Zerogee
Clencher's Bogleman
Today, I managed to put in a little time on my Multi-Power Loco project - the idea of which is to take an LGB track-power loco (an OBB 2095 "Whizzy Cranks", as it has a nice boxy body with plenty of room for added internal gubbins) and turn it in to a "touring" loco that I can take, and run, anywhere that has 45mm gauge track - be it dead rail, DC or DCC - and still maintain complete DCC control of all the loco's functions including all the bells and whistles of an XLS sound decoder.
The plan is to make the loco instantly switchable between track and battery power, but still with full DCC control under battery power courtesy of a Tam Valley DRS (Dead Rail System) RC module and a Stanton Radio Cab wireless DCC handset.
Progress today included locating two miniature toggle-switches (rated at 6A) in the chassis plate, positioned as close to the loco's central battery box as possible (this is where the "real" loco keeps its batteries, and also provides a perfect place for the model's battery pack - a 14.8 volt, 5.2Ah Ansmann Li-ion 8-cell block with built-in protection board). The switches are snugged in tight to the battery box to keep them out of the way of the pivoting power bogie, they should still be easily reachable with a finger slipped under the loco's side skirt (oo-er missus....). Both switches are DPDT centre-off toggles; one switch (with the red/black wiring) will be connected to the battery pack for charge/off/run settings, the other (with the white and brown wires) will toggle between track power and battery power being fed to the decoder - in the track power position the track pickups will feed directly to the XLS decoder, in the battery position the power from the battery pack will be fed to the Tam Valley DRS module and then to the decoder. The power mode switch has a centre-off position which will isolate the loco from any power source if needed.
I scratched my head for a while about how to retain the battery pack in place - it needed to be secure enough to stay firmly in place if someone turned the loco upside down - while also making it possible to remove the pack if/when necessary (obviously this requires body removal, another good reason that the pack shouldn't move about when the loco is inverted to remove the locating screws!).
A poke around the retail shop/counter at Rapid provided a solution to the problem - some wide heavy-duty zip tie straps which I could cut, make holes in and screw into place, and which have the great advantage of having a little finger-tab that makes them releasable when depressed! If anyone is interested, the Rapid part code is 04-0656, but I've got a bag of about 100 or so of them here so if anybody wants a few then just ask!
The straps, cut to length and firmly secured with screws and plastic washers as seen in the photos, do a great job of keeping the battery pack solidly in place - I've turned the loco chassis upside down and given it a bit of a shake, and nothing moves at all.
Anyway, here are some pics to illustrate what I've been rambling on about - more later, as I start to install the DRS unit and the XLS and then get everything wired up.....
The toggle switches, seen from under the chassis plate:
The battery pack retaining straps:
Jon.
The plan is to make the loco instantly switchable between track and battery power, but still with full DCC control under battery power courtesy of a Tam Valley DRS (Dead Rail System) RC module and a Stanton Radio Cab wireless DCC handset.
Progress today included locating two miniature toggle-switches (rated at 6A) in the chassis plate, positioned as close to the loco's central battery box as possible (this is where the "real" loco keeps its batteries, and also provides a perfect place for the model's battery pack - a 14.8 volt, 5.2Ah Ansmann Li-ion 8-cell block with built-in protection board). The switches are snugged in tight to the battery box to keep them out of the way of the pivoting power bogie, they should still be easily reachable with a finger slipped under the loco's side skirt (oo-er missus....). Both switches are DPDT centre-off toggles; one switch (with the red/black wiring) will be connected to the battery pack for charge/off/run settings, the other (with the white and brown wires) will toggle between track power and battery power being fed to the decoder - in the track power position the track pickups will feed directly to the XLS decoder, in the battery position the power from the battery pack will be fed to the Tam Valley DRS module and then to the decoder. The power mode switch has a centre-off position which will isolate the loco from any power source if needed.
I scratched my head for a while about how to retain the battery pack in place - it needed to be secure enough to stay firmly in place if someone turned the loco upside down - while also making it possible to remove the pack if/when necessary (obviously this requires body removal, another good reason that the pack shouldn't move about when the loco is inverted to remove the locating screws!).
A poke around the retail shop/counter at Rapid provided a solution to the problem - some wide heavy-duty zip tie straps which I could cut, make holes in and screw into place, and which have the great advantage of having a little finger-tab that makes them releasable when depressed! If anyone is interested, the Rapid part code is 04-0656, but I've got a bag of about 100 or so of them here so if anybody wants a few then just ask!
The straps, cut to length and firmly secured with screws and plastic washers as seen in the photos, do a great job of keeping the battery pack solidly in place - I've turned the loco chassis upside down and given it a bit of a shake, and nothing moves at all.
Anyway, here are some pics to illustrate what I've been rambling on about - more later, as I start to install the DRS unit and the XLS and then get everything wired up.....
The toggle switches, seen from under the chassis plate:
The battery pack retaining straps:
Jon.
isf:
