located in the Florida Panhandle. My railway has been going for some 9 years and is about 500' end to end. Track powered using Digitrax. All has been fine until last autumn when there was a nearby lightning strike. Despite all the individual bits of Digitrax kit being disconnected from the track and each other, various pieces were fried. The strike also took out the home phone system, cable modem, phone modem and other bits and bobs despite having two separate whole house surge protectors, plus individual surge protectors on items and uninterruptible power supplies again with surge protectors. C'est la vie I suppose.

Anyway, I got most if the Digitrax items repaired - I thought. But I'm still having problems and suspect that some Zimo reverse loop modules also fried, along with other gear. I'm gradually going round the railway trying to fix things, but it's a case of one step forward, two back.

I only gave a few locos - 4 main ones - all DCC with sound (a mixture of Zimo, Digitrax and Soundtraxx). Plus DCC equipped points.

So, the stupid questions.....

I see from The Dummies Guide that converting to battery power isn't insurmountable, and could be relatively inexpensive, but can I use my sound cards, particularly where they are both sound and power cards? Do I have to scrap my DCC sound and control completely?

How do I handle point control? It's a spread out line running round the border of the property and as we have sand based soil and an irrigation system that operates (and throws up grit) every other day) pneumatic or cable control my be an issue at ground level.

Any suggestions would be welcome.
 
Martino as for using your DCC Chips in Battery it is possible. I recently wrote a small thread here about an article in Model Railroader where a guy did it in H0. So very possible.

You are lucky in the States as Air Wire is available and legal made for just such a job. Not cheep but is so far as I can see what you need. There may be other systems, a copy of Garden Rail will guve you all the adds you need to research. Following link should help, I think you need the G3 Decoder to link up with your existing ones.

http://www.cvpusa.com/airwire_system.php

Massoth were developing a similar system but it appears to have been kicked into the long grass.

No more Track Cleaning for you!
JonD
 
Hi Martino,
You can go battery R/C fairly easily.. - Though you need to watch how much current your loco's take..
If you keep the decoders, they will (should) work as if on an analogue track. - Reed switches, and track-magnets, will still fire whistle/horn and bell. You can use outputs from the R/C gear to switch these 'triggers' as well. It will depend on how many trigger inputs your flavour of decoder has.
You may also be able to change what sounds are triggered.
Lighting can be directional (from the decoder, or R/C).
Smoke can be triggered from a R/C output, and switched with a relay. - Again you need to watch the total current-draw if you want to use the motor output to give variable smoke.

Hope that helps?
PhilP

http://www.rctrains.co.uk

Follow the links to Rik's Railway blog..
 
Thank you both, Jon and Phil. I'm very grateful.

It does seem that AirWire maybe the way to go. I'll do more research.

Given the incidence of 'interesting' lightning we have here, it may be sensible. I had a strike about five years ago that fried a power pack and some other bits and thought that the lessons I learned then (unplugging, disconnecting and surge protectors) would stop any problems. Not so apparently.

Anyway, VERY many thanks again and I'll report back eventually.

Martin
 
The only other advice I would give..

DO fit (at least one) fuse in the system, as near to the battery as possible..
Batteries can force a heck of a lot of current through any error you make!
:(:eek::nod: :shake::shake:
 
I wonder how you know that Phil!

Thanks for the advice. I reading as much as I can this morning (it's 10am here) when I should be doing lots of other things!
 
particularly Mobi's Dummies Guide to converting a track powered loco to battery
Click to expand...

Glad that you found it useful :) I am sure you can convert it yourself much better than I did.

I can only dream of having a 500 ft railway in the garden :envy: Sorry to hear about your damage.

Going battery is a good option. I find it odd that at an age when humans are able to control crafts on surface of Mars via RC why we still use track powers to control trains on garden >:)
 
Mobi said:
Going battery is a good option. I find it odd that at an age when humans are able to control crafts on surface of Mars via RC why we still use track powers to control trains on garden >:)
Click to expand...

I like your thinking, sir :nod::nod::nod::nod::nod:
 
Mobi said:
Glad that you found it useful :) I am sure you can convert it yourself much better than I did.

I can only dream of having a 500 ft railway in the garden :envy: Sorry to hear about your damage.

Going battery is a good option. I find it odd that at an age when humans are able to control crafts on surface of Mars via RC why we still use track powers to control trains on garden >:)
Click to expand...
Mobi, sadly in some respects Battery is a little behind Track Power in UK. Not may systems have the same level of Sound Control/Quality that I can get from a Massoth or LGB Sound Chip.,I do have a few Battery Locs as you saw when you visited my line, but lust for AirWire that links to any DCC Chip or what was promised by the Massoth DRC System, sadly still not available and unlikely to be I think. Someday we will in UK have a realistic system for us Track Power Guys in G (there are signs of systems in 00) that will allow us to relatively seamlessly ditch Track Power. I long for that day.
JonD
 
Thanks again everyone. I've been in contact with AirWire and I think I may have a go at using one of their C60X Convrtr decoders in one of my locos to see how it all works.

I'm thinking of converting my Bachmann Baldwin 2-4-2T (the latest Lyn) which runs a Zimo MX695, so apparently compatible. Just got to decide battery size so need to take apart the loco and do some measuring!

My railway runs around the perimeter of the yard/garden with two loops and a branch. It's not elaborate, but gives a good run. The only thinknis the maintenance. Going battery would certainly simplify matters from a maintenance, electronics, track cleaning and probably otherviews!

Thanks again.
 
Martino said:
Thanks again everyone. I've been in contact with AirWire and I think I may have a go at using one of their C60X Convrtr decoders in one of my locos to see how it all works.

I'm thinking of converting my Bachmann Baldwin 2-4-2T (the latest Lyn) which runs a Zimo MX695, so apparently compatible. Just got to decide battery size so need to take apart the loco and do some measuring!

My railway runs around the perimeter of the yard/garden with two loops and a branch. It's not elaborate, but gives a good run. The only thinknis the maintenance. Going battery would certainly simplify matters from a maintenance, electronics, track cleaning and probably otherviews!

Thanks again.
Click to expand...
So you see there are no Stupid Questions, just things that you currently do not know. It is as well to remember that "you do not know what you do not know"!
JonD
 
dunnyrail said:
So you see there are no Stupid Questions, just things that you currently do not know. It is as well to remember that "you do not know what you do not know"!
JonD
Click to expand...

Are they some of the known unknowns? - Which can be dealt with..

As opposed to the unknown unknowns.. - These sneak up and bite you without warning.
 
Martino,
I'm in Florida too, and my friend Kevin Strong (writes about electronics for GR magazine) is a strong advocate of the Airwire Convrtr cards, for controlling DCC locos via an Airwire r/c TX. I was about to post that but someone beat me to it.

Tony Walsham in Oz has a bunch of "how to" conversions using his electronic products (all good btw) including, I think, the latest Bachmann 2-4-2 Lyn. The same ideas would apply to Airwire as to his RCS.

I've been using his RCS gear for years, though mine is somewhat older - my RYM EBT 2-8-2 has an RCS Elite throttle and a couple of Li-ion batteries. I have been running live steam here in Florida, and the r/c requirements are a little different.

The Florida GRS is quite active and has divisions all over the state. It's often fun to see other peoples railroads and ask how they did it.
 
Martino - in addition to the AirWire system, check out the gear from Tam Valley Depot, specifically their Dead Rail System (DRS):
http://www.tamvalleydepot.com/deadrailsystem.html

They make a simple little unit that doubles as a receiver and a DCC decoder driver, and can be connected to pretty much any DCC decoder already in the loco (including all sound functions) - you can then either control it via an existing DCC central station linked to the little Tam Valley transmitter (which simply puts the DCC command signals over the air instead of through the rails), OR if you want to do away with the central station completely then you can get a Stanton Radio Cab:
http://www.s-cab.com/
which acts as a complete handheld solution combining handset controller, DCC central station and radio transmitter all into one unit.

I've got all the parts to build this, including an S-Cab, two Tam Valley receivers and some Ansmann Li-Ion battery packs delivering 14.8volts - all I need now is enough spare time to put them into a couple of locos..... ;)
However Cliff George (who used to be a regular on here but has only popped in occasionally of late, maybe he will see this?) has done quite a lot of testing of these installations with excellent levels of success; once you've got it all installed, control is a 'seamless" transition from the track-power DCC you are used to - you simply drive your locos just the same, with full access to all the DCC features and sound functions.

Jon.
 
Well, JonD and Phil, believe me there are stupid questions, there are also questions that could have been avoided if the questioner had done a bit of research first. Then there's the case of the the over confident guy who launches into projects without first realizing his own limitations! I usually fall into the last category

Fred and Jon, thank you too. That gives more options I hadn't considered, so I think some looking at the links you gave me, and looking at Tony's information are called for. This is a good thing, as it will stop me from rushing off and committing without adequate research.

Fred, I've often thought of getting to know the FGRS folks. The nearest bunch are in Milton I think. Not too far away, but still a bit of a hike. I've bumped into them at a few shows locally. I have a bit of a culture shock relating their huge US diesels to my little U.K. Tank engines I need to get over that.

Thanks again all. I need to do some reading.
 
Not only "Silly questions; a lot of stupid answers also....!!
I have a whole supply of answers, stored away waiting for questions of all types.....fire away....with blanks, please...!!
 
We are using the old Aristo 27Mh R/C Battery system without problems....how do we throw the "Points", or switches ?.....well like most short lines, with hand power.....or for remote locations, we often use those old fashioned "Choke cables"........ I have even used a "Rod system".....and it works well too.
Fred Mills
 
Further developments...

I've actually got some of my railway working on DCC, with track power. I now need to get the radio control unit repaired, but c'est la vie, it's what comes of living in the lightning capital of the world. I can at least play trains. This means I can spend more time researching the battery route....

My plan has been to install AirWire into my Bachmann Lyn which has a Zimo MX695. AirWire say that later models of Zimo decoders should work fine. My decoder supplier however says that 'they lie' (in his words) and it simply won't work.

Has anyone had experience of this?
 
Stupid questions, and resulting stupid answers, bring great humour to an otherwise, often boring web page....smile a little, and quite often, others will smile along with you. Are we having fun yet ?...I know I am. and hope you are too...!!
Fred Mills
 
Hey; I didn't name this thread....someone else did. I'm just along for the ride. I must say, whoever laid this track, sure did well....the "Ride" is quite smooth....!!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top