# Lithuem Iron Cordless tool batteries.?



## John J (Dec 29, 2007)

Ok boys 

Do to my disasterouse running last year at Marty's Becasue I had battery problems I have been hunting batteries. I checked my traps at Home Deopot and I caught two batteries. ( Get it? Hunting??? Traps????) 

One is a Milwaukee and the other is Ridgid.

I have exceptions good luck with both tool manufactures. 

Both are Lithium Ion 18 Volt 3.0 amhr.

Do you think 3.0 amphr is ok.

I figure LI Ir is better than anything else.

and I like the 18 volt range because that is what I had with Chicago Electric. 

Ridgid makes a 24 Volt LI IR battery also 

Any Input?


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## rmcintir (Apr 24, 2009)

For operation at my friend's place I made a battery car out of a little Bachmann caboose. I use a Craftsman 19.2 volt battery. It works well, I have run for hours with 5-10 cars powering an Aristo SD-45. I really wish the battery had a shorter plug stock though, that would allow it to fit into a boxcar with no modifications. Hopefully your 18 volt Milwaukee and Rigid batteries fit better. 

If I were to pick a tool battery for locomotive use I would probably pick a lithium battery, the Craftsman batteries are what I happened to already have. I would want the battery plug stock to protrude much less, I have seen some batteries that are flat on top with no stock. 18 volts is a good voltage as far as I'm concerned. 

Oh, one last thought, if you run track and battery power, make sure you have the switch right on any Aristo you use, otherwise their poorly termed Track/Battery switch will cause you to let the smoke out if it is set to track and you have the battery connected. Ask me how I know... My radio handled the short fine, Aristo's boards got a bit black but amazingly they still work after it smoked like a chimney, better than the smoke unit in fact!


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## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

http://www.batteryspace.com/ 

They have battery packs, smartchargers and thermal sensors. They will make a pack to suit your needs. Easier to install. 

Read and heed the warnings.... 

Even the NiMH aren't fool proof, but so far have been this fool resistent! 

John


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

JJ, there is something missing in your question. What loco(s), how long do you want it to run, how many cars, do they have bb wheelsets, and are there grades on the layout? 

All of this factors into the amp hours you need. Voltage is more of a top speed issue, and I don't figure you for bullet train speeds. 

Regards, Greg


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## John J (Dec 29, 2007)

Two SD-45's 15 car container train. NO BB's yet. or a Aristo F3 A&B unit 7 streamliner cars no BB either. Or NW-2 with a mixed bunch. I am using the old Aristo Trackside. in the metal can. Yea Marty's has grades. I think these batteries will fit in a boxcar. My Chicago electric did.

I going to try to get the batteries in a Baggage car. Need to light my cars too.


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

with what you want to do, I'd use two of the batteries in parallel... that would give you 6 amp hours.... convert the cars to leds would be great, but I don't think you have the time, use separate battery in baggage car for lites is good idea in my opinion. 

18v fine... 

use diodes to isolate them from each other, especially if you try using different batteries.... 

Regards, Greg


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## Torby (Jan 2, 2008)

18v will run things nicely for you. How long your 3AH batteries will run depends on how much current you're drawing, which depends on the loco and the load. My 3.8AH batteries will run my mallet around 2 hours, counting lights, smoke and sound. 

Be sure to get the charger made for whatever batteries you get. 

I get my 3.8AH "IED" batteries from http://www.all-battery.com. I use 2 9.6v Race Car batteries wired together for 19.2v, just 'cause I can get these big 9.6v batteries for $16 each. They're big, but that's not a problem 'cause I put them in my big battery car, the tender. 

Oh, I see mine are no longer on special there. They were for almost 2 years.


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## Trains (Jan 2, 2008)

John J,

I run two USA GP's and about 10 cars with metal wheels. I'm using a Millwakee 18 volt 2.4 amph battery and get about a hour.


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## Manco (Jan 5, 2009)

JJ 

I want to buy some Ridgid 18v 3.0mah batteries myself. I'm wondering if the contacts or posts are accessible so that I can either get an alligator clip or a slide-on connector on them? The pictures I'm seeing online makes it look like the contacts are concealed. Did you have any issues with this? Maybe you could post a picture of how you connected your wires to the battery. Thanks for any input. I'd like to know for sure before I dive head first and order 2 batteries and a charger off Ebay


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## John J (Dec 29, 2007)

Posted By Manco on 29 Sep 2009 03:45 AM 
JJ 

I want to buy some Ridgid 18v 3.0mah batteries myself. I'm wondering if the contacts or posts are accessible so that I can either get an alligator clip or a slide-on connector on them? The pictures I'm seeing online makes it look like the contacts are concealed. Did you have any issues with this? Maybe you could post a picture of how you connected your wires to the battery. Thanks for any input. I'd like to know for sure before I dive head first and order 2 batteries and a charger off Ebay The Contacts are covered. In order to put slide on conectors on I had to cut the cover in the area of the contacts. After I did that I thought about using alagator clips. The would probably work best.

I ran for aprox 3 hours on a charge pulling 25 cars using Aristo's F A& B units. There is a safty circuit in the battery that stops you dead when the charge is too low. Took About 30 minutes to re charge a battery. I have two batteries and a charger.


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

It's nice when the recharge time is less than the running time. That way, given a spare battery for each train, you can run continuously, not counting your "pit stops" for battery swap. 

JJ, I'm going to find out if there is a way to give you a warning when your batteries are close to exhaustion. I do not think it can be voltage triggered, but it sort of needs to be an "amp-hour" meter, basically reading the total "fuel" your loco has consumed since starting. There has to be a way to do this cheaply. 

Regards, Greg 

p.s. did you figure out the problem with your SD 45's? Sounds like they were taking way too much current... strange.


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## Manco (Jan 5, 2009)

Thanks JJ that's what I wanted to know. 

Was it pretty easy to figure out where to cut? What'd you use to cut with?


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## RimfireJim (Mar 25, 2009)

Greg,

I have a hard copy of a NASA Tech Brief for a " Ampere-Hour Meter for Rechargeable Battery", LAR-14902, from 1993. Their tech report server is currently down, so I don't know whether or not it is in their online archives.


It uses a shunt in series with the battery and load, an amplifier to boost the voltage measured across the shunt, a low pass filter, a voltage controlled oscillator, a comparator, a gate, a frequency divider, an accumulator, and a display. The abstract states, "The instrument will find application where accurate monitoring of battery charge/discharge status is required over long time intervals."

I don't know if it qualifies as "low cost" (probably not, except to NASA), but could be food for thought. Let me know if you want me to scan and send you a copy.


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Absolutely, it's a starting point Jim... maybe we can make something of it. 

With more people going to lithium (and more outlawing of nickel cadmium and other batteries)... this is (I think) something that is needed. 

Regards, Greg


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## John J (Dec 29, 2007)

Posted By Manco on 30 Sep 2009 11:19 AM 
Thanks JJ that's what I wanted to know. 

Was it pretty easy to figure out where to cut? What'd you use to cut with? 

I used a Dremel Tool. I use the re enforced cutter disks. I cut on either side of the contact then used a long nosed pliers to break off the tab that was created. It is kind of crude.


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