
Yes I have taken the plunge with LiPo batteries. Not without some trepidation I may add, reading the warnings is scary stuff.
ABOUT THE TRAMS.
These 2 little babies have IP Budget Chassis with Delrin Chains to get them to be 4 wheel drive. Here are pics of the beasties involved with the chassis shown below on the first one. The one below was a Garden Railway Specialists impulse purchase, scratch built by who knows who. I updated the chassis with the Delrin Chain.
But first the chaos on my Workbench before I had a little tidy up so that I could commence this project.


This one was built by a good now sadly departed friend of mine from Hemel. Roger Goodhall was his name and it was swopped out for some LGB Track as he built a small line for his granddaughter. Not sure if he put the Delrin Chain in on this one, but as with the other it is now fitted.


PARTS I HAVE USED
I have sourced from Micron 1 x RX65c, plus the following for each loco:-
-Tx22v2 receiver
-2 x Nano-Tech 750mAh 35c 1S LiPo batteries
-Toggle Switch Charge Module,
-Molex 2mm to JST-XH ChargeLead,
-Molex 2mm Plug Lead and
-MLS Sound Card Steam.
Plus of course a charger 80w C607D AC/DC Multi-Type Charger.
I needed 2 Batteries as on their own a single LiPo will not have the minimum 6v required to drive the MLS card. There are ways I believe to step up the voltage but this requires some other sort of gizmo, more cost and less durance Of battery life. I also need to work out how to restrict the Motor Voltage to max out at the 4.8v of the IP Chassis.
BATTERIES
The batteries need to be paired and this has to be a specific way, Micron include a wiring diagram if you order 2 for your project. Reading the safety advice of these LiPo’s it makes complete sense to follow that advice. Here I show how the two have been connected up to a 3 pin plug so that Balanced Charging can be undertaken. Note that I have given each battery a number and taped them together with gaffa tape.

I will not be charging these in the Loco, thus I will be making them removable for charging. Being a belt and braces sort of a guy I have had a Metal Ammunition Box kicking around for some time now, I had intended to donate it to one of those blokes with an old Army Jeep that we all love to see. Now it will have another role, storing the LiPo’s and for use to keep the Charger and Batteries in during Charging. Paranoid or what?


SETTING THE BASIC MOTOR UP
Wiring the basics was about as simple as things could be, the following show how I have stuffed all the gubbins in the Loco. The 2 long bits of heatshrink to the blue/yellow wires are to the motor, these have not been shrunk yet as I may need to do something with these like swopping them round to get my direction orientation correct, easier than reprogramming! I also think that I will need to cut into the Power Wires from the Battery to supply Lights (if I fit them) and to power the MLS. They are the Red and Black below from the Switch. This has an inline reset fuse included.

Below the Batteries are connected to this plug.


Next to the On/Off switch is the charging point should I ever be brave enough to charge up the batteries inside the loco. A little bitbof tidyingbup required in this area.


GETTING IT WORKING
This could not have been simpler. The Switch has 3 wires, Red/Black/Orange. These 3 were connected to the matching colours on the Rx65 receiver and heat shrinked. 2 x Yellow wires from the receiver wired to the Motor with heat shrink to keep secure till properly sealed in. This was all wired up as shown on the Micron sheet included with my 2 batteries. I then followed the binding instructions in the Tx22 Transmitter Manual. Switched things on and lo and behold the little Steam Tram swung into life, a little test run of her purring down the line proved that this part of the project was a success. With just ine minor correction being required so that when I turn the knob right the loco goes to the right. A simple fix allowed for by not yet soldering the motor wires.
NEXT
I need to now get to grips with fitting the Sound Card, for this I have sourced a Rail Exclusive SP18/13/13 Boomer bass reflex speakers, one for each Loco. Will be interesting to see how these perform in the Garden. Programming the Reciever is a little like Witch Craft to me, but re-reading the Instructions (many times) looking at Rik’s YT Vids helps a lot and downloading the Deltang Tables is another starter for 10. The Tables can be a little bit daunting at first but if you watch Rik’s Vid linked below with the Tables beside you, clarity with a little patience starts to kick in. Well it did with me!
ABOUT THE TRAMS.
These 2 little babies have IP Budget Chassis with Delrin Chains to get them to be 4 wheel drive. Here are pics of the beasties involved with the chassis shown below on the first one. The one below was a Garden Railway Specialists impulse purchase, scratch built by who knows who. I updated the chassis with the Delrin Chain.
But first the chaos on my Workbench before I had a little tidy up so that I could commence this project.


This one was built by a good now sadly departed friend of mine from Hemel. Roger Goodhall was his name and it was swopped out for some LGB Track as he built a small line for his granddaughter. Not sure if he put the Delrin Chain in on this one, but as with the other it is now fitted.


PARTS I HAVE USED
I have sourced from Micron 1 x RX65c, plus the following for each loco:-
-Tx22v2 receiver
-2 x Nano-Tech 750mAh 35c 1S LiPo batteries
-Toggle Switch Charge Module,
-Molex 2mm to JST-XH ChargeLead,
-Molex 2mm Plug Lead and
-MLS Sound Card Steam.
Plus of course a charger 80w C607D AC/DC Multi-Type Charger.
I needed 2 Batteries as on their own a single LiPo will not have the minimum 6v required to drive the MLS card. There are ways I believe to step up the voltage but this requires some other sort of gizmo, more cost and less durance Of battery life. I also need to work out how to restrict the Motor Voltage to max out at the 4.8v of the IP Chassis.
BATTERIES
The batteries need to be paired and this has to be a specific way, Micron include a wiring diagram if you order 2 for your project. Reading the safety advice of these LiPo’s it makes complete sense to follow that advice. Here I show how the two have been connected up to a 3 pin plug so that Balanced Charging can be undertaken. Note that I have given each battery a number and taped them together with gaffa tape.

I will not be charging these in the Loco, thus I will be making them removable for charging. Being a belt and braces sort of a guy I have had a Metal Ammunition Box kicking around for some time now, I had intended to donate it to one of those blokes with an old Army Jeep that we all love to see. Now it will have another role, storing the LiPo’s and for use to keep the Charger and Batteries in during Charging. Paranoid or what?


SETTING THE BASIC MOTOR UP
Wiring the basics was about as simple as things could be, the following show how I have stuffed all the gubbins in the Loco. The 2 long bits of heatshrink to the blue/yellow wires are to the motor, these have not been shrunk yet as I may need to do something with these like swopping them round to get my direction orientation correct, easier than reprogramming! I also think that I will need to cut into the Power Wires from the Battery to supply Lights (if I fit them) and to power the MLS. They are the Red and Black below from the Switch. This has an inline reset fuse included.

Below the Batteries are connected to this plug.


Next to the On/Off switch is the charging point should I ever be brave enough to charge up the batteries inside the loco. A little bitbof tidyingbup required in this area.


GETTING IT WORKING
This could not have been simpler. The Switch has 3 wires, Red/Black/Orange. These 3 were connected to the matching colours on the Rx65 receiver and heat shrinked. 2 x Yellow wires from the receiver wired to the Motor with heat shrink to keep secure till properly sealed in. This was all wired up as shown on the Micron sheet included with my 2 batteries. I then followed the binding instructions in the Tx22 Transmitter Manual. Switched things on and lo and behold the little Steam Tram swung into life, a little test run of her purring down the line proved that this part of the project was a success. With just ine minor correction being required so that when I turn the knob right the loco goes to the right. A simple fix allowed for by not yet soldering the motor wires.
NEXT
I need to now get to grips with fitting the Sound Card, for this I have sourced a Rail Exclusive SP18/13/13 Boomer bass reflex speakers, one for each Loco. Will be interesting to see how these perform in the Garden. Programming the Reciever is a little like Witch Craft to me, but re-reading the Instructions (many times) looking at Rik’s YT Vids helps a lot and downloading the Deltang Tables is another starter for 10. The Tables can be a little bit daunting at first but if you watch Rik’s Vid linked below with the Tables beside you, clarity with a little patience starts to kick in. Well it did with me!