The other option is to rewire the LGB Switch in the Cab which is pretty easily accesible for turning on and off.
Battery Powered Forney
- Thread starter BakerJohn
- Start date
Well there is a 3 way slider switch in the cab that turns the motor on and off in different circumstances it switches another function. You will not need it as you will be taking out the main Circuit Board so can desolder all the wires and use it as an On/off switch for your main battery circuit. You will probably need to check out what the pins do (by testing each one with the switch in its different places) with a small meter or other circuit testing device that will then tell you how the switch works. It is double pole so the switch could be used to turn lights on/off with just a single wire if you desired. But they would probably be on all the time the motor was on thus possibly draining the battery.
Ah! The 'LGB Switch' a weird beastie!!
Actually two totally separate switches in the same package. - Hence the ten wires..
The first six are a DPDT switch, and the last four are a DPST. - But being LGB, it is not that simple!
Position '0' - All off, nothing connected to anything.
Position '1' - First pair (common) connects to second pair.
Position '2' - First pair is now connected to third pair.. Fourth and fifth pair are also now connected to each other.
I did try to draw this out, but got in a mess quite early on..
The above words, plus playing with a meter will show what it does..
Actually two totally separate switches in the same package. - Hence the ten wires..
The first six are a DPDT switch, and the last four are a DPST. - But being LGB, it is not that simple!
Position '0' - All off, nothing connected to anything.
Position '1' - First pair (common) connects to second pair.
Position '2' - First pair is now connected to third pair.. Fourth and fifth pair are also now connected to each other.
I did try to draw this out, but got in a mess quite early on..
The above words, plus playing with a meter will show what it does..
Time for an update! The short version is that my last components are going to be delivered today! Only about a week from the UK. Not bad!
I've spent the last 4 hours or so working on my Forney. Here's what I've managed so far...
I had built a small housing from styrene for the circuit boards last week. The sound card fits in the bottom and the Rx will sit on top. They just fit like this inside the boiler where the original LGB circuitry was screwed down. At the same time I also attached the external antenna for the sound card to the bottom of the footplate.
After the sound card was in place the next logical thing was to put the speaker in place. I'd made two custom fit 'shelves' for the speaker to sit inside the steam dome. The lower one is such a tight fit it doesn't need any glue, but it got some anyway. The top one sits about 2mm above the other and can come out if I need to remove the speaker for any reason. I thought of drilling small holes in the top of the steam dome around the whistle to allow sound to pass better, but I figured I'll test it first and see what I think.
Next I installed the necessary switches... a SPST for the smokestack and a SPDT for main power/charging. Plus, the charging port. The smokestack's switch is on the back of the bunker where LGB had a multi-purpose socket and the other two components are under the coal load, which I've modified to lift out easily. Yes, the back of the bunker needs some work still. I'll fill in the holes and paint black when I have the supplies to do so.
I think that's all for now... Next thing to do is figure out LGB's color coding. I have no idea which wire is positive & negative on the LED's... opss...
I had built a small housing from styrene for the circuit boards last week. The sound card fits in the bottom and the Rx will sit on top. They just fit like this inside the boiler where the original LGB circuitry was screwed down. At the same time I also attached the external antenna for the sound card to the bottom of the footplate.
After the sound card was in place the next logical thing was to put the speaker in place. I'd made two custom fit 'shelves' for the speaker to sit inside the steam dome. The lower one is such a tight fit it doesn't need any glue, but it got some anyway. The top one sits about 2mm above the other and can come out if I need to remove the speaker for any reason. I thought of drilling small holes in the top of the steam dome around the whistle to allow sound to pass better, but I figured I'll test it first and see what I think.
Next I installed the necessary switches... a SPST for the smokestack and a SPDT for main power/charging. Plus, the charging port. The smokestack's switch is on the back of the bunker where LGB had a multi-purpose socket and the other two components are under the coal load, which I've modified to lift out easily. Yes, the back of the bunker needs some work still. I'll fill in the holes and paint black when I have the supplies to do so.
I think that's all for now... Next thing to do is figure out LGB's color coding. I have no idea which wire is positive & negative on the LED's... opss...
Have you tried to see how it sounds with that small speaker and the steam dome on? Honestly I don't see how you will get much sound. Also it appears that you don't have the back of the speaker isolated from the front. Unless the back of the speaker is sealed, this will limit sound volume and quality drastically.
Greg
Greg
Hey Greg.
I'm going to test things today before it all goes back together. I couldn't get the sound card to work yesterday, apparently it needs to be woken up by the motor, so that will wait until I get it all wired. It shouldn't take me long, but we shall see...
If it doesn't work I cold fit a larger speaker in the bunker. My originally plan was to put the battery in the bunker, that's why the speaker is so small and somewhere else. (The battery doesn't fit in the bunker, so you can see it in the cab. It's not the best, but this is my first time doing this, so I'm learning.)
Maybe a false floor of black plasticard in the cab, over the battery (if you went for the "flat" 4-cell pack) with a couple of "legless" loco crew fixed to it.....?
Jon.
Jon.
That's a good idea!
I finished wiring the locomotive! It runs well but I have one small problem... it seems the charger doesnt recognize the battery now.
Photos and videos to come...
I finished wiring the locomotive! It runs well but I have one small problem... it seems the charger doesnt recognize the battery now.
Photos and videos to come...
Either your switch, or charger socket, wiring.. Or, if using Lipo batteries, you have discharged the batteries to far, and your protection circuitry has cut-in..
This looking at rear of charge jack..
+ve Red to Right
-ve Black to Bottom - this wire to your switch/receiver-controller
Left wire, is -ve from battery.
Yes, I think thats what happened. I checked with my meter this AM and found that no power is flowing through. Ill have to check my wiring....
So, it appears I wired the negative lead to the wrong terminal on the jack. I'll have to fix it on Friday....
But, in other news! I took a video of my locomotive running on a short spur inside since the weather's been so bad outside. Then I accidentally deleted from my cell phone... I'm tired. I'll try again tomorrow. Maybe even outside!
But, in other news! I took a video of my locomotive running on a short spur inside since the weather's been so bad outside. Then I accidentally deleted from my cell phone... I'm tired. I'll try again tomorrow. Maybe even outside!
Hey, but:
1. You appear to have diagnosed the wiring fault.
2. The loco ran.
Sounds like a result to me? Well done!
Here's a short video of my Forney running around the loop outside. It gives a good view of the loop that I'm working on right now.
haha yes, it does. These were the best shots I took. Though, I noticed while doing this that the rear light isn't working.....
It appears that the sound got out of the dome, just barely... it sounds like you were blowing the horn (sound is wrong?) there were 2 different sounds... no whistle?
Greg
Greg