Locomotives
- Thread starter Len g
- Start date
Hm good luck with that. Only ones I know of were cheepo Chinese ones available here and there. Think you may need to get on board with the tech and do it yourself. Plenty of help in the Battery Forum on here, even a supplier in your neck of the woods has been posting a new product in the last day or so in here. Finally get in touch with Gregh who has done a lot of posts on here, he is exclusively Battery so far as I know and has converted all sorts of things, some originally US outline.
The now ubiquitous Bachmann 4-6-0 Big Hauler (in its later form aka Annie) was made as a battery powered R/C loco in its early days. but these will be very old now. You might want to try Tony Walsham on this forum, based in NSW, he has a business specialising in battery/RC for garden railway kit Remote Control Systems - Home . Perhaps he can come up with a simple to install "universal" package to fit to existing track powered product you can buy and convert.
The Bachmann brand will probably garner the greatest range of suitable US outline steam locos, new and 2nd hand, if you are looking for the larger scales (1:20.3) suitable for 45 mm track work. They tend to offer good value and there is a reliable trader, who ships around the world, on Ebay that has some NIB stuff of theirs at very decent prices. At the more expensive end are the Accucraft products, which are fairly simple to convert.
There are other makes in various scales ranging from 1:32 - 1:22.5, e.g. LGB, Piko, USA Trains, Aristocraft, MTH, that will offer suitable subjects for battery conversion to run on 45 mm. The ones I have mentioned are the ones I know and are the most numerous. Max
The Bachmann brand will probably garner the greatest range of suitable US outline steam locos, new and 2nd hand, if you are looking for the larger scales (1:20.3) suitable for 45 mm track work. They tend to offer good value and there is a reliable trader, who ships around the world, on Ebay that has some NIB stuff of theirs at very decent prices. At the more expensive end are the Accucraft products, which are fairly simple to convert.
There are other makes in various scales ranging from 1:32 - 1:22.5, e.g. LGB, Piko, USA Trains, Aristocraft, MTH, that will offer suitable subjects for battery conversion to run on 45 mm. The ones I have mentioned are the ones I know and are the most numerous. Max
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Piko's little track cleaner is probably the only 'out of the box' US outline.
However, it may be worth asking questions about how far away from mains power is 'too far'?
How many battery packs = 1 reel of cable ?
However, it may be worth asking questions about how far away from mains power is 'too far'?
How many battery packs = 1 reel of cable ?
A mains supply 'out' in the garden is very useful..
However, thinking outside the box.. Which part of Australia? - Would a solar charged battery-pack be an option?
This could either have an inverter (to supply local mains, or be used directly for DC track-power..
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All Aristocraft diesel locomotives, excepting the Egg Liners and Centre Cabs, that were produced after 2005 have the connectors and switch to allow either track or battery power. There are s/hand ones on the market however 'buyer beware', especially with auction sites. Yellow box applies, light blue and black boxes are older than 2005 production. I believe it also applies to their steam outline locos but cannot say for sure.
I suspect most model locomotives can be converted to battery power.
I suspect most model locomotives can be converted to battery power.
What happened to the plug-n-play "standard" socket? As far as I know you can still buy a plug-in board that fits in a suitably equipped loco. Then you just connect a battery and away you go. [If only life were so easy . . ]
Another option is the trailing car conversion. Add battery and receiver to a generic boxcar and plug it in to any loco.
If converting track powered locos, as I suspect you may have to, one of the important modifications you will have to carry out is to disconect or isolate the loco's track pickups. However, as has been aluded to here some makes offer a means to "switch out" a loco's track pickups as a standard fitment so you can alternate between power sources easily and safely. Some of the later made Bachmann large scale products have this feature as standard which will aid in simplifying the conversion and still give the option later to revert back easily if you are visiting others or selling on to those who prefer running with track power. Max.
My LGB Feldbahn loco had a set of plugs on the chassis that allowed you to disconnect the track pickups. I replaced them with a DPDT switch so you (i.e. the next owner) can easily flip it back to track power.
Fred-
As far as I am aware, the Plug & Play standard left when AristoCraft left.
Someone please let me know if it still exists on a current manufacturers' product.
---Hutch
This is an easy option..
BUT...........
The loco behaves just as if it were on analogue DC. - If the loco stops, the lights go out, and the sound stops (if fitted) as well.
It does give you an easy way in, to see in battery RC is for you, though.
PhilP.
BUT...........
The loco behaves just as if it were on analogue DC. - If the loco stops, the lights go out, and the sound stops (if fitted) as well.
It does give you an easy way in, to see in battery RC is for you, though.
PhilP.