Engineer-Joe posted:stan2004 posted:A G-gauge engine pulling a bunch of cars going up a grade can hit 100 Watts.
Turning on smoke can add ~10 Watts in G-gauge. ….
(I would NOT go much more than 22.2V)
I saw that an average MTH one gauge engine's average draw is fairly low, between 1-2 amps on my Bridgewerks meter, closer to 1. With more engines added the draw doesn't go up fully the way I had expected it to. I ran seven diesels for example and the draw was far less than 4 amps. The meter varied as the train went around the yard (up and down hills). When I turn on the smoke, especially with more than one engine, the amps go up pretty well. Not double but more than you posted. With the seven engine example the total amps went up maybe to between 5 and 6? Still less than I expected.
I guess it's dependent on what voltage we are talking about? I set my track at an optimum of 21+ volts (about 22 on the meter). That allows fast running, lower amp draws on that meter, and covers any of the power dips in areas. I would guess at lower voltages the draw could be higher?
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Power = Voltage x Amps. If you're running G-gauge engines with only 2 Amps at 22 Volts (44 Watts) doing whatever you have to do - pulling heavy loads, going up grades, around curves, etc.. then so be it. I suggest 44 Watts is a bit low in power to budget for a G engine, but it really is a your-mileage-may-vary and of course you'll get more than double the battery life if you only use 44 Watts vs. 100 Watts! BTW, it may surprise some but the audio power is relatively small...even blasting the horn at full DCS volume you incrementally use less than 5 Watts.
But to your question. Yes, ignoring some arcane technical nuances, the DCS electronics is somewhat agnostic as to the voltage. It's the power or product of Voltage x Amps that's important. So if the engine is pulling, say, 50 Watts this could be 20V at 2.5 Amps. But if the voltage was only 16V the engine would draw about 3 Amps.
Again, it's all about power (in Watts). And for battery operation, it's about Watt-Hours (or stored energy). Perhaps obvious but the LiPo phenomenon has truly raised/lowered the bar for battery operation of trains.
A very common LiPo rechargeable in battery packs today is the so-called 18650. Of course one must take some of the claimed Amp-Hr ratings with a grain of salt but note in this example that even though the LiPo battery is a bit larger, the stored energy is ~5 times greater than the NiMH.
Perhaps obvious, but with the Lithium cells, it's that much more important to consider the charging method. The "old-school" overnight trickle charger method is just that - old school. Lithium cells essentially have a different charging profile so best to pair a standard battery pack and mating charger. My 2 cents.
