Piko 2-6-0 Mogul Battery Conversion Questions

[cfuller12]

Hi all and greetings from New England (outside Boston). I'm relatively new to the sport (as they say) and am embarking on a battery conversion for a Piko 2-6-0 mogul with an onboard Piko SmartDecoder (this one - Buy modeltrains | PIKO Webshop, though mine's a slightly older version). My hope is to install a 14.8v 3400mAh battery and BlueRail DCC receiver but I'm having trouble finding much info about this decoder and want to make sure I get things right. The decoder diagram can be found at PIKO 38212 Instruction Manual (Page 19 of 20) | ManualsLib, though I'm seeing a few small discrepancies with what's actually installed (for example, my board doesn't have screw terminals and all the wires came directly soldered). That said, the wiring diagram is generally accurate. Also, the manual claims this is an NMRA standard board, so will presumably/hopefully work with the Bluerail.

Two questions:
1. I believe I should just be able to connect the BlueRail to the M1 (red) and S1 (white) terminals to switch from track power to the battery/receiver, correct?
2. This loco has 5v power for smoke. Apologies if I'm just missing this elsewhere on the forum but how do folks typically power these after converting? I may leave this for a future step but if anyone has any good reading or YT videos on this, I'd appreciate the info.

Thanks,
Chris

 

[Mark Janzen]

Hi Chris,
Mark from Sacramento ca. I converted the same engine 3-4 years ago. I Love Bluerail!!! The Piko engine is my workhorse, so I use it a lot. I’ve replaced many of the working parts! Piko has upgraded the drive wheel chassis. If you want help, please send pics of wiring and existing circuit boards, so I can compare. The smoke uses battery up quickly. So I use is sparingly. I installed a larger battery in tender, so I can run it all day without charging and without smoke turned on. Wish you well!
Mark

 

[dunnyrail]

Hi all and greetings from New England (outside Boston). I'm relatively new to the sport (as they say) and am embarking on a battery conversion for a Piko 2-6-0 mogul with an onboard Piko SmartDecoder (this one - Buy modeltrains | PIKO Webshop, though mine's a slightly older version). My hope is to install a 14.8v 3400mAh battery and BlueRail DCC receiver but I'm having trouble finding much info about this decoder and want to make sure I get things right. The decoder diagram can be found at PIKO 38212 Instruction Manual (Page 19 of 20) | ManualsLib, though I'm seeing a few small discrepancies with what's actually installed (for example, my board doesn't have screw terminals and all the wires came directly soldered). That said, the wiring diagram is generally accurate. Also, the manual claims this is an NMRA standard board, so will presumably/hopefully work with the Bluerail.

Two questions:
1. I believe I should just be able to connect the BlueRail to the M1 (red) and S1 (white) terminals to switch from track power to the battery/receiver, correct?
2. This loco has 5v power for smoke. Apologies if I'm just missing this elsewhere on the forum but how do folks typically power these after converting? I may leave this for a future step but if anyone has any good reading or YT videos on this, I'd appreciate the info.

Thanks,
Chris

If those quoted wires are indeed the power from the track that should be correct.

If you wish to save a track powered option a ‘Double Pole Double Throw DPDT’ switch can be used here to enable battery (dead rail) or track option. It is also useful to retain the track option for changing CV settings though In some locomotives I have removed all possibilities for track power and installed a socket for this option. Though I am not sure how effective this would be with your chosen BlueRail but it works ok on my Fosworks equipment.

 

[Paul M]

Welcome to the forum, Chris. Looks like the good advice has started, but wait for the humour

 

[PhilP]

Welcome to the Forum, Chris!

If the smoke unit is wired to a decoder output, you can alter a CV to give 5V on this output.

If you wish to connect it externally to the decoder, you can use a small 5V regulator to give you 5V. You would then need either a physical switch, or to arrange for a relay/FET switch to be controlled from your radio system, or again an output from the decoder.


Smoke units are quite power-hungry, so you may want to take note of what others have said about the reduction in run-time, if using smoke.

PhilP

 

[Greg Elmassian]

The Piko decoder creates the 5v for the smoke unit onboard. Since the Piko board is a DCC board, then it assumes it is given constant DCC power (which Bluerail will).

So, there should be no additional wiring... the piko unit should control the smoke by the function button on page 11 of the english manual.

What is your concern?

 

[kensrepair]

HI Chris,
I have done some of these conversions.
S1 and S2 are the power coming from the track to the board. M1 and M2 are the power leads from the board to the motor, don't touch them. All you need to do is disconnect S1 and S2 from the board (either by cuttiing the wires or unsoldering) and run the Bluerail output to those terminals on the board.
Make your battery connections to the Bluerail according to the instructions. So now the engine is receiving power from the Bluerail instead of the track. All the factory functions and controls will still operate as before. The volume and smoke power on/off switch under the water fill hatch will still work. all the dcc functions will be the same as before. you are just controlling the engine via Bluerail instead of through the track.
Hope this helps.