Bachmann Thomas gets battery R/C and sound.

[Tony Walsham]

Early today Thomas arrived for the treatment. I must admit I was quite excited to see whether or not Bachmann has got it right. I gave it a quick backwards and forwards on the test track and was most impressed with how smooth it ran.
But Hey!!! The gear ratio is all wrong again. On 12 volts it is a Rocket Ship. Actually, that is not going to matter much as 9.2 volts of batteries will fit a lot more easily than 14.4 does. The higher voltage takes up a lot of space. 8 Cells is going to work out just fine.
Resistance was useless. After I had finished my Sat am chores and rather pleasant lunch of Portuguese sardines, I simply had to pull him apart and see what was possible.

The first step is to remove all the 8 screws that hold the body to the chassis.

http://www.rcs-rc.com/pics/Bachmann-Thomas/01.jpg < Link To

Once apart it was possible to study the situation at length.
I have figured out how to fit everything inside the loco shell.
8 x "AA" ENELOOP 2000 mah Hybrid cells, RCS-BELTROL R/C, a 2.4 GHz 5 channel RX and a MyLocosound with speakers. Plus an installation kit to make wiring simpler.
The MyLocosound system has a very nice chuff and a very British whistle. Just right for Thomas.

The bonus will be the charge jack which will be situated on the rear buffer beam. This will allow a trail car set of batteries to plug in and replace the loco batteries for an extended running time.

Once apart I played around placing components.
The first thing I decided to do was locate the speaker for the MyLocosound.
I had the option of a few examples but decided on a small oval speaker that Phoenix and Dallee both sell.
I could not mount it facing up as I needed the space below the bottom of the coal load area for one of the battery packs.
So I decided to mount it under the actual coal load facing down.
The first thing to do was cut the ends off the fake coal to let the sound out the sides.

http://www.rcs-rc.com/pics/Bachmann-Thomas/02.jpg < Link To
Once they were removed I glued the speaker to the underneath of the coal load.

Then I built up a baffle box out of thinnish styrene. I hope it works but as yet I cannot try it out.

Anyway, it will not be hard to play around to get the best sound I can.
Once I had the speaker set up finished I drilled a small hole for the speaker wires and remounted the coal load into the body shell.

The other two wires coming from the rear of the body shell are connected to a 3mm green LED I placed in the dummy lantern. I simply drilled out the lantern to accept the LED and then carefully filed down the base of the LED so it would poke through the lantern from the back. There is a 470 ohm resistor in series to enable the LED to work on 5 volts. I did the same to the front dummy lantern. Although not essential, having working front and rear lights makes operation much simpler. This loco is for children so the colour of the LED's does not matter. I would use Warm White LED's for regular scale model locos.
More to follow as I progress.

 

[johnsaintjim]

Very interesting Tony. Thanks for sahring this. How much will the completed loco be. I have a feeling it's going ot be around the price of a budget Accucraft live steamie? £450 (I know we are a weak currency...)

One thing on the speaker which I discovered by accident when fitting the MLS card in the tender of my Hunslet. Fixing the speaker facedown onto a flat piece of plasticard has a very similar effect to building a box round it and takes up a lot less space.

 

[Tony Walsham]

Hello Graham.

I don't know how much Thomas costs. The loco is owned by my customer.

I am using the Planet Twister 5 Ch 2.4 GHz system which is I think about £40. Other R/C's can be used.
The BELTROL AL-3r is around £45.
The install kit will be £15.
The MyLocosound will be
The speaker £5.
The 2 x 4.8 volt 2000 mah batteries I can't say, but they should be fairly low cost.
My guess is under £200.

But then, grandkids you know..........

 

[johnsaintjim]

Tony I seem to recall checking the loco price and it was £200 - but maybe that was for the set. Not sure if the loco is available separately and in any case I suppose we would want a train of Thomas carriages for it. So it's shaping up to be £300.

The idea is tempting though. Don't have any grandchildren yet, although I have had words in the right quarters...

 

[George]

Tony I seem to recall checking the loco price and it was £200 - but maybe that was for the set. Not sure if the loco is available separately and in any case I suppose we would want a train of Thomas carriages for it. So it's shaping up to be £300.

The idea is tempting though. Don't have any grandchildren yet, although I have had words in the right quarters...

the set its about £175 i think, the locos and carriages are indeed availble seprately

 

[Tony Walsham]

More progress.

Phase three has taken place.

Next up was selecting the location for the sound system and which of the RX's I wanted to use.
Here is the MyLocosound which fits neatly between support pillars on the LH side.

Being slight behind the front pillar means that inserting the wires in the screw terminals before finally locating the sound card would be a good idea.

The regular RCS metal cased RX will fit easily on the RH side.

Here is the Planet Twister RX.

Then the E-Sky.

The Hobby King.

No pic of the SPEKTRUM AR-500 but it fits as well in the same place.

What really makes this a simple installation is the BASIC-3 (aka EVO-B3 & BTL AL-3R).
This is long, thin and low profile, so it mounts easily above the motor block under the top of the boiler.

I mounted the ON-OFF switch and charge jack in the rear buffer beam.
I made the assembly from parts that are easily available in most local electronic stores or from RCS.

I drilled a hole through the floor so the wires could go up to the top of the chassis.
There is a convenient space behind the motor into which the excess wiring can be tucked out of the way once the connections have been made.

Next up will be installing the two 4.8 volt rechargeable battery packs and completing the wiring.

 

[Tony Walsham]

The final phase is complete, and THOMAS is up and running.

As Thomas is such a race horse on 12 volts I determined to use 9.6 volts. The RCS-BELTROL ESC I used can work down to 7.2 volts. So 8 cells s ideal.
I opted for two 4.8 volt packs AA size packs of rechargeable cells which are available over the counter from most hobby shops in the two different shapes needed.
My battery supplier has them with ENELOOP AA size NiMh-Alkaline hybrid batteries in the two shapes I need for them to fit in Thomas.

.

The two packs fit like this in the body.

The brick shape fits in the bottom of the coal bunker at the back. The flat pack fits under the cab floor.
The packs came with regular JR servo type connectors so I fabricated a cable set to put them in series from a couple of servo extension leads. Normally I would just wire up the two wires that are fitted to the regular batter packs I get made.
Be careful not to mount the flat pack too far forwards. If you do it will foul the rear of the motor.

The wiring was finished off thus.

I put plugs and sockets on all the wiring that goes between the body shell and the chassis. It is not really necessary to do that and in fact does increase the odds of a failure at some stage. I do it mainly because it allows me to more easily take photos as I progress.

I charged up the batteries and then bound the PLANET RX to the TX and calibrated the system as per the regular BELTROL instructions.
Everything fits in easily but be vary careful assembling the body to the chassis not get any wires under the screw holes and make sure they are clear of any fittings that would prevent the body sitting down snugly on the chassis.
I do advise removing the face from the front of the body shell. Doing so makes relocating the little plastic "sticks" behind the eyes much easier.
Once the body is back on the chassis and Thomas has been tested, hold the face in two hands with the eyes held in place by your thumbs. Locate the two little pegs on each side of the slider on the motor block front and gently push the face back into the boiler until it clicks home.

Thomas performs well except for a small bind in the mechanism that I expect will disappear with usage.

I will do a follow up soon with a list of the parts that can be used for the installation.
Thank you for your attention.

 

[Rhinochugger]

Tony, what sort of running time do you expect from the AA batteries? :thinking:

 

[Tony Walsham]

Tony, what sort of running time do you expect from the AA batteries? :thinking:

Given the light weight and low current draw of the Loco I would expect at least 2 x hours.
There are AA size cells with greater claimed capacity but they are not of the excellent ENELOOP hybrid variety.

 

[Rhinochugger]

Tony, what sort of running time do you expect from the AA batteries? :thinking:

Given the light weight and low current draw of the Loco I would expect at least 2 x hours.
There are AA size cells with greater claimed capacity but they are not of the excellent ENELOOP hybrid variety.

Ta

:thinking::thinking::thinking:

 

[minimans]

Any chance of a short video Tony? would love to hear it...........

 

[Tony Walsham]

Any chance of a short video Tony? would love to hear it...........

Sorry but I don't do videos.
I did do some with a Cannon digital camera until it died and Cannon wanted almost as much as it cost to fix it as it cost.
Maybe one day. But it will definitely not be with a Cannon product.

In the meantime it is the regular MyLocosound steam sound and Peter has videos at his website.

 

[Moonraker]

You can hear the mylocosound steam at http://www.mylocosound.com/ < Link To www.mylocosound.com. Clock on the Large Scale Steam button and then the British Steam link in the page which appears. The whistle tone can be plain or chime and is adjustable.

Peter

 

[Moonraker]

Tony,

I discovered a problem with all this the other day. My soon-to-be-three granddaughter made her first visit to my railway and ran several trains. She had big problems with my model aircraft type joystick controllers, such as you have used on Thomas, because she kept poking people with the aerial and could not understand the concept of moving a lever slowly and holding it in a position. On the otherhand, she had no trouble at all with the RCS pushbutton controllers. She understood how to start and stop within minutes and the whistle button got a major workout.

So, my question is, what RCS components would you recommend if I am going to convert a Thomas to battery radio control using your handheld pushbutton controllers.

Peter

 

[Tony Walsham]

Hello Peter.

Very young children have always been able to quickly grasp how an RCS TX-4 or TX-24 hand piece works.
It has long been a feature of how simple RCS is to operate.
In the above article I do show where you would ideally put an RCS RX.
The actual ESC pictured is the same hardware for RCS - ELITE, RCS - BELTROL and RCS - EVO systems.
Although I am no longer listing the TX-4 because it is almost the same price as the 8 button TX-24, I can still provide them to a special order if wanted. When used with a TX-4 hand piece the sound trigger button is on the RH side.

 

[Moonraker]

Tony,

As you are aware, I am currently converting a Thomas for my granddaughter using your method. Is there any chance of a wiring diagram, particularly showing the charging arrangements?

I am using one of your battery chargers I got from you for my 14.4v Ni-Cads for other locos. I assume that I have to buy something different for 9.2v NiMH. What do you suggest?

Can one use flashing head and tail lights for maximum child appeal?

Finally, I will be using it at exhibitions in which we charge children $1 to drive it for 5 minutes. Proceeds go to charity. This means that it has to run all day so I will put another 9.2v of batteries into one of the coaches. How should these get connected?

I will put up a video when done.

If anyone is interested, I bought my "Thomas", "Annie" and "Clarabel" from Trainworld in the USA for US$180 plus US$60 freight via DHL which got it to Australia in a week.

Thanks
Peter

 

[Tony Walsham]

Hi Peter.

This should help http://www.rcs-rc.com/PDF/Accessories/Instructions/Install_kits/U-BIK-3.pdf < Link To U-BIK-3 kit

 

[Geon]

Here is my modified Thomas

 

[dunnyrail]

Here is my modified Thomas

Looks much better in black with no face.