# LGB # 50 gets the BELTROL 2.4Ghz treatment.



## TonyWalsham (Jan 2, 2008)

I have recently completed installing my new BELTROL 2.4 GHz R/C system into an LGB # 50 D&RGW diesel.

This installation also marks my first using a Li-Ion battery pack.
The loco itself was also the Chinese made version so I had a number of firsts to deal with.

First up, the loco.
It is a pig to get apart and is a lot different inside to the German made model. With the old model you simply removed the four screws holding the hood to the chassis, removed the two handrails on top of the hood, spread the two vertical handrails at the front and lifted the hood clear. 
Not the new one. 
As the two handrails on the top of the hood are trapped inside the cab I had to remove the cab so that I could then pull the handrails out backwards. I eventually released the hood handrails from the cab to make reassembly simpler.
That was simple compared to spreading the vertical handrails at the front. They had a sort of a barb where they went into the hood and required a lot of force to remove. Once I had removed them I cut the barbs off to make re installation simpler. 
Then the hood came free. 
Under the hood is a new weight with a pcb mounted on top of the weight. It looks to be ready to accept some sort of decoder. I had to remove both the weight and the pcb so I had enough room to fit everything.
The owner wanted Dallee diesel sound fitted so that Meant installing a suitable speaker. I removed the front "grill" and fabricated some spacers to leave enough room to replace the stock "grill" when the owner has finished modifying it to allow sound out.










Then I mounted the speaker with silicone roof and gutter sealant.









The hood now looks like this:
 

Next up I made a styrene support for the 14.4 volt 1500 mah 4 x cell Li-Ion battery pack and glued the battery in with silicone adhesive.
 

The R/C system used to control the BELTROL ESC is the SPEKTRUM 2.4 GHz DX5e. I primarily use and recommend this R/C because of the low cost, fantastic range, no interference problems and the ability to MU as many BELTROL ESC equipped locos together as the operator wishes.
I mounted the SPEKTRUM AR500 RX on the floor of the cab with the short antenna under the seat. The other antenna was simply strung up, across and down the front of the cab.
The servo leads connecting the RX to the ESC and sound controls go into the transmission tunnel and through to the hood.


The BELTROL AP-3 3 amp ESC was mounted on the side of the battery pack with silicone adhesive. The Dallee sound likewise on the other side of the pack.
The ON - OFF switch was mounted under the removable side bump



It was all a very tight fit but after making sure there were no wires in the way of the mounting stanchions I buttoned up the hood. It all fitted perfectly.









The owner was not keen to have any obvious holes drilled into the body for the charge jack. I thought of also mounting the charge jack under the hood side bump but in the end I used the old two pin socket on the back of the cab and rewired it to take the specialised Li-Ion charger.









Whilst the loco might be hard to get apart, once I put it back together it runs superbly. Just like pretty well all LGB locos do. 

As expected, the range is fantastic. There is nothing like Digital Proportional speed control for precise control of Large Scale locos. 
There are 36 ratchet clicks on the DX5e TX Throttle stick. The auto notch 8 comes on at the second click and the loco starts moving at the third click.


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## Jim Agnew (Jan 2, 2008)

Neat installation. The smaller size of Li-ion batteries does offer more conversion options.


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## TonyWalsham (Jan 2, 2008)

Thanks Jim. 

I have had a German made # 50 as a demo loco for some years now. I previously had used AAA size NiMh cells which were less than satisfactory. At 900 mah they had just over half the capacity of these Li-Ion cells. The 14.4 AAApack was smaller but could not handle the load all that well and died quite quickly. 
I have used the same size Li-Ion pack in the German # 50 and am using the loco as a demo unit for my regular RCS brand R/C. 
I hope the Li-Ion pack is successful and will keep an open mind for now.


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## Torby (Jan 2, 2008)

Your work is always so neat!


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Nice installation as always Tony. 

Regards, Greg


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## TonyWalsham (Jan 2, 2008)

I have decided to convert my RCS equipped # 50 to be used with a BELTROL ESC.
The installation is pretty well much the same as above with a couple of minor changes.

The earlier version of the OM-3 has been superseded with the v7 model and is pictured here.










Here is how I installed the Dallee sound and the optional extra # 2-M-F on top of the battery so I could have four sound triggers.











Sometimes I like to be able turn the diesel motor off and just have horn and bell.
Dallee has that feature as well as being able to force notch 8.
Again the loco has fantastic range, being able to work the other side of a building about 250 feet away. Gotta love this 2.4 GHz R/C.


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## TonyWalsham (Jan 2, 2008)

Today I range tested the # 50 at Gordon Watson's RR. 

70 yards + is as far away as I could get, with a building in between. 

With this 2.4 GHz radio, range will never ever be an issue again.


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## eheading (Jan 5, 2008)

I know what you mean, Tony. I've been using the Aristo Revolution now for close to six months, and no question about it, the 2.4 GHz operation is sure nice. Like you, I just can't get far enough away to get beyond its range.

Ed


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## rmcintir (Apr 24, 2009)

The install looks great, I love the power and size of the lithium batteries. I have one question, Is the "other" antenna from a previous install? You said: "The other antenna was simply strung up, across and down the front of the cab." I realize the 2.4 GHz radio antenna you installed is short and under the seat.


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## TonyWalsham (Jan 2, 2008)

The SPEKTRUM AR500 RX has two antennas. 
One is the stubby bit under the drivers seat. The other is the exposed 1" piece of wire coming from the end of 6" of very thin shielded cable. It doesn't really matter where it goes, but I did it the way SPEKTRUM say and have the actual wires on different planes. 
I am getting fantastic range even with the US$33 TX and RX combos from Hobby King. They use an ultra small satellite RX connected to the main RX and I have discovered that it doesn't matter even if their two antennas are bundled in together. I still cannot get far enough away to test the limit of the range.


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