# CRE55610R Battery Pack



## harvey (Dec 30, 2008)

I was curious to know if anyone has installed this battery pack from Crest Electronics and what the results have been regarding performance and durability. The data sheet states that a fully charged battery will provide two hours of service depending on the locomotive and length of train. "Two Hours" is that it? 
On the old style battery I was able to get four hours with 35 to 40 cars, so is the new one really an improvement.
Look forward to any information you can provide.
Also, how do you access the Guardian Board? wouldn't this normally be buried inside the engine body?
Thanks.


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## SD90WLMT (Feb 16, 2010)

How many milliamps Harvey?? What voltages..?

Two hours...not much fun....

Dirk


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## SD90WLMT (Feb 16, 2010)

Well there's why Harvey..

21.5 volts

2.2 amp hours..

Not much to push with...
You would need two..4.4 amp hours to get decent run times....

Dirk. Is it worth it..?


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## harvey (Dec 30, 2008)

Hi Dirk,
The specifications state: Voltage 21.5V (6 cells) 2200mAH, size 2.5 x 2.25 x 1.75, Weight 1Pound.
Output current is 5 Amp.
You're right, 2 hours is not much fun at all. Seems to me that once the train is made up I might only get one lap and less in November when its minus 10!


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## The Tinker (Sep 11, 2014)

Nearly 3 hrs in LGB Mogul very happy with battery


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## Michael Glavin (Jan 2, 2009)

Harvey

What engine are re-powering? 

Is the "guardian board" you mentioned in the Crest information? If so it maybe an integral part of the Li-Ion battery, more commonly known as a PCB/PCM/BMS. Its an accessory to the cells-battery, a small printed circuit board monitoring at the least battery voltage and current draw with safe cut-off voltage/current pre-sets. Pretty much all Lithium Ion batteries are equipped with same.

Is this your first venture into Lithium batteries for trains?

Michael


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## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

Shop around, I doubt if you need 21 volts, 18 should do you fine. You'll probably operate much slower than top speed. My big Aristo power pack is rated at 18v.
I've bought batteries from here with no problems;

http://www.batteryspace.com/185vli-ionpackmodules.aspx

John


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## harvey (Dec 30, 2008)

Hi Michael,
I planned on using the batteries for a pair of GP38's, but given the difficulty in accessing the guardian board or at least trying to find somewhere accessible to located it I think I'll use another supplier. The new Crest batteries have an external guardian board (stand alone) which is difficult to find a location for. With the new batteries being slightly smaller I would have thought that they could have incorporated it with the battery.
Going forward, what I plan to do is use these smaller batteries in some Budd Railcars, but again locate the guardian board external on the underside so it's accessible when charging.
My loco's, fourteen in all, are all powered by Crest batteries with the exception of one. Typically I operate in MU sets with approximately fifty car trains.
Thanks for your comments and feed back.
Cheers.


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Does this "guardian board" have some connector for balanced charging? I'm not sure why you want it outside of the shell and exposed.

I believe you want the connections to the pack itself as short as possible.

Greg


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## Michael Glavin (Jan 2, 2009)

Harvey,

The Geeps and other USAT engines are known to pull a couple of amps per truck under load. The exact numbers evade me, suffice it to say it's unlikely you'll be happy with the run time garnered from the aforementioned battery. I'd recommend two batteries per engine and or purchaser higher capacity batteries. What type of battery power was previously used?

Different strokes for different folks... Greg it's plausible there is some kind of balance/charge/discharge function going on. Somebody at Crest had an idea, it looks like they used a typical balance plug connector.

http://shop.crest-electronics.net/CRE55610R-215v-22-AMP-LI-ON-BATTERY-PACK-CRE55610R.htm

Michael


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

wow, that thing is huge


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