# Anyone using 12VDC batteries for Track Powered Operations?



## Jerry McColgan (Feb 8, 2008)

It is a cold, wet, miserable day today but I like running trains in the rain so, both for convenience and for safety, for the future I am considering using a 12 volt motorcycle battery and a 6 volt lantern battery for my new train shed's switching operations.

http://www.mylargescale.com/Communi...fault.aspx

My thinking is this:

1. On cold and wet days I often run the trains from the cupola of the caboose, but if the trains are in the train sheds, I would have to set up a power supply and throttle outside just to get the trains assembled in/from the sheds and once the trains were on the mainlines I would then (possibly in the rain) have to move the power supplies and throttles inside the caboose.

2. As an alternative, I have found that I can run the Aristo switch motors from a 6 volt lantern battery (no 120VAC power supply needed and better yet no long wiring circuits).

That thought led to...

Why not keep operations battery powered until the trains are ready to be switched to the main power supplies on the mainline?

3. Simply using a 12 volt motorcycle battery (borrowed from 4 wheeler or whatever) should be all the power I need with perhaps a LGB 51070 Analog Throttle since 12 volts should provide all the voltage I should need for switching operations. If for some reason 12 volts did not work (I believe it will) I could always put another battery in series.

LGB information implies that a single 12 volt battery would work with and not harm LGB power controllers but that is an assumption for which I am willing to accept the consequences if it does not work BUT I am not recommending it for anyone else and I do not have any idea how well other brands of controllers might or might not work with a 12 volt DC input.













I repeat that I am not recommending this for anyone else but instead I am asking if anyone else is doing anything like this - or perhaps running their entire layout off of any sort of portable batteries?

*Note: I intentionally placed this topic under Traditional (track) Power. *Please _do not_ provide suggestions on alternative non-track power systems. [/b]

Thanks,

Jerry


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## jimtyp (Jan 2, 2008)

The latest Garden Railway magazine has an article where a guy is running a train with a 12v car battery. He charges the battery using solar. He suggested using two batteries to get 24v. as the further the battery from the track the more the voltage dropped. If I recall correctly he was getting 9v to the track with the 12v battery, so two would get you 18v.


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## kormsen (Oct 27, 2009)

i did just that from 1980 to 1984 (after that we got electricity at the ranch). 
an old 12 volt battery from the tractor. as regulator i used the sound-regulator from an old radio. 
the only locos i had, were stainzes and playmobil. 
the max speed was about 60% of that what a small LGB transformer-regulator produced.


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## Jerry McColgan (Feb 8, 2008)

Posted By jimtyp on 21 Apr 2011 10:55 AM 
The latest Garden Railway magazine has an article where a guy is running a train with a 12v car battery. He charges the battery using solar. He suggested using two batteries to get 24v. as the further the battery from the track the more the voltage dropped. If I recall correctly he was getting 9v to the track with the 12v battery, so two would get you 18v. 

Hi Jim,

My application is a bit different in that I have 120VAC just a few feet away from the train shed and I just intend to power the sidings from a battery. For this application safety is my primary concern in that I would rather not be running anything with 120VAC in the rain. When it is not raining it will be a simple task to bring the 12 volt battery inside for an occasional recharge. I intend to leave the 6 volt lantern battery outside to power the Aristo turnouts until it dies (I found that I have 3 of these batteries with no other use for them).

Still, the article sounds interesting. Now I need to figure out where the heck I put that GR magazine.

Thanks,

Jerry


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## Jerry McColgan (Feb 8, 2008)

Posted By kormsen on 21 Apr 2011 01:33 PM 
i did just that from 1980 to 1984 (after that we got electricity at the ranch). 
an old 12 volt battery from the tractor. as regulator i used the sound-regulator from an old radio. 
the only locos i had, were stainzes and playmobil. 
the max speed was about 60% of that what a small LGB transformer-regulator produced. 


Hi Kormsen,

I like your idea of using the sound regulator from an old radio. That would be a really simple way of controlling the throttle.

My first thought had been to use a small power supply like the LGB ones but then I decided a 12 volt battery would be safer.

There have been a few times when power was out for some time that I started hooking up 12 volt batteries to inverters but power always came back on before I got everything connected.

Thanks,

Jerry


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## krs (Feb 29, 2008)

but then I decided a 12 volt battery would be safer. 

Well, yes and no. 

You won't be able to electrocute yourself with a 12 volt battery but a battery like that can provide a heck of a lot more current than any modelrailroad power supply so the fuse that LGB shows in their diagram is an absolute must. 

I don't really understand why you need to go the battery route to move your trains out of the shed. 
If your power supply and your throttle are separate, can't you keep the power supply inside and use the throttle outside? 
That's what LGB recommends.


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## Jerry McColgan (Feb 8, 2008)

Posted By krs on 21 Apr 2011 03:49 PM 

You won't be able to electrocute yourself with a 12 volt battery but a battery like that can provide a heck of a lot more current than any modelrailroad power supply so the fuse that LGB shows in their diagram is an absolute must. 

I don't really understand why you need to go the battery route to move your trains out of the shed. 
If your power supply and your throttle are separate, can't you keep the power supply inside and use the throttle outside? 
That's what LGB recommends. 

Hi Knut,

This is just an oddball situation that I came up with an oddball solution for.

Currently I have power supplies and throttles in the cupola that feed to the track via the gazebos. The gazebos are in turn set up for different power supplies and throttles.

The track leads run from the layout to the gazebos. Depending on where I intend to run the trains from, I either plug the track leads to the gazebo power supplies and throttles or to the wires to the power supplies and throttles in the cupola. When not running from the gazebos I remove the power supplies and throttles and bring them inside the caboose.

Currently there are no wires to the train shed and the sidings to the train shed are insulated from the mainlines (so switching can be done independent from the mainlines).

The idea of a switching operation that is independent from the mainlines appeals to me and with the thought of quickly doing some switching in the rain brought up the idea of simply using a motorcycle battery for those few times when I would want to be switching in the rain. 

Granted, in good weather I could use a radio control for switching operations with power coming through the track from the gazebos but I do not like to use radio controls for switching because I find track power with a manual throttle gives me far more precise control.

I have a spare LGB 51070 so it would be a simple matter to connect it to a 12 volt motorcycle battery to power switching operations. If a motorcycle battery should prove insufficient, the caboose battery box is right next to the layout and it would be a simple matter to run wires from the 12 volt RV battery there to the LGB 51070. This way I don't have to bother with wires from yet another power supply.

Its not a matter of what I have to do as much as what I think is going to be more convenient to do and that would take very little effort on my part to set up.

I like to have things organized so they are pretty much ready to go. There is a pair of Aristo power supplies and throttles in the cupola and another pair ready to take out to the gazebos. I don't use the 51070's much anymore so I am tempted to just leave one outside in the train shed. I suspect it will hold up pretty well there as there is no reason for it to get wet (I might even put it in a zip-lock bag when not in use).

Jerry


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## Jerry McColgan (Feb 8, 2008)

Posted By jimtyp on 21 Apr 2011 10:55 AM 
The latest Garden Railway magazine has an article where a guy is running a train with a 12v car battery. He charges the battery using solar. He suggested using two batteries to get 24v. as the further the battery from the track the more the voltage dropped. If I recall correctly he was getting 9v to the track with the 12v battery, so two would get you 18v. 

I finally found my issue of GR and the guy using solar power needed power 980 feet from the nearest electrical outlet so solar power made a lot of sense for him.

After reading the article I was amazed at how complicated it was for him to get the solar powered system to work the way he needed it and how much work and how many components it took to accomplish it. 

In my case the nearest outlet is about 20 feet from my layout so the only practical solar application for me is the use of the solar lights I have placed around the layout to give it sort of a street light glow in the evenings.

The article is a good reference for anyone who might have a need or desire for a solar powered layout. It starts on page 53 of the April 2011 issue of Garden Railways Magazine.

Thanks,

Jerry


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