battery powering a Gandy Dancer

[bigjack]

I've attempted to battery power my fathers gandy dancer, with very little sucess. I first attached 2 x 1.5 v AA batteries, but they would not even turn the motor. 8 batteries were required just to make it run on the track.
Question, my battery powered Stainz will pull a rake 9th wagons with 4 batteries, but the gandy dancer won't move with the same battery pack, why?

 

[tramcar trev]

why not train some mice to pump the handle??
sorry that was frivoulous and unkind
I would not have a clue why it wont work.....

 

[Neil Robinson]

My guess is that it's down to the motor design. If it's an LGB gandy dancer I think the motor was unique in LGB's range to that one model.
IMHO it's no bad thing to have a gandy dancer that doesn't travel stupidly fast on maximum track power, but that's no help when it comes to battery power. I suspect the current draw won't be much so you could probably use AAA cells to save a bit of space. The Bachmann version has a match truck, probably for additional pickup. Perhaps you could fit batteries to a match truck if they can't fit on the gandy dancer itself.

 

[tanycafn]

Try a PP3 battery, (one of the rectangular ones with the terminals that plug in to a tab) that should work

 

[Gizzy]

Steve's Gandy Dancer is the Bachmann one. I don't know what motor it has, as I've not seen it in pieces, and I don't know what the current draw is, although Steve may know as his Massoth will tell him.

It may be due to the gearing that drives both the motor and the hand mechanism, and from what Steve mentioned, it needed 12 Volts (8 x AA batteries) before it would work.

The PP3 might be upto the job, so it's certainly worth trying....

 

[GHWood]

Hi Folks
A rare appearance.
I recently built a Wickham trolley using a bachmann Gandy Dancer as the power unit, powered by a Duracell PP3 battery, battery has been in a while now, the trolley is not used that often, but is still going strong
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raDva9e8RQI

 

[Gizzy]

Hi Folks
A rare appearance.
I recently built a Wickham trolley using a bachmann Gandy Dancer as the power unit, powered by a Duracell PP3 battery, battery has been in a while now, the trolley is not used that often, but is still going strong
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raDva9e8RQI

I like that? Excellent work Mike.

And you've answered Steve's question too, so I'm awarding you 5 stars....

 

[trammayo]

I run my Gandy on 12 volts and have converted the match truck to pick up as well (saw the article in John Lythgoe's "Your G-Scale Locomotive" - a Garfen Rail special). Never thought of battery operation - at least now it doesn't stutter on points with 8-wheel pick-up.

Like the Wickam

 

[Madman]

HMMMMM, I was also contemplating conversion of my LGB hand car to battery power. This thread has raised some good questions about which size battery to use. I am currently looking at a Lithium-Ion battery on Ebay for powering my LGB railbus on a point to point line. Here are the particulars for those of you with more knowledge of this stuff than I have;
Features:
* 100% brand new and high quality
* Specially designed for the system devices which use 12V DC power
* Built-in ON/OFF switch to save power usage
* Super storage capacity
* Over-charge/discharge protection
* With working indicator
* Suitable for all 12V DC devices

Specifications:
* Battery type: Rechargeable Li-on battery
* Connectors: 2.1*5.5mm DC jack+2.1*5.5mm DC plug
* Capacity: 4500mAh
* Input voltage: 12.6V
* Output voltage: 12V
* Dimensions (L*W*H): 98*47*17mm
* Weight: 166.3g

 

[pjti]

Ross, I think you will find that most non rechargeable (zinc chloride and alkaline) AA are 1.5 volts unless you buy the Chinese ones from bargain shops LOL, The newer generations of rechargeables are about 1.2 v, which is probably what Steve meant in the first place, but hey who's counting ?

 

[pjti]

Er--Hang on. Re voltages. That's what I said above didn't I?
As an aeromodeller ( and I sell electronic items to aeromodellers and have for the past 25 years)--------I am well aware of voltages and milliamps and batteries in general, thanks.

Not exactly - you edited your post afterwards , otherwise why would I have corrected it in the first place ?

(Your original post 3hrs ago, my post 2 hrs ago, your edit 1 hr ago)

 

[ge_rik]

Thanks for the info so far chaps. I sold my gandy dancer last year as I could never get it to work satisfactorily on track power. Never thought of converting it to battery power - now wish I had. I'd never have thought of using a PP3, always assumed they wouldn't have enough oomph

see http://www.thefreedictionary.com/oomph
oomph [?mf]n Informal
1. enthusiasm, vigour, or energy
2. sex appeal

I, of course, am referring to definition 1.

Rik

 

[trammayo]

Er--Hang on. Re voltages. That's what I said above didn't I?
As an aeromodeller ( and I sell electronic items to aeromodellers and have for the past 25 years)--------I am well aware of voltages and milliamps and batteries in general, thanks.

Not exactly - you edited your post afterwards , otherwise why would I have corrected it in the first place ?

(Your original post 3hrs ago, my post 2 hrs ago, your edit 1 hr ago)

Dr Spooner and Mrs Malaprop were around a long time ago - but their specific attributes abound today. Was that "seconds out - round one"

At least I understood it all (even if I'm an electronics numpty)

 

[whatlep]

Steady chaps!

Just to return to the topic, if we're talking about the Bachmann gandy dancer, there are two primary reasons why it needs a lot of volts to start.
1) it uses an HO motor rather than anything designed for G scale and
2) there is an enormous amount of drag built into the design due to the way current pickup is arranged

I had one of the Bachmann items once and it was a real dog of a design. No pickup on the trailing unit and lots of nasty cogs and teeny screws in the drive unit. It should, logically, be an excellent candidate for battery power, since removing the pickups on the drive unit should make it 100 times smoother. The obvious place for a receiver is in a structure on the trailer. Could I suggest a Pola/Piko outdoor loo as the structure, both for size and a guaranteed smile raiser?

 

[pjti]

:

 

[bigjack]

Ross, I think you will find that most non rechargeable (zinc chloride and alkaline) AA are 1.5 volts unless you buy the Chinese ones from bargain shops LOL, The newer generations of rechargeables are about 1.2 v, which is probably what Steve meant in the first place, but hey who's counting ?

Hang on gents, didn't want this turning into a battle:thumbdown:

Thanks for all of the feedback, but my question hasn't really been answered. What I would like to know is why it takes so many volts to turn the motor, when my stainz will pull a wagon (very slowly) with 3 volts, but the Gandy Dancer (Bachmann) motor will not even turn. Even with 8 X AA batteries (9.6v) the it struggles to move

 

[whatlep]

Thanks for all of the feedback, but my question hasn't really been answered. What I would like to know is why it takes so many volts to turn the motor,

Have you tried applying power to the motor on its own (i.e. without it connected to any other gears) and checked its "native" power requirement using a voltmeter? My memory of the Bachmann gandy dancer is that the motor was quite free running, but vastly over-burdened by the somewhat crude gearing and wheel bearings.

 

[bigjack]

Thanks for all of the feedback, but my question hasn't really been answered. What I would like to know is why it takes so many volts to turn the motor,

Have you tried applying power to the motor on its own (i.e. without it connected to any other gears) and checked its "native" power requirement using a voltmeter? My memory of the Bachmann gandy dancer is that the motor was quite free running, but vastly over-burdened by the somewhat crude gearing and wheel bearings.

I certainly have Peter, It took 4 batteries before it would start to turn. Sounds as if it's got as iffy motor:thinking:

 

[Gizzy]

Thanks for all of the feedback, but my question hasn't really been answered. What I would like to know is why it takes so many volts to turn the motor,

Have you tried applying power to the motor on its own (i.e. without it connected to any other gears) and checked its "native" power requirement using a voltmeter? My memory of the Bachmann gandy dancer is that the motor was quite free running, but vastly over-burdened by the somewhat crude gearing and wheel bearings.

I certainly have Peter, It took 4 batteries before it would start to turn. Sounds as if it's got as iffy motor:thinking:

Now that you've got your new multimeter, you could measure the current draw....

 

[5H17]

I certainly have Peter, It took 4 batteries before it would start to turn. Sounds as if it's got as iffy motor:thinking:

Sorry to dig up an age old thread, but how did you get on with this in the end? I'm just about to attempt the very same thing, and was actually just about to order a small battery pack thinking 'that's bound to be enough'. I'd best go and try mine first, just to be sure.