Battery + WiFi Loco Scratch(ish) Build

Cool, I look forward to progress posts!

I will be following your progress as well. Good luck with your project and thanks for sharing so we can all learn.

Thanks for following along. It won't be a quick process at first. Because the electronics and programming are fairly rudimentary and lol I lack a loco to mount them on, I will be building something that passes for a diesel critter (ISH).

Since I am building old school, you know... bits of plastic, glue and a razor knife the build part will be slow. 

The efforts of today were to get rid of any excess parts from the power truck and create something that passes for a chassis mount and coupler mounts.

Thanks for following along guys.

Ted

Excellent Ted

I've re-powered my (8) 3-rail steamers to Battery-Powered, Remote-Control and removed all the 3-rail stuff from them, even pulled up the middle rail.  I'm using 9.6v 2000Mah NiMh and 11.1v 2200Mah LiPo battery packs from ALL-BATTERY and RC gear from RCS (Tony Walsham owner) in Australia.

I was looking at AdaFruit today, at their LED offerings, she has some cool stuff on her website.

I like the way you've mounted the motor

Keep us up to speed on your progress.

Thanks, Bob but I can't take credit for the motor mounting. It was all part of the power truck I salvaged. Credit goes to K-Line for that one... LOL.

Ted

OH MAN I AM A DOPE...

So, I am gluing all of the pieces together to make a deck, front and rear pilots and the side frames. After an hour, I go check on progress and parts just fall over when the bracing is slid away. I think "what the h***" and start investigating.

I know I am working with polystyrene and Testors glue melts it together nicely... What I didn't realize is that the printing on once side of the plastic is not printed !*&#@%^&%$ it is a pressure adhesive sticker. A PVC based film which is impervious to model glue...

So, drop the five pieces apart and peel the !@#$%^&*( film off and I get to start over in the morning lol.

FWIW - I did test the glue before I started and it worked well. By happenstance I glued two raw sides together.

Ted

Good one Ted, I'll bet you have a dent in your forehead from slapping yourself there!

Dent heck, John. More like need stitches from banging my head into the counter top.

All is well though... parts de-filmed and gluing now. By the end of the day I hope to have a chassis to build from.

Ted

OK, after the false start yesterday with the coated plastic, I managed to build something that looks like a critter chassis.

Don't laugh to hard, a modeler I am not. Now, get me started with robotics and electronics...

I had to add a little gratuitous detail to the side frames. I don't think it looks too bad.

The motor stymied me for a bit but a hole for tip of the bell end and all fits well.

Now, for a shell.

Ted

As long as your "critter" is a box with wheels, you have nailed it!

Here is a little more showing the mounting of the power truck to the chassis -

The power tuck is held to the chassis with a couple of micro servo mounting screws.

To continue on, it is time to start figuring out where the brains of this operation will be located. The battery will end up in the engine compartment and the three boards (two shown) will be in the base of the cab. Both the hood and cab will be removable.

I changed the amp on my OSounds board so I don't have the prototypes in to show location. Maybe in a couple of weeks... Basically, it will have to rest vertical against the back of the cab.

Ted

But...but... I can't see the cab!

LOL John, you would see that cab a lot faster if you would only drill out the 252 holes in the grill... yea, I am a moron. 193 ta go...

That is punch and then drill.... 504 

Ted

I think I'd have figured out a different design!

Ted,

I've got a .410 shotgun that should make all the holes you need

Hey, maybe you could make one of those work cars (and a trailer for the battery) the maintenance men used to ride around on:

LOL I have a Benelli Super Nova Tactical loaded with 00 buck for coyotes... I just bet I could end my pain and blow a bunch of plastic all to heck!

I love those work cars. Be neat to find a plan and call it version two.

Ted

Neat project. Looks like battery operation has caught everyone's imagination. Would suggest staying with NiMH and not LiPo batteries. Also, higher frequency PWM gives better motor performance at low speed than lower frequency. Give some thought to ease of battery recharging.

Hey guys,

I have not forgotten this... the wifey had other plans for my time. Mostly, jacking the old farmhouse sag out of the center of the basement.

Bob, 

-NiMH - Nope. When the energy density outpaces a LiPo then maybe.

-PWM - Yup, just as high as I can clock it.

-Battery - Using the time honored RC airplane method. Pop it out and recharge it. I am actually planning on using two RE magnets to hold the battery hatch (hood) on the chassis.

Ted

Ted,

I've got LiPos (11.1v 2200Mah) in 5 of my 8 steamers, the other 3 are 9.6v 2000Mah NiMh.

I read the internal resistance of the LiPos is lower than that of the NiMh, so you get a bit better voltage at startup (don't have to turn the speed knob on my TX7 as far), which to me is great for switching.

I also believe that lower than 9.6 volts would work fine too, unless you want a speed demon on your rails.  I haven't experimented with anything but the 2 mentioned above so I'm not at all sure what would be the lowest voltage to use.

With the way I have the RCS system currently setup I have to turn the knob more when using the 9.6v battery to get the engine moving than I do using the 11.1v (the Tx7 transmitter has 300 degrees of rotation).  I can re-program the startup voltage on each receiver, so a smaller turn of the knob (when using the 9.6v) will give me what I want, just haven't done it yet.

In other words, when using a 9.6v battery I have to turn the knob say, 40 degrees, to get the engine moving.  When using the 11.1v turning it 35 degrees gets the engine moving.

This isn't a big deal, unless you're visual perception of things is as anal as mine.  I expect the engine to move when I turn the knob a certain degree, when I hit that degree of turn and the engine doesn't move it bothers me for some reason.  The best way is to "just turn the knob" and watch when the engine starts moving and don't worry about how many degrees it's been turned.

The system I use is comprised of:

1-Transmitter

2-Receiver

3-Battery Pack

4-On/Off/Charging Jack module

5-Wiring

6-Charger

Seven of my engines have this basic setup, with power going to the DC can motor, headlight, backup light, no sound or smoke.  The 8th engine has a small module for connecting a sound card, I currently have a MyLocoSound card in this engine.  I've gotten used to having no sounds, although I do miss the chuff in the other 7.

I'm at the point with my setups that I need to look at each engine and adjust (re-program) for optimal operation.  A couple of them work well enough, my MTH Railking Imperial 0-6-0 is working perfectly, but a couple of them could use a good tweaking.  I've got 2 Railking 2-8-0s, one works fine the other (with a new motor no less) doesn't.  I've never been one that agrees these things need a break-in period, but who knows.  Maybe the new motor needs just that, or there could be some burrs on the worm, or maybe alignment issues.  Just need to do some checking.

Turning the knob on my Tx7 transmitter/throttle isn't the same as scrolling the knob on the DCS handheld or twisting the big red knob on the CAB-1, it's hard to envision those 256 steps (the knob travels 300 degrees, so that's a bit over 1 degree per step).  I put a dial indicator under the knob with 10 degree increments, 0 to 100% turn of the knob.  I tell myself the throttle is set to 50% of power instead of XX mph.  If I need 60% to get up a slight incline, I simply crank it up!