Remote control for battery powered loco?

If you only want basic functions (fwd, reverse, stop, start) and don't mind doing a bit of fettling, you could try using the guts from a cheap RC car such as this one
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I've not tried it myself, but I know of others who have done so.

Rik
 
trammayo said:
Thanks Jon - I'll be taking the track and loco up my friends in 45 minutes - I'll mention it. Looking at Moonraker's diagram, I will need help/advice if we go down that road.
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Just costed out what I did using the Piko.
£67.48 Piko 35040 x Tooslots including post
£27.00 9 cell AA battery pack x fosworks
£9.50 Fosworks wiring loom includes on/off switch, charge socket and plugs for battery pack and to controller
You would need to add postage from fosworks and a plug from the wiring loom to Piko plus some wire oh and a Smartcharger unless you have one, but it may not have a compatible plug to the wiring loom. Look at my posts today where I show the Piko fitted to the Essell loco.
 
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dunnyrail said:
Just costed out what I did using the Piko.
£67.48 Piko 35040 x Tooslots including post
£27.00 9 cell AA battery pack x fosworks
£9.50 Fosworks wiring loom includes on/off switch, charge socket and plugs for battery pack and to controller
You would need to add postage from fosworks and a plug from the wiring loom to Piko plus some wire oh and a Smartcharger unless you have one, but it may not have a compatible plug to the wiring loom. Look at my posts today where I show the Piko fitted to the Essell loco.
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Hi Jon I was hoping that it would be a lot simpler than that - the loco runs on 6 C cell batteries. Couldn't that power Piko unit? I just thought that I could interrupt the supply leads to the plug (divert it to the Piko unit, and then reconnect to the plug wires leading from the ougoing of the Piko receiver unit.
 
trammayo said:
Hi Jon I was hoping that it would be a lot simpler than that - the loco runs on 6 C cell batteries. Couldn't that power Piko unit? I just thought that I could interrupt the supply leads to the plug (divert it to the Piko unit, and then reconnect to the plug wires leading from the ougoing of the Piko receiver unit.
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Piko Rx takes 7-24v DC so should be ok on that. That will work as you propose but not sure how much running you would get with 7.2 v. Well worth a try. I imagine D’s (EDIT C CELLS TYPO) will last longer with the full volt value.
 
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trammayo said:
Hi Jon I was hoping that it would be a lot simpler than that - the loco runs on 6 C cell batteries. Couldn't that power Piko unit? I just thought that I could interrupt the supply leads to the plug (divert it to the Piko unit, and then reconnect to the plug wires leading from the ougoing of the Piko receiver unit.
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Another thought, Deltang Tx10 for 1 loco £45 receiver £27 Rx41, if you were thinking of more battery powered locomotives a Selecta Tx22 at £75 would let you have up to 12 locomotives battery powered with additional Rx. I use the Rx41 in my 2 4AAA battery powered pway vehicles and they work just fine. Either Phil on this forum or Micron can supply but make sure the Rx has the relavent wires soldered on for you, they are exceedingly small beasts.
 
dunnyrail said:
Another thought, Deltang Tx10 for 1 loco £45 receiver £27 Rx41, if you were thinking of more battery powered locomotives a Selecta Tx22 at £75 would let you have up to 12 locomotives battery powered with additional Rx. I use the Rx41 in my 2 4AAA battery powered pway vehicles and they work just fine. Either Phil on this forum or Micron can supply but make sure the Rx has the relavent wires soldered on for you, they are exceedingly small beasts.
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The Tx10 will allow you to run more than one loco, but only one at once. I have a Tx 22, and find just two locos at the same time a problem, so I would imagine more would be almost impossible, unles they are on different circuits.
 
JimmyB said:
The Tx10 will allow you to run more than one loco, but only one at once. I have a Tx 22, and find just two locos at the same time a problem, so I would imagine more would be almost impossible, unles they are on different circuits.
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I do not mean at the same time but the possibility to have more than one battery loco but just one transformer (Tx).
 
dunnyrail said:
Another thought, Deltang Tx10 for 1 loco £45 receiver £27 Rx41, if you were thinking of more battery powered locomotives a Selecta Tx22 at £75 would let you have up to 12 locomotives battery powered with additional Rx. I use the Rx41 in my 2 4AAA battery powered pway vehicles and they work just fine. Either Phil on this forum or Micron can supply but make sure the Rx has the relavent wires soldered on for you, they are exceedingly small beasts.
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No!
The Rx41 is limited to 6V and 500mA.

It is a tiny thing (think finger-nail sized) but I can supply a version with another tiny board grafted on to it..
This will allow you to use six NiMH cells (or a '2S' Lithium battery) and also ups the current it can cope with.

Mick, you would want these supplied wired-up, it is not for the faint-hearted.

PhilP
 
dunnyrail said:
Piko Rx takes 7-24v DC so should be ok on that. That will work as you propose but not sure how much tprunning you would get with 7.2 v. Well worth a try. I imagine D’s will last longer with the full volt value.
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Do you mean D cells Jon? The tender is designed to take 6 'C' cells only. I just want something simple for my friend, and simple for me!
 
If the receiver is small enough, I'd put it inside the loco instead of the tender. Then you would not need to mess with the power wire from the tender. You could tap into that power inside the loco for the receiver. That's what I did for my scientific train using a playmobil RC car receiver: Scientific train using playmobil RC car system However I needed to replace the tender power cord anyways for a different reason, as I used a 2nd power source from the tender for the added fire box lighting and therefore needed more than two wires between the tender and loco. An RJ45 connection worked for me after I removed the rigid outer layer of the RJ45 cable. Many scientific trains have their own rc system, but I don't think the disney one has it's own RC system.


Also, you could replace the 6 batteries with a lithium ion 9 volt rechargeable battery
 
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-bbbb said:
If the receiver is small enough, I'd put it inside the loco instead of the tender. Then you would not need to mess with the power wire from the tender. You could tap into that power inside the loco for the receiver. That's what I did for my scientific train using a playmobil RC car receiver: Scientific train using playmobil RC car system However I needed to replace the tender power cord anyways for a different reason, as I used a 2nd power source from the tender for the added fire box lighting and therefore needed more than two wires between the tender and loco. An RJ45 connection worked for me after I removed the rigid outer layer of the RJ45 cable. Many scientific trains have their own rc system, but I don't think the disney one has it's own RC system.


Also, you could replace the 6 batteries with a lithium ion 9 volt rechargeable battery
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No the Disney loco doesn't have RC. I just wanted something simple for me to install and for a friend to use on his proposed garden line. I've ordered 6 rechargable batteries which will give 7.2v. My other two Scientific locos are remote controllable.
 
trammayo said:
No the Disney loco doesn't have RC. I just wanted something simple for me to install and for a friend to use on his proposed garden line. I've ordered 6 rechargable batteries which will give 7.2v. My other two Scientific locos are remote controllable.
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Oh and I forgot to mention use a fuse plus be sure you know the positive, wiring the input positive feed the wrong way round is warned by Piko to be a sure way to trash the RX. So far as I remember these cheepo toys are not good with wiring colours to help with a rehash. I would work out your positive then cut a small piece of red mains wire about 2-3mm remove the wire and use the small piece of sleeve placed over the positive wire as a reminder. A couple of similar sleeves for the power to the motor one on each wire a good reminder for them as well. They won’t care which way round they are, just that loco may go back instead of for when you start it. But as the key fob is button press you soon get used to the . Personally I prefer the top button to be forwards though, with more than one of these Piko systems now I am making direction a common theme on them both.
 
dunnyrail said:
Oh and I forgot to mention use a fuse plus be sure you know the positive, wiring the input positive feed the wrong way round is warned by Piko to be a sure way to trash the RX. So far as I remember these cheepo toys are not good with wiring colours to help with a rehash. I would work out your positive then cut a small piece of red mains wire about 2-3mm remove the wire and use the small piece of sleeve placed over the positive wire as a reminder. A couple of similar sleeves for the power to the motor one on each wire a good reminder for them as well. They won’t care which way round they are, just that loco may go back instead of for when you start it. But as the key fob is button press you soon get used to the . Personally I prefer the top button to be forwards though, with more than one of these Piko systems now I am making direction a common theme on them both.
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I have bought a box of coloured heat sleeving. Polarity should be easy to check. At the end of the day, my friend may not want to go down that route - but I might if I build something for my lines!
 
ge_rik said:
If you only want basic functions (fwd, reverse, stop, start) and don't mind doing a bit of fettling, you could try using the guts from a cheap RC car such as this one
www.ebay.co.uk

Large Remote Control RC Cars Big Wheel Kids Toy Car Monster Truck 2.4GHz Tricks~ | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Large Remote Control RC Cars Big Wheel Kids Toy Car Monster Truck 2.4GHz Tricks~ at the best online prices at eBay! Free delivery for many products.
www.ebay.co.uk

I've not tried it myself, but I know of others who have done so.

Rik
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Yes, basic it would be! I have found Futaba control unit (a huge lump!) but haven't found the cream crackered car yet! I know I put it in a safe place :banghead:
 
DafyddElvy said:
Does anyone supply a receiver that can be bond to more than one transmitter?
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Little bit OT - I am in the middle of making my own that does just this. I will get a thread started on it when I have some time (hahaha :think:).

PhilP said:
Your problem will be if both transmitters are on, which one should the receiver respond to?

PhilP
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The code I have written has a 'lock' feature - e.g. if Tx1 is 'linked' to RxA, you are unable to 'link' Tx2 to RxA until Tx1 has released it :)

I wanted this for (as an example use case) someone is in the yard, builds a train up, sends it out and releases it, allowing the next person to grab it and take it where it needs to go.
 
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