Convert it to battery RC

[Choppercook]

Hi, I hope I am welcome ? I have had a railway in my garden for just over a year now it is not live rail so I run RC trains , I am looking at getting a LGB 20232 - 2-4-0 Loco & Tender - UNION PACIFIC, but I will have to convert it to battery RC. Have any one done this & could give me some help.

 

[voodoopenguin]

Although I cannot help with your enquiry I can say welcome to another Norfolk member.

Paul

 

[-bbbb]

Hi, I hope I am welcome ? I have had a railway in my garden for just over a year now it is not live rail so I run RC trains , I am looking at getting a LGB 20232 - 2-4-0 Loco & Tender - UNION PACIFIC, but I will have to convert it to battery RC. Have any one done this & could give me some help.

Maybe start here?: Dummies Guide To Convert A Track Powered G Scale Locomotive To Rc Battery Powered - G Scale Central

Or you can take an RC control system out of something else like an RC car and try hooking it up to the train motor instead of the drive motor of the car. And make sure your battery pack has enough voltage to run the train, and hope that this voltage is not too much for the RC system you use.

If you're looking for tips on your specific model of train, someone else will have to answer.

 

[Zerogee]

Welcome to GSC - all are welcome here, track power, battery, live steam, whatever!

I'm sure that JonD (Dunnyrail) will be along very soon, he's a great advocate of battery RC conversions and has documented several of them on here.

Although I still use mostly track power (with Massoth DCC) I've done a couple of Wireless DCC battery conversions for times when I want to take a loco to visit a "dead rail" line, you can find them here:

Building the Multi-Power Loco....

Today, I managed to put in a little time on my Multi-Power Loco project - the idea of which is to take an LGB track-power loco (an OBB 2095 "Whizzy Cranks", as it has a nice boxy body with plenty of room for added internal gubbins) and turn it in to a "touring" loco that I can take, and run...

www.gscalecentral.net

Multi-Power Loco Mark II.... this time it's steam.....

Having had success with my first "Multi-Power" loco project using an LGB 2095 Austrian BoBo Diesel, as described here: https://www.gscalecentral.net/threads/building-the-multi-power-loco.309298/ I've now made a start on the second project, which is putting a similar setup into an LGB Saxon Meyer...

www.gscalecentral.net

While they may not be exactly relevant to what you're doing (since I wanted specifically to keep full DCC functionality, rather than use a proprietary RC system), some of the installation methods, battery mounting etc. might be useful to you?

Jon.

 

[Paul M]

Welcome, all the advice you could possibly need will be available. Battery power does seem to be on the rise, although it does have its disadvantages

 

[Rhinochugger]

Hi, I hope I am welcome ? I have had a railway in my garden for just over a year now it is not live rail so I run RC trains , I am looking at getting a LGB 20232 - 2-4-0 Loco & Tender - UNION PACIFIC, but I will have to convert it to battery RC. Have any one done this & could give me some help.

There's plenty of room in the tender, unless you've got it full of sound cards etc.

With Deltang from RC Trains, or the Fosworks kit, it should be a fairly straightforward conversion, and I would have thought that 14.4v of AA (eneloop or LSD) rated at around 2300mAh would do it nicely

 

[dunnyrail]

Hi, I hope I am welcome ? I have had a railway in my garden for just over a year now it is not live rail so I run RC trains , I am looking at getting a LGB 20232 - 2-4-0 Loco & Tender - UNION PACIFIC, but I will have to convert it to battery RC. Have any one done this & could give me some help.

Hi and welcome to the forum. I have done a few Battery Mods now. Have grafted 2 of your Loks and made a Mallett out of it. The method of Batterification on this and all my others has been to use Fosworks Kit, though there are other suppliers that provide Deltang that Ge_rik and others use with great effect.

Here is my Mallett Link.

Harz Mallet Bash from Newquid Body and 2 x 20231.2 Chassis. Battery Powered.

Having bought the two USA Locomotives to be used for the Chassis of this Loco for a silly price in York some time ago, their day has finally come. In the interveneing period I aquired a Newquid 2-6-2 Battery Loco and always looked like a part donor Loco for this project. Here are a couple of...

www.gscalecentral.net

The other part of the Forum that gives many Battery Conversions can be found here if you have not yet found it. Not yet found any of the disadvantages that Paul M refers to, but I do take my time with my Conversions to ensure that they are done right.

Battery Power

This section is for all your battery powered related topics.

www.gscalecentral.net

 

[ge_rik]

There's plenty of room in the tender, unless you've got it full of sound cards etc.

With Deltang from RC Trains, or the Fosworks kit, it should be a fairly straightforward conversion, and I would have thought that 14.4v of AA (eneloop or LSD) rated at around 2300mAh would do it nicely

Just be aware that the latest receivers from Deltang / RC Trains are now only rated at a max of 13 volts. The new chips aren't as tolerant as those used previously unfortunately.

Rik

 

[Madman]

I realize that you are in the UK and that shipping cost may determine where you purchase your R/C equipment from. However, I have been using G Scale Graphics R/C equipment since 2010. It's amazingly simple to understand, install and operate. Whichever way you go, have a look at their site. Del has an excellent support system if you need it. He usually will return an answer the same day.

G-Scale Graphics

Custom Vinyl Lettering and Electronics for Garden Railroading

www.gscalegraphics.net

 

[Gizzy]

Welcome to the forum Chopper....

 

[PhilP]

Just be aware that the latest receivers from Deltang / RC Trains are now only rated at a max of 13 volts. The new chips aren't as tolerant as those used previously unfortunately.

Rik

Welcome to the Forum 'Chopper'.. I hope you have a good sense of humour?

There is still a Deltang / RC Trains combined receiver rated to '18v maximum' - The RCT-Rx66a.
This also has a larger current capacity, especially with an added heatsink.

Alternatively, you can go the separate receiver and ESC (speed controller) route.

PhilP.

 

[Rhinochugger]

Just be aware that the latest receivers from Deltang / RC Trains are now only rated at a max of 13 volts. The new chips aren't as tolerant as those used previously unfortunately.

Rik

Yes, I think you can still get older versions that will take the higher voltages - equally, I would expect that a higher voltage solution will soon be back on the market.

 

[Zerogee]

Chopper (is that how you are happy for us to address you?) - re-reading your original post, I realise that you're probably not asking for general advice on fitting RC, but specific guidance for the particular model you mention in your post.... as you say you've been running RC in your garden for a year now, what other battery locos are you running, and with which RC systems in them? Is the LGB one that you're asking about going to be your first DIY installation job?

Jon.

 

[JimmyB]

Chopper, welcome to the forum.

 

[a98087]

I’ve converted one of these to battery manual control, i added a dpdt switch in the cab so that’s I can switch between track or battery power,

I fitted a removable 3s 5ah lipo battery (12v but lipos are labelled differently)in the tender and a speed controller as well.

In theory all you have to remove the current motor wires and run new wires into your chosen speed controller.

I Recommend that you fit in the tender as it’s massive and make sure it easy.

This link might help , but it’s geared for dcc fitting not battery

WaltonsModels.co.uk

If you want photoshop of my set up just ask

Dan

 

[Choppercook]

Chopper (is that how you are happy for us to address you?) - re-reading your original post, I realise that you're probably not asking for general advice on fitting RC, but specific guidance for the particular model you mention in your post.... as you say you've been running RC in your garden for a year now, what other battery locos are you running, and with which RC systems in them? Is the LGB one that you're asking about going to be your first DIY installation job?

Jon.

Thanks Jon for the welcome, First of all my ser name is Cook & I fly RC scale helicopters. I only got into trains when my wife sead she would love to have a train running around the garden. So I first set up a small track over the fish pond, to me it was to small so I lade more & more track , now the ra

Chopper (is that how you are happy for us to address you?) - re-reading your original post, I realise that you're probably not asking for general advice on fitting RC, but specific guidance for the particular model you mention in your post.... as you say you've been running RC in your garden for a year now, what other battery locos are you running, and with which RC systems in them? Is the LGB one that you're asking about going to be your first DIY installation job?

Jon.

Hi Jon, Thanks for the welcome. First off my surname is Cook, & my main hobby is flying scale RC helicopters, nick name ChopperCook. From all who know me.
I got into garden railways when at a model show my wife said she would like a train running over the fish pond, so I set one up, not live rail because it is out side all the year, after a while I felt it was too small, now the track runs all around the back garden over the pond and all. The first Loco I got was the Newqida RC SCALE Harz 2-6-2 steam with 3-passenger carriages. Then I got a Playmobil old timer which I coupled with a tender, added a ECS,2.4 recover & TX, bigger battery & a MyLocoSound steam sound card new paint job. It is a real tough little loco which can pull 7 freight wagons.
I just Love the look of the LGB 20230 2-4-0 Union Pacific locomotive with tender but I will have to convert it to RC battery for my track. I was just wondering if anyone has done this so I could get some idea how to go about the job. You will have to bear with me as I have no knowledge of DCC, chip set, wiring, anything or what I am looking for or what all the talk is about garden railways,
Thanks for your interest. By the way this is the first forum I have ever joined & was surprised how many have a similar interest

 

[Paul M]

Oh yes, like everything else garden railwaying is unsurprisingly popular

 

[Gavin Sowry]

G'day Chop, and welcome aboard. Let me state straight away, that I am firmly on the track power camp.
However, one is allowed to err. Mainly because a lot of my mates could not comprehend the nuances of powering trains the way God intended, I found myself with fewer and fewer
layouts to go run my stuff on. Rather than convert, I decided to have a foot in both camps..... I modified a loco to run on batteries, but also allowed it to still run on track power.
Basically, all I did was to leave all the wiring/pick ups etc alone, and just disconnect the two feed wire to the motor. I joined these to the two bottom tabs of a DPDT switch. Then, I connected the middle tabs back to the motor. Flick the switch up, and it still runs on track power. Flick it down, and nothing happens..... because you have yet to supply the battery feed, and control system of your choice to the top two tabs.
After 'designing' my system, I found that some Aristocraft locos come with that exact same option (so I bought one). Check out my Taita Gorge Railway posts.

 

[Tony Walsham]

Hi Gavin.
Aristocraft Battery- Track switches do not actually select either or as we understand it.
All of those I have worked on the battery switch just adds or removes the track power to the plugs at either end of the loco.
If you plugged a battery pack into an Aristocraft socket at either end with the switch to track you would feed battery power down into the track.
That is because sockets at either end off the loco are supposed to be used to bus the track power between all MU'ed locos when track power is selected. Thus improving the pick up of all locos.
Just be careful because as is usual with some AristCraft locos they got the internal wiring back to front relative to other locos in a consist.

 

[Gavin Sowry]

Hi Gavin.
Aristocraft Battery- Track switches do not actually select either or as we understand it.
All of those I have worked on the battery switch just adds or removes the track power to the plugs at either end of the loco.
If you plugged a battery pack into an Aristocraft socket at either end with the switch to track you would feed battery power down into the track.
That is because sockets at either end off the loco are supposed to be used to bus the track power between all MU'ed locos when track power is selected. Thus improving the pick up of all locos.
Just be careful because as is usual with some AristCraft locos they got the internal wiring back to front relative to other locos in a consist.

Kinda losing me a bit Tony.... My Aristo FA-1 has a switch track/battery. In the track position, it runs on controlled track power. In the battery position my set up, in a trailing car, is battery, connected to my old Basic Train Engineer, which feeds the jump wire on the loco which feeds the motor. Thanks for the tip on the dodgy internals.