# Battery conversion



## cfodk (May 19, 2011)

Hi,

I am going to build a live steam layout in my garden and will not be adding track power. If at some time I buy more locos, they would have to be battery operated. How do you convert a track-powered locomotive to battery powered? The scale is 1.20,3.

Carsten


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## Tom Parkins (Jan 2, 2008)

You will get multiple opinions on how to do this. 

One easy way is to build a trailing battery car. You need a wireless control device such as Aristo Train Engineer or Revolution. Everybody has an opinion on "the best" controller. You need batteries. I use 2 each 9.2 volt RC NiMH batteries wired in series. Again you will get varying opinions on what is the best battery. Then you need a connection to the locomotive. In 20.3 , I don't believe that many locomotives come with connections for battery operation. You may also have to rewire the motor. Depending on your railroad and how you plan to operate it, you may have to isolate the wheels. The battery will power the motor but will also feed back through the wheels to the track. Any other locomotives sitting on that track would then become powered if the wheels are not isolated. Also if you had a wye or reverse loop your locomotive battery would short out if it the wheels are not isolated. Depending on how you set up the battery car you will need to work in on-off switches and battery charging. Again there are multiple ways to do that depending if you want to keep the batteries in the car or remove them. 

Advantage of battery car is that one car, one set up, can be used for multiple locomotives. Big disadvantage is that the same boring battery car will always be behind the engine. 



This may not be specific enough but I do believe that some others have already put up web sites on building battery cars. 


Good luck and let us know how it goes. 

Tom


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## jmill24 (Jan 11, 2008)

With the battery car you can add a progrmable sound system later and program the sound for the loco you are powering................Jim


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## Stan Cedarleaf (Jan 2, 2008)

Carsten, To answer your question with a bit of detail, you must isolate the track pickups and splice the output of the R/C Receiver into the input if the main locomotive board. Each locomotive is different in their specific design but the principle is the same. 

I would agree with Tom and Jim as I use battery cars in most of my conversions with the exception of Steam locomotives with larger tenders. Then I put everything in the tender... R/C Receiver, sound card, speaker and I put the removable battery just under the coal load so I can change it out when discharged. I do no onboard charging.

Installations of choice are Aristo-Craft REVOLUTION receiver, Phoenix P8 sound and L-ion batteries. Voltage depends on the locomotive. Smaller locos use 14.8 volt 5600 mAh, larger like Accucraft with the big Pitman motors, 18.5 56-7800 mAh Cordless Renovation batteries.

Just some food for thought.


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## Naptowneng (Jun 14, 2010)

In the "for what it is worth" category, I am in the same place, no live steam, but wanting to have selected locomotives equipped for battery power. I happen to own the Aristo Train Engineer, non-Revo model, and recently found out that AC sells a box car (stock car) Aristo Cres 55497, that comes with a Train Engineer receiver board, antenna, plugs for an Aristo rechargable battery and a MU plug. So you could get one, but still have to buy a battery and charger, and to determine the best way to connect to a locomotive that does not have an MU plug installed as mentioned in posts above.

Not saying this is a high level solution, but it is one of the options for me, since I own the TE and thought you might like to hear about it. 

Jerry


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## TonyWalsham (Jan 2, 2008)

Hello Carsten 
Welcome to MLS. 
If you are planning to use the latest low cost 2.4 GHz stick type radios to control your live steamers, there are also low cost battery speed controllers available for those radios without having to invest more money in a different type/brand of control system. 

I make the original Remote Control Systems (RCS) brand.


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## cfodk (May 19, 2011)

Thank you for your answers. I am quite satisfied to know that batter conversions of electric loco's are in fact possible. I already know a bit about radio control, receivers, and battery packs from another hobby of mine (1:5 scale cars) - so the "problem" for me is only how to isolate the track pickup and let the electric motor "suck juice" from a battery in stead. 

Thanks for kind offers of help in pm's - I will take you up on it when I have an actual loco in my hands - which could take a while (first track building, then livesteam - and THEN batteryoperated locos..  ) 

Until then..... brgds, 
Carsten


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## Jerry Barnes (Jan 2, 2008)

All the newer Aristo's have a battery/track switch in them and a plug on the back to plug in the trailing battery car. Simplest way to go.


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## TonyWalsham (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Jerry Barnes on 03 Jun 2011 09:42 PM 
All the newer Aristo's have a battery/track switch in them and a plug on the back to plug in the trailing battery car. Simplest way to go. 



That is absolutely true Jerry.


However Carsten is modelling in 1:20.3 scale. Do AristoCraft make any 1:20.3 locos?


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## Batsco (Mar 30, 2011)

For the cheapest method to R/C your locos have a look at "Sandstone & Termite" railway site. 
Look under the heading Electronics, then 2.4GHz control. 
I have all my locos running on this method including an Accucratf Ruby live steamer. 
One of my neighbours who uses this method has added the "My Locosound" card to one of his locos and it sounds and runs great. 
The guy who came up with the idea of using aircraft R/C gear is a retired railway electrical engineer. 

I have 6 locos all running variations of the R/C gear and if anyone want any info I am more than happy to email it to those who asks


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## Del Tapparo (Jan 4, 2008)

Posted By Batsco on 04 Jun 2011 12:15 AM 
For the cheapest method to R/C your locos have a look at "Sandstone & Termite" railway site. 
Look under the heading Electronics, then 2.4GHz control. 
I have all my locos running on this method including an Accucratf Ruby live steamer. 
One of my neighbours who uses this method has added the "My Locosound" card to one of his locos and it sounds and runs great. 
The guy who came up with the idea of using aircraft R/C gear is a retired railway electrical engineer. 

I have 6 locos all running variations of the R/C gear and if anyone want any info I am more than happy to email it to those who asks 
"That guy" is Greg Hunter. And with no disrepsect to his great ideas, "aircraft" R/C radios have been used in garden railroading for at least 20 years or more.There are several commercial suppliers of those types of systems today: G-Scale Graphics and RCS (the real RCS).


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## TonyWalsham (Jan 2, 2008)

The first ESC I designed and made using regular Digital Proportional (DP) stick type Radios, was in 1985. 
Unfortunately the old AM (and FM) radios used to "Glitch" like crazy. They jerked backwards and forwards and could easily destroy loco gears. 
So, with help from Neil Dyson in 1988, I converted the DP signal to a momentum system that (largely, but not entirely) eliminated the "Glitching". 

Nowadays the latest 2.4 GHz radios prevent all "Glitching" so it is back to DP control. That is, the speed is directly proportional to the stick position for very fine speed control. 
BTW. It is Del who has written my latest operating program.


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## Mr Ron (Sep 23, 2009)

RC gear must not be used with model aircraft frequencies. You need to use the frequencies allotted to model race cars or power boats.


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## TonyWalsham (Jan 2, 2008)

Mr Ron. 
With the new 2.4 GHz R/C equipment there are no crystals to separate R/C systems. That is, every TX is different. There are billions of possible code separations. One R/C system cannot interfere with another R/C system and therefore they are legal for use with everything. 
Cars, Boats, Planes and our Trains.


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## SE18 (Feb 21, 2008)

Tony, thanks for setting us straight on this. This is probably the biggest myth out there (that you can't use certain R/C systems). 

Dave V


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## TonyWalsham (Jan 2, 2008)

The blanket permission to use 2.4 GHz R/C with anything applies *ONLY* to 2.4 Ghz R/C systems. 

There have been untold thousands of older AM and FM systems discarded when users have changed to 2.4 GHz. 
These discarded systems are very attractively priced to newcomers to battery R/C'ing trains. 
The *"do not use Air Frequencies for ground use"* rule still applies to the old frequencies.


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## Bob in Kalamazoo (Apr 2, 2009)

Tony and or Del,
As long as this subject has come up. I have one loco that I run with battery and a FORWARD-OFF-REVERSE switch (obviously ON-OFF-ON) and a power resistor to limit the speed to something reasonable. If I wanted to convert this to radio control what would I need to add? A transmitter, receiver and an electronic speedcontrol, right? Anything else? And were would I find appropriate items for this? I know both of you sell some of these. 
Thanks, Bob


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## Torby (Jan 2, 2008)

Battery cars? Na, that's what the tender is for









For some locos & radios, you just plug it in, turn a switch and go. 

For the others, it's never very hard. 

The 2.4 gig equipment avoids most of the headaches (RF interference) that the low frequency stuff like I use has. Sometimes, you'd just get an installation where the range is 2 ft. Usually a bad capacitor. No longer a problem with this real high frequency equipment. Tell ya what: I'll make you a real deal and sell you my 27MHZ equipment for enough that I can buy new 2.4GHz


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## John J (Dec 29, 2007)

I use cordless drill batteries. I have six batteries. I get about 3 to 3.5 hrs of runtime on one batter depending on how much I am pulling. While I am tearing up the rails with one the other is in the charger.

I also have two chargers.

I did have a problem with Ridgid 18 volt lithoum Ion batteries. Why I did not figure out. I will give more details on request. 

JJ


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## dobba (Jun 13, 2011)

New to this hobby and could use some helpful information or tips. I am working up plans to start building a layout in my back yard as right now I run my trains at the NOHTG (New Orleans Historic train garden). The battery power seems the way to go as you can run multiple trains on the same track. What does it approx. cost to convert each engine to battery power, how long does it take to recharge the battery and how long will the engine run on that charge?


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## Del Tapparo (Jan 4, 2008)

Posted By dobba on 13 Jun 2011 05:18 PM 
New to this hobby and could use some helpful information or tips. I am working up plans to start building a layout in my back yard as right now I run my trains at the NOHTG (New Orleans Historic train garden). The battery power seems the way to go as you can run multiple trains on the same track. What does it approx. cost to convert each engine to battery power, how long does it take to recharge the battery and how long will the engine run on that charge?

Cost per engine can be anywhere from $0 to $150 perhaps. It depends how you want to control it; manual, semi-automatic, radio control; and what type of batteries you choose to use;NiCad, NiMh, Lithium-Ion. Batteries can be charged in incredibly fast times, but it shortens their life. Typical charge times are 2-10 hours depending on the state of discharge. Many folks simply setup there loco or trailing car so they can swap out batteries when needed. Typical run times are 3 to 5 hours; depending on the loco and the battery you purchase. Check out http://1stclass.mylargescale.com/DelTapparo/Electronics.htmG-Scale Graphics for more information.


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## Batsco (Mar 30, 2011)

"That guy" is Greg Hunter. And with no disrepsect to his great ideas, "aircraft" R/C radios have been used in garden railroading for at least 20 years or more.There are several commercial suppliers of those types of systems today: G-Scale Graphics and RCS (the real RCS). 

If it wasn't for 'that guy' I and 5 of my fellow group member would still be running track power, because due to the harsh realities of economics, the commercial suppliers products would have been out of reach price wise partially due to exchange rates. 

I am also a bit surprised that this forum is being used to push commercial operations and their products


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