Adding RC & battery power to OcCre tram

maxi-model

maxi-model

UK/US/ROW steam narrow gauge railways 1:1
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Let's start at the very beginning, 20 years ago one very enthusiastic newbie enters the fabled GRS store in Princes Risborough. He inevitably walks out with a purchace. He, I mean I, had bought a USAT motor block that was to be "inserted" into an OcCre Madrid tram kit, also bought at the same time. I did not complete this project until another 10 years had passed! (Needed to upskill on the wood kit building bit). The USAT block selected had a w/b very close to that of the tram's. One thing I did was to solder up all the brass rod buss wires in the USAT block, as supplied, as I found the conduction of electricity was not very reliable. This was in track power config' from the pick up shoes. Issue was probably age related tarnishing of the block's, as manufactured, non soldered linkages.

The block itself was a very simple fit into the tram and proved unobtrusive with a bit of disguising - Cut a neat appature in the tram floor to match that of the block's, that is above the tram's floor level. Add wood strip, matching the tram's flooring, to the protruding top of block to diguise it where it intruded. Then bond 4 tabs to motor block sides to provide mounts. They are set to give the correct ride height for the tram's body when attached to its floor. Then, just 4 short self tappers to secure. A fairly simple unobtrusive installation.

Now I am planning to convert it to battery/rc operation, like all the other electrically driven motive power in my depot. I can see one can feed power direct to motor and bypass all the old buss's. I now look and realise there is a lot more space to fit the exra bits in for rc/battery operation. So long as I keep to AAA batteries and use one of RCTrains nice compact Micron based combined RX/ESC''s. Might think about sound too. PhillP I think an order is incoming :D Max

The finished Madrid tram. Stated1:24 scale, with Bachmann motorman at the controls.
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4 mounting tabs, bonded to USAT motor block, with round head screws can be seen either side of pick up shoes. Original outputs for electrical accessories stil in place, on left of block. Easy to remove for maitainance. Plenty of discreet space for extra gubbins that can be screened if needs be ! Time to measure up.
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With motor block removed showing cut appature. There was slight trimming of some seat frames to clear motor's intruding "hump".
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Motor block with added mounts and "disguise". Screws to detach block's top access panel still useable.
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Disguised top of motor block is hardly discernible from surrounding floor. Especially if veiwing from outside during operation.
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Motor block showing added bonded on mountso, note longitudinal supports under mounts.20260112_145403.jpg
 
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Hmmm....
Does this mean I need to add a 'Tram' card to my pending order?
:blush:

PhilP.
 
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Right, quick dummy set up, upper picture veiw of tram's underside and lower picture from side aspect. Lower image is reversed so everthing is going in the right direction. From right to left - Micron MR 603c RX/ESC and just below it a laptop speaker, both sitting snuggly under the right end platfom. These are masked by the side steps and body catcher. Next,1st of 2 packs of linked 5 cell AAA NiMH batteries, total 12v. These are sitting betwèn the tram's chassis frames. This 1st pack is offset to provide a little wiggle room for on/off/charge switch and charge socket, these side accessed between tram chassis fames. This switchgear will be behind a sturdy "blackout" mount bracket, a Polyswitch fuse will be in the loop. Next, USAT motor block with motor directly wired to Micron card's ESC function (with skates and internal busses removed). Then there will be the 2nd battery pack (not shown). Finally, the MLS "tram" soundcard is under the other, far left, end platform. Again this is masked by the steps and body catcher. It will have 3 functions RC accessed from Micron card and MlLS sensor will be mounted on side of step support. All items being used are tried and tested in other installations.

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I thought about using AA cells at one end to boost available power but space is marginal with risk of fouling wheel flanges. This is a fairly lightweight wooden body that USAT block is moving, with no additional wagons or weight to haul, ever. I could increase to 12 AAA cells if anybody thinks the USAT block needs more volts - 14.4 v over 12 v. But remember, this is a tram and not an inter-city flyer :D Overall I am surprised how unobtusive this installation might be. Just got to do some nice tidy wiring. I quite enjoy doing the packaging on these track power to RC/battery conversions. This is # 12 ! Your thoughts and reccomendations please. Max
 
If you mount the MLS with the pcb against the floor of the tram, you won't need the external ir detector..
The one on the board will suffice.

I can supply more flexible leads on the receiver, if that makes things a little easier?

PhilP.
 
maxi-model said:
View attachment 352097

Right, quick dummy set up, upper picture veiw of tram's underside and lower picture from side aspect. Lower image is reversed so everthing is going in the right direction. From right to left - Micron MR 603c RX/ESC and just below it a laptop speaker, both sitting snuggly under the right end platfom. These are masked by the side steps and body catcher. Next,1st of 2 packs of linked 5 cell AAA NiMH batteries, total 12v. These are sitting betwèn the tram's chassis frames. This 1st pack is offset to provide a little wiggle room for on/off/charge switch and charge socket, these side accessed between tram chassis fames. This switchgear will be behind a sturdy "blackout" mount bracket, a Polyswitch fuse will be in the loop. Next, USAT motor block with motor directly wired to Micron card's ESC function (with skates and internal busses removed). Then there will be the 2nd battery pack (not shown). Finally, the MLS "tram" soundcard is under the other, far left, end platform. Again this is masked by the steps and body catcher. It will have 3 functions RC accessed from Micron card and MlLS sensor will be mounted on side of step support. All items being used are tried and tested in other installations.

View attachment 352098

I thought about using AA cells at one end to boost available power but space is marginal with risk of fouling wheel flanges. This is a fairly lightweight wooden body that USAT block is moving, with no additional wagons or weight to haul, ever. I could increase to 12 AAA cells if anybody thinks the USAT block needs more volts - 14.4 v over 12 v. But remember, this is a tram and not an inter-city flyer :D Overall I am surprised how unobtusive this installation might be. Just got to do some nice tidy wiring. I quite enjoy doing the packaging on these track power to RC/battery conversions. This is # 12 ! Your thoughts and reccomendations please. Max
Click to expand...
Very neat job Max, when you started talking this conversion I was somewhat sceptical about the ability to fit it all in on a pre-built model but clearly you have managed it 10 out of 10. A few bits of thin black plasticard should nicely hide the wires from side views.

Not sure what controller you have but on my Steam Trams I have got 4 sound that I can call, it may be possible to do 5 if there are 5 outputs in the Rx.
The bind button does 1 (Whistle)
The A/B switch can do momentary or long hold options. (Up Westinghouse or blower, Down Bell)

Bit tricky to program but once you get your head round it and @ge_rik has done some great vids on his blog that I found invaluable.
image.jpg
 
dunnyrail said:
Very neat job Max, when you started talking this conversion I was somewhat sceptical about the ability to fit it all in on a pre-built model but clearly you have managed it 10 out of 10. A few bits of thin black plasticard should nicely hide the wires from side views.

Not sure what controller you have but on my Steam Trams I have got 4 sound that I can call, it may be possible to do 5 if there are 5 outputs in the Rx.
The bind button does 1 (Whistle)
The A/B switch can do momentary or long hold options. (Up Westinghouse or blower, Down Bell)

Bit tricky to program but once you get your head round it and @ge_rik has done some great vids on his blog that I found invaluable.
View attachment 352110
Click to expand...

Yes, I have left this one to last as I did not think there would be room to do a tidy and discreet installation, never mind without risking damage. It was only reading about another tram conversion here, by Kyle Pearce, that triggered my revisiting the idea of doing a conversion on this one. Link - both trams use the USAT motor blocks ! Converting Bachmann Closed Streetcar to USA Trains Motor Block

The key is the fact that this tram it is very light and I can probably get away with using small AAA cell packs (I'm not confident enough to use Li-Ion or suchlike). That and the very compact Micron RX/ESC combo available. I have started using RCTrains supplied kit, including their Tx22 transmitter with the Micron. I use this when I'm installing an MLS sound card and don't need the multi-function access that, say, an ESU DCC based solution benefits from.

This tram will then, as you noted, require a very tidy wiring job - Tiny cable ties, wire strippers and soldering iron at the ready. Not to mention double sided Gorilla tape and 50 thou black plasticard for mounts and masking where needed. I'm hoping that one has to veiw from track level to see the all the gubbins. And who ever does that ? :devil: :D Order in with PhillP at RCTrains ! Max

L - R £1 coin for scale (similar to €1 or US 25c) Micron MR 603c RX/ESC, Speaker, MLS sound card.

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RCTrains Tx22

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On the Rx I assume 1/2 and D are the sound outputs with the screw terminals to duplicate power in and motor out? Mine is all bought before I was aware of our supplier of Deltang type stuff. Pity that MLS have not yet got round to making their cards smaller, I expect it will occur at some time.
 
PhilP said:
If you mount the MLS with the pcb against the floor of the tram, you won't need the external ir detector..
The one on the board will suffice.

I can supply more flexible leads on the receiver, if that makes things a little easier?

PhilP.
Click to expand...
To make it work the MLS card has to be mounted "face up" toward the end platform underside. This is so it straddles a beam supporting that platform. So, as a result the IR sensor on the board will be "blind". Other way up, exposing IR sensor, will foul catcher under platform. Still needs external sensor as a result, but it is small and will sit in an exposed but discreet position :) Max
 
maxi-model said:
To make it work the MLS card has to be mounted "face up" toward the end platform underside. This is so it straddles a beam supporting that platform. So, as a result the IR sensor on the board will be "blind". Other way up, exposing IR sensor, will foul catcher under platform. Still needs external sensor as a result, but it is small and will sit in an exposed but discreet position :) Max
Click to expand...
I find you can hide them in view to act as some kind of gubbins with leads running to it. Mounted on top of a cut bit of a black drinking straw it looks like it should be present.
 
I built and motorised the Street Car, slightly different in that it has two bogies, however I did hide all the bits in a box on the underside:

tumble-down-falls.blogspot.com

OcCre San Francisco Streetcar

This is my journey on my build of a "OcCre San Francisco Streetcar". I will not be bringing you a blow by blow photographic journey (t...
tumble-down-falls.blogspot.com tumble-down-falls.blogspot.com
 
JimmyB said:
I built and motorised the Street Car, slightly different in that it has two bogies, however I did hide all the bits in a box on the underside:

tumble-down-falls.blogspot.com

OcCre San Francisco Streetcar

This is my journey on my build of a "OcCre San Francisco Streetcar". I will not be bringing you a blow by blow photographic journey (t...
tumble-down-falls.blogspot.com tumble-down-falls.blogspot.com
Click to expand...

Very nice work. Excellent build log. Those OcCre kits a quite intimidating, that's why I only did the one. Nice solution those chain driven wheels. I think if I had built mine now I might have tried chain drive, it was supplied on a WHR Conway Castle kit I bought 6 years ago.. I'm thinking now one of those nose hung motors that Fosworks do rather than that big USAT block. MOT-100. Max
 
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