# Aristo Craft Mikado Battery Voltage ?



## Del Tapparo (Jan 4, 2008)

I have a basket case Mikado that I can't easily run on track power to determine the proper battery voltage for battery power conversion. Can anyone tell me what I need? I like to use 14.8V Lithium Ion, but the only other post I could find on the subject, that person used 19.2V. Your experience please?


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## Dick413 (Jan 7, 2008)

Del 
I have a Pacific that I run a 14.8 in. I think the drive is similar. 
Dick


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## Del Tapparo (Jan 4, 2008)

Posted By Dick413 on 10 Jul 2013 05:45 PM 
Del 
I have a Pacific that I run a 14.8 in. I thank the drive is similar. 
Dick Excellent ! Thank you Dick.


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## paintjockey (Jan 3, 2008)

The Mikado runs nicely on 14.8. I've done two installs in mikados with them both people were very pleased. 

Terry


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## Del Tapparo (Jan 4, 2008)

Posted By paintjockey on 10 Jul 2013 07:36 PM 
The Mikado runs nicely on 14.8. I've done two installs in mikados with them both people were very pleased. 

Terry 
So, 14.8V it is. Thanks Terry.


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

The wheels on the mikado are much smaller than the pacific.

With the smaller diameter wheels, I think 14.8 volts might not be enough for everyone. How many volts are dropped through your ESC? 

It will be dang slow at 12 volts. 

Greg


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## Del Tapparo (Jan 4, 2008)

Posted By Greg Elmassian on 10 Jul 2013 10:18 PM 
The wheels on the mikado are much smaller than the pacific.

With the smaller diameter wheels, I think 14.8 volts might not be enough for everyone. How many volts are dropped through your ESC? 

It will be dang slow at 12 volts. 

Greg 
1. As stated above by Terry, 14.8V works just fine. I'm going with that.

2. Any control that wastes 2.8V worth of battery (cost and space) isn't worth its salt! My motor drivers drop < 0.4V at a typical 1A load, and < 1.5V at 5A. And just like your comment suggests, there are many controls out there that will indeed drop 2 or 3 V. I haven't really checked, but I am guessing most avoid publishing this spec. I don't. All of my manuals contain specifications obtained from my real world testing, not just the specs from the components used on the board.


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Sorry, did not mean to imply you lost 2.8 volts, just was giving a "benchmark" (low battery and lossy ESC). (I'll be more careful in the future to juxtapose 2 different "ideas" next time) 

Best thing is Terry's direct experience. I know there is a significant difference between the Pacific and the Mikado at the same voltage. If Terry says it's good, then it is. 

Your drop is very good at 5 amps, many are in excess of 2 at that load. 

In DCC, we have an additional issue, we have a full wave bridge on the input from the tracks and then of course the output transistors, so you get more than one "diode drop" to the motor from the tracks. 

Regards, Greg


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