Marty R posted:Ryaninspiron posted:Marty R posted:maybe someone can come up with a small board that can go between track voltage and loco power. Converting AC conventional in a DCCish Manner so a whole layout could sit at 18V.It sounds like your talking about something I was discussing recently. I was thinking of building a Bluetooth LionChief Conversion Board for postwar locos. running the couplers and even lights is easy, so far I have a vague idea for the motor circuit. I just need to learn to build my own open frame ac motor speed controller first. I took some electrical engineering classes when I was in college so I have almost enough background to get started. For now I am going to start off by using the LC remote to trigger postwar loco couplers and build up from there.
Ryan
I’m talking even easier than what you’re describing. I mean regulate the voltage to the motor as simply as MTH did with the IR track lock-on 20 years ago. Horn bell and headlights would be a bonus. 50-1012 the circa 2000 board was pretty small and however it controlled track voltage was pretty smooth
I thought you might have meant something like that at first but I was thrown off when you said "in a DCCish Manner so a whole layout could sit at 18V. " I figured the only way to keep the track at 18v was to put the entire motor controller inside the loco. if I was instead to regulate the power to the track that would be way easier and the thought crossed my mind earlier today. I realized that since most people who run conventional already setup track block sections to handle multiple locos then controlling the whole thing from the transformer output side would be a much cleaner solution. The track voltage just wont be a constant.
I came up an idea for a double module adapter this morning so that I can just add bluetooth controlled couplers, lights, and horn to the postwar loco but also add a second module to between transformer output and track. That way I can control the speed and just use the original E-Unit for reverse controls. I could even automate the pulses to the E-Unit and make the whole thing run off the LionChief remote or app. I may set something like that up this weekend. You would have the option of leaving out the lights, and coupler controls by only using the track side module.
