# Question on... Sierra sound cards Batt.



## noelw (Jan 2, 2008)

*I have a Aristo Center cab that a few years back I installed a sound card with a .05Ah batt. that came with the Sierra sound unit. ...And ya.. I have changed it out a couple times. 
It not an easy chore. So I figured mount a 4 pack holder between the motor blocks and clip it in for easy access....

I want to use 4 ea. Duracell rechargeable batts. (AA/hr6/DC1500 NIMH /1.2V/1800mAh ) but, I noticed that the Batt. with the Sound card came with 6V /.05Ah batt. that is a little more voltage.

I don't seem to find any 1.5V DC rechargeable batt. ??? They all seem to be 1.2 volts DC

Question is........ Will the 1.2 Volt batt. work ok being it only makes a total 5.35 volts instead of 6 volts Batt.









I hear I have to charge the rechargeable batt. one at a time and not in a series cir.. But that ok....Noel*


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## Bill Swindell (Jan 2, 2008)

Most rechargeable batteries are 1/2 volts. I suspect that you can use 4 of them in series to power your sound system. I have seen sound systems that use 4 NiCad cells to power them. You definitely can charge them in series with the proper charger. What you don't want to do is charge them in parallel.


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## K27_463 (Jan 2, 2008)

The voltage difference is not an issue. The 1.2 v rating is nominal and not peak value. What is at issue is this: The Sierra board charger is- on the board- designed for a Gel cel type battery, and as such has a very low current,considerably less than 100 mah if my memory is good enough( big question there). Using a NIMH type cell will work but it will be very difficult to get acceptable charge into them with the Sierra board- it will take hours and hours to charge if it charges at all-unless you charge them with an external charger of some sort. Why not just mount another replacement cell of the same type in your remote accessible location by extending the wires? You can get those old style gel cell 6 v batts very cheap at many electronics stores. if you use the NIMH cells, most certainly arrange them in series. 
Jonathan


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## noelw (Jan 2, 2008)

*tks for the fast comeback... I was wondering about the recharging from the sound board.. *
*Bill S. ... 
tks for the charging info.. I have a charger for my camera that charges 4 of these Batt's at one time now.* 


*Jonathan.... 
Are you talking about just getting another Batt. that is like the one that came with the Sound unit.??? 

It doesn't have enough space to install that batt. between motor blocks. But I can get Batt's. that look like AA's and stack them in a 4 pack batt holder. 
Is there another type of batt's. to use other than what I showed.???
Reason I put it under the frame between the motor block for quick access for easer change out. The darn Center cab just doesn't have much room to play with..

Sorry.... I'm not up on the difference types of batt's. that are out there now to.. 

Can you give me a nbr. or type of a batt. that will fit that space that can be used with the existing charging plug and
can also be charged from the sound card to??? 

I have already moved the batt. wires out between the motor blocks now. Also I left the changing cir. jack in do to when the Sound sys. is truned off, any charge can just goes to the batt. if I find the right batt.

I didn't exspect the track power to do much charging being the Eng. run slow and below the charging cap. most of the times. Noel



*


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## David Buckingham (Jan 2, 2008)

Hi Noel 
Jonathan is right as usual he is the expert. 

I have "fixed" ? several including mine Sierra Sound systems where the battery is defunct by using in the old days Nicad now Nmih batteries 5 cells at 1.2v = 6v 

Main thing unless you run for a long time I also fit a charging socket and you MUST fit an on/off switch because there is still a good drain on the batteries even when silent. 

Note the instructions say only a gell cell but have had no problem. 
Dave


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## noelw (Jan 2, 2008)

Uh oh.. I need a 5 pack holder for AA NIMH batt. ????? I found a 6 pack holder but don't think it will fit in to that space.. Ok ...Back to Radio Shaky Inc................I can jumper on cell to just have 5 cells. 
Yes ........I left the on and off switch in the cir. and charging jack. to batt. It can be shut off. tks Dave. Noel


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## Guest (Dec 4, 2008)

4 NiMH cells work fine with a Sierra


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

First post says .05 amp hour... I believe it is a 500 milliamp hour, otherwise .5 amp hour.... 

Voltage should be an issue for any charger, especially a "Dumb charger", you should add one more battery to get to 6 volts in my opinion. My understanding is that the "charger" on the sierra board is just a low current "trickle" charger, no charge termination, no brains, etc. Based on that, I would say you should match at least the voltage of the pack, since you have changed the chemistry and the amp hour rating. 

All said, don't leave the loco on the track with power going forever, it will eventually kill anything. I also understand that the "charging jack" is directly connected to the battery, so external charging needs to be done with a charger matched to the batteries. 

Regards, Greg


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## David Buckingham (Jan 2, 2008)

As Greg said the charge to the Sierra battery is directly connected and isolates it. 

there are a lot of RC TX/RX chargers about putting out about 6 volts 70 to 120 milliamp which would do fine. 

Dave


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## Pete Thornton (Jan 2, 2008)

Your local R/C car/plane shop will sell you a 6v pack of 5 rechargeable AA cells.


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## Paul Norton (Jan 8, 2008)

Sometimes when building a rechargeable battery pack you require a dummy battery to achieve a reduced voltage. By replacing one of the batteries with an ordinary household cartridge fuse you can drop the volt by 1.2 volts. The fuse required is a Type *P* cartridge fuse available at your local hardware or electrical store.


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## Stan Cedarleaf (Jan 2, 2008)

Noel, 

I realize you're using the Sierra sound card in a Center Cab where you don't have a lot of room, but I've been using this battery for quite some time in 2 different installations of the Sierra modules. They're a bit big but they're quite inexpensive and work great. 

They're available at http://www.allelectronics.com/ catalog number CAT# GC-613 @ $4.75 each A lot cheaper that the small one from Soundtraxx. 
Just a thought if you would have room to stuff it in somewhere.


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## noelw (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Stan Cedarleaf on 12/16/2008 10:15 PM
Noel, 

I realize you're using the Sierra sound card in a Center Cab where you don't have a lot of room, but I've been using this battery for quite some time in 2 different installations of the Sierra modules. They're a bit big but they're quite inexpensive and work great. 

They're available at http://www.allelectronics.com/ catalog number CAT# GC-613 @ $4.75 each A lot cheaper that the small one from Soundtraxx. 
Just a thought if you would have room to stuff it in somewhere.









*Hi Stan*.. I went to the link and ck'ed out the size of it and dosen't look like it will fit between the motor blocks. That's about the only space I really have... but I did see on an add there that there is a 3 volt batt. that looks like a AA batt size that may be able to put two of them under the Center cab..That would make 6 volts.. Then I could pull them out easy to recharge them back up.

*What do you think?? * Noel 


http://www.allelectronics.com/make-a-store/category/160/Batteries/1.html CAT# LBAT-123


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