Bachmann Mogul Battery Conversion?

[JimmyB]

I have a Bachmann Big Haulers Mogul the small mining one, my question is, has anybody done a battery conversion on one of these. Not considering this straight away, but just exploring possibilities, and as is said "why re-invent the wheel".
General thoughts and comment on this subject are welcome, and of course some thread drift a little later

 

[Rhinochugger]

Should be pretty easy. You have current pickup in the tender, therefore you have a lead going from tender to motor.

The Bachmann motors are not very hungry - so 12v or 14.4v of Ni-mH AA size will keep it going for a few hours.

If you use 12v, then one of PhilP's Rx/ESC units will be easy to position. I have managed to put an on/off switch and a charging socket in under the little water filler flap in a K27 tender, and as the Mining Mogul drops a PP3 in there, it should be easy, and conceals the switch and the socket.

Not a difficult conversion I would have thought

 

[maxi-model]

It's very much a case of chose your R/C system (TX/RX/ESC) - order rechargeable battery pack, with fuse and to the correct voltage with sufficient mAh - isolate track pick ups (some Bachmann locos have a switch to do this) - add sound card and speaker if required (remember it must be compatible with ESC's PWM output) and install.

I would think settling on which R/C system meets your needs for now and the future is the most important thing. This probably won't be the only loco you convert if going down this route. Many TX's can be bound to multiple locos' RX's, if the same make or protocol, for speed and direction control and to activate their fitted options but not all TX's will work with other RX's. Max

 

[dunnyrail]

Certainly a no brainier for a Fosworks System, if you do go that way it is worthwhile pulling the Tender apart to see just how much you can stuff into the Tender. Parts that you would need:-

Cobra 160 or 165 Speed Control depending on Sound
FR22 Reciever
Tx2 Transmitter without inertia bit cheeper
Smart Charger for Batteries
Wiring loom
Batteries 8 or 12 pack
With Batteries it is worthwhile to fake up what you will need in terms of how they go together to fit in the Tender or Loco Body, send a pic to Steve who will get the right configuration made up for you.

Steve quotes the sizes of all the Boards on his Website so you could make up fakes from Plasticard or Wood again to see how it all fits in place. The pickup wires from the Loco will be surplus and the setup just connect to the Motor Wires. Fairly quick and easy conversion I would think then sit back to enjoy 6-10 hours of Track Cleaning free Operation.

 

[maxi-model]

Jimmy, "Madman", aka Dan Padova, on here seems to have done a conversion in the past on the mining mogul. Link to thread is here Bachmann Mogul - G Scale Central - see post #21 However, none of the videos and other links seem to be to active pages. PM him he might be able to give you up to date links to his YouTube videos ? Max

 

[Rhinochugger]

Certainly a no brainier for a Fosworks System, if you do go that way it is worthwhile pulling the Tender apart to see just how much you can stuff into the Tender. Parts that you would need:-

Cobra 160 or 165 Speed Control depending on Sound
FR22 Reciever
Tx2 Transmitter without inertia bit cheeper
Smart Charger for Batteries
Wiring loom
Batteries 8 or 12 pack
With Batteries it is worthwhile to fake up what you will need in terms of how they go together to fit in the Tender or Loco Body, send a pic to Steve who will get the right configuration made up for you.

Steve quotes the sizes of all the Boards on his Website so you could make up fakes from Plasticard or Wood again to see how it all fits in place. The pickup wires from the Loco will be surplus and the setup just connect to the Motor Wires. Fairly quick and easy conversion I would think then sit back to enjoy 6-10 hours of Track Cleaning free Operation.

The tender isn't over large, and if using Ni-mH batteries, the Deltang gear (from R C Trains - PhilP) would take up less space

Either way, it's a simple job ........................... seeeemples

 

[JimmyB]

Many thanks for comments so far, I would certainly be considering LiPo as the batteries, and my initial thoughts are 11.1 v or 14.4 v, of the largest size I can fit, and I currently have a smart charger for lithium (up to 6S) and non lithium batteries. some of my questions revolve around leaving the Bachmann electronics in, changing the lamps to LED, sound, and the likes

 

[Rhinochugger]

Many thanks for comments so far, I would certainly be considering LiPo as the batteries, and my initial thoughts are 11.1 v or 14.4 v, of the largest size I can fit, and I currently have a smart charger for lithium (up to 6S) and non lithium batteries. some of my questions revolve around leaving the Bachmann electronics in, changing the lamps to LED, sound, and the likes

Ah, the simple answer is dunno.

I think the Bachmann board is likely to be pretty simple - the basic parts diagram which may help a little bit with the electrics is here 2-6-0 Industrial Mogul : Bachmann Trains Online Store!

EDIT - no help at all - in which case it's extremely basic, probably mainly for the smoke unit. The headlamp bulbs are probably 5v, so you may be able to just get away with a resistor and an LED.

Sound - if it has it, will only deliver a very basic chuff as I believe it's the same as the Annie, and would benefit from Goerge Schreyer's modifications Bachmann Sound Tips

A Mylocosound card is a good upgrade

 

[spoz]

I did a conversion using AAA NiMH, and posted it on here some years ago, 2012 I think. The post should still exist in the Resource area, I think - I’m pretty sure I saw it there some months ago - but I’m on my iPad and can’t link to it at the moment.

Edit, hmm, can’t find it. I’ll get on the computer when I get home and see if I can find it that way; if not I should have the original article somewhere (scratching head....)

 

[Deleted member 4232]

Moved

 

[spoz]

OK, here's the link to the original thread: Bachmann Indy 2-6-0 conversion to battery & RC - G Scale Central, for me it looks like the photos are no longer there. I do still have the original article complete with photos so I'll have a go at putting that in the Resource area.

 

[spoz]

And here's the re-uploaded version with piccies. Bachmann Indy 2-6-0 Battery & R/C Conversion

 

[dunnyrail]

Hm think I would be tempted to do a mod or two to make this conversion simpler. Changing it from a Coal Burner to an Oil Burner by hacking out the Coal and putting in effectively a Plasticard Box a little higher than the max height of the Coal would give more space for Batteries and gear in the Tender. Utilising what you can of the Boiler Space as well to distribute some of the Circuit Boards and whatever Sound Card would also help. Plus a Smaller Speaker such as a Small Super Bass one would also help. I think getting the plan of attack before you start is most important on such a small Loco then buy the parts.

 

[JimmyB]

And here's the re-uploaded version with piccies. Bachmann Indy 2-6-0 Battery & R/C Conversion

Spoz, very useful, one thing I will take away from this is voltage, I was hoping to use 3S LiPo so 11.1 volts, and from what you have written this seems adequate. I will need to re-read and in more detail, but it would seem you left most of the original Bachmann electronics in place, and utilised the tender pick-ups as your motor input.