Simple controller for my Aristocraft class 66.

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Trainman 864

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I'm looking to make a simple track power controller to test my class 66 before converting it to battery power and I've noticed my electric blanket controller has a 240 volt input and a 24 volt output in 6 steps.

I guess these steps would result in stepped speed changes but does anybody, who knows more about electricity than I do, know if this would be possible?
 
Trainman 864 said:
I'm looking to make a simple track power controller to test my class 66 before converting it to battery power and I've noticed my electric blanket controller has a 240 volt input and a 24 volt output in 6 steps.

I guess these steps would result in stepped speed changes but does anybody, who knows more about electricity than I do, know if this would be possible?
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Does your electric blanket warm your backside in AC or DC?

What's the amperage?

I'd leave it on the bed if I was you, and go and find your old 00 Hammant & Morgan controller - it'll be a bit safer on your beloved class 66
 
Rhinochugger said:
Does your electric blanket warm your backside in AC or DC?

What's the amperage?

I'd leave it on the bed if I was you, and go and find your old 00 Hammant & Morgan controller - it'll be a bit safer on your beloved class 66
Click to expand...

Well surprisingly enough there is absolutely no part#, or data of any kind on the unit itself and I havn't heard back from the maker yet. All I know is that it works on 240 volts, has a 13 A fuse in it and being a late model is probably low voltage (24 V)

Oh, and they have enough power to burn people or start a fire when they go wrong .... :)
 
Definitely agree!

You 'blanket controller will most-probably be AC.. Not good for your Class 66.
 
Why not use a car battery to test it - if it's fully charged you'll have 14volts - all my track powered stuff (Bachmann, Aristo, USAT, etc) runs off that in my trailer. I use a 3a blade car fuse for protection.
 
That's a brilliant idea!

I had thought the stepped output from the blanket control would test it at different speeds - but thinking about it - if it runs at one voltage then it will be OK at other voltages since all the speed control function is external to the loco.

Just one thing though - would it not be better to use another 12V battery in series with the car battery to test it at 24V - or would that not tell me anything useful - like if the insulation was breaking down anywhere?

.
 
Trainman 864 said:
That's a brilliant idea!

I had thought the stepped output from the blanket control would test it at different speeds - but thinking about it - if it runs at one voltage then it will be OK at other voltages since all the speed control function is external to the loco.

Just one thing though - would it not be better to use another 12V battery in series with the car battery to test it at 24V - or would that not tell me anything useful - like if the insulation was breaking down anywhere?

.
Click to expand...

Think you would need more than 24V to test for insulation breakdown, the old "Megger" insulation testers used 500-1000V+ to test insulation breakdown (scary things to calibrate).

A couple of questions
What are you actually testing?
Is it that the motor runs; then 12V should be plenty as I would surmise that the loco would be either on rollers or blocks with no load.

Checking lights and accessories then 12V again should be more than enough.

What size battery are you using?
Do you actually need 24V to run the loco would a smaller voltage still work?. I have never run any of my locos at full recommended voltage, including my LGB Stainz that runs happily on 10.8V. My biggest loco (Bachmann 3Truck Shay) runs realistically on a 14.8V 5200mAh battery for longer than I stay out running trains.

I have been told, but have found no evidence either way, that 24V is needed to "burn through" the tarnish/dirt etc to get rail powered trains to run.
For testing I would suggest a cheap model train controller, similar to what was suggested before.

I have made a mock up with a receiver/transmitter/ESC and a 13.8V amateur radio/CB power supply that I can connect to loco motors for testing or use for other projects like generating sound etc.
 
GAP said:
Think you would need more than 24V to test for insulation breakdown, the old "Megger" insulation testers used 500-1000V+ to test insulation breakdown (scary things to calibrate).
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I thought the same. Trainman why do you feel the need to test for insulation breakdown?

GAP said:
I have been told, but have found no evidence either way, that 24V is needed to "burn through" the tarnish/dirt etc to get rail powered trains to run.
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24V is nowhere near enough to "burn through" anything. Remember we can touch our garden line track and feel nothing.
I would think the use of 24V is simply to allow more power to be carried with half the current that would be needed at 12V, and to cope better with voltage drop over longer distances.
 
12 Volts will be more than enough to test it runs..

Probably more than enough to see if there a re any faults too..

If you have any sort of DC supply, giving a couple of amps, it will do to test..

Just switch the smoke OFF!
 
When I first got my 66s I let them crawl gently around the garden using a 1/2 amp starter set controller. Smoke off but lights on. Took a few minutes for the overload to cut in.
 
PhilP said:
12 Volts will be more than enough to test it runs..

Probably more than enough to see if there a re any faults too..

If you have any sort of DC supply, giving a couple of amps, it will do to test..

Just switch the smoke OFF!
Click to expand...

I tried using a 12V variable power supply running just a motor and ended up frying the power supply O/P, took out the regulator circuit. Pprobably something about the back EMF generated by the motor and me not putting a diode across the O/P to counter it.
Oh well another repair on the U/S shelf of doom to be done some day.
 
Well - many thanks for all the replies guys!

I finally realised that I was 'barking up the wrong tree' when I had a look inside the blanket controller and saw how incredibly small the wiring actually was.

So I adopted the simple approach suggested earlier in the thread - just brushing a pair of wheels with wires connected to a 12v battery - and everything seemed to be working OK.

However - I took it to the club for the first run yesterday, where we had set up the track power to let the kids run with no possibility of using reverse. Unfortunately, when we tried the 66, it wanted to run counter-clockwise round the circuit, when all the other locos were running clockwise and of course, simply turning the loco around made no difference.

So it would appear there is an issue with the polarity of the way the 4 motors are wired together, so my questions are .....

- Is there an accepted convention as to which way the loco should run round a continuous loop when the setting the polarity of the track with the +ve on the outside - or on the inside rail?

- If the polarity of my loco is wrong - can I simply swap some wires around - or is there a risk of damaging the rather complex looking electronics inside?
(I've not managed to find a wiring diagram)

Many thanks!
 
I thought tha some of the 66's had a switch somewhere to reverce the way it runs? But the simple way is to swop the wires that connect to the Motor though this will not address the issue of Lighting. So if you reverce the wires as soon as they come from the track this will sort things out. Dont forget there will be 2 bogies to do.
JonD
 
They do that you know. It is the way the motors are wired and yes - you can swap the feed around - but on all 4 motors and lights..
Or as Dunny suggests - swap the feed from the bogies.
 
Trainman 864 said:
Is there an accepted convention as to which way the loco should run round a continuous loop when the setting the polarity of the track with the +ve on the outside - or on the inside rail?
Click to expand...

The trouble is that there are two conventions! :eek:
The, initially American, NMRA standard when the loco runs forwards with the right hand rail positive and LGB's standard (sometimes referred to as "large scale") which is the opposite.
Many locos produced for the U.S. companies have a switch to select the appropriate convention.
I've also found that some analogue compatible DCC chipped locos may travel in the "wrong" direction when running on analogue.
 
Unless the loco has already been messed with..

The two bogies should be 'back-to-front' to each other..
There should be black latching connectors from each bogie. - One f pickup, and one for motor.
Identify those from the pickups. If you are lucky, these will be long enough to unplug, and swap end-to-end.

This should reverse the power into the board, and give you 'correct' direction for large-scale convention.

Failing that, I know where you can get some of the connectors..
 
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