Piko Analogue R/C system.

[Neil Robinson]

According to Piko's website their R/C system is now available. I suspect it may be a few days before U.K. suppliers list it as available on their web sites.
It appears to be in two versions, one an with on board battery powered receiver (35040), the other with a trackside unit (35008) designed to use Piko's mains power supply. If I read their site correctly the on board version is sold as a pack with one transmitter but the trackside version will need a separately purchased 35041 trnasmitter.

 

[maxi-model]

Slots and whatnots are listing on their site, price does not look to hysterical. Hmm ? Could this be a potential replacement for a Train Engineer if it expires perhaps ? Wonder if it can be powered by my 20 amp Crest transformer and what demand in Amps/Volts and Watts output it can cope with. TE will do up to 10 amps power draw and is happy with the Crest's 13.8v & 20v outputs. Will have to look into for more detail. thanks for posting Neil. Max

 

[Neil Robinson]

Slots and whatnots are listing on their site, price does not look to hysterical. Hmm ? Could this be a potential replacement for a Train Engineer if it expires perhaps ? Wonder if it can be powered by my 20 amp Crest transformer and what demand in Amps/Volts and Watts output it can cope with. TE will do up to 10 amps power draw and is happy with the Crest's 13.8v & 20v outputs. Will have to look into for more detail. thanks for posting Neil. Max

I think you'll find that Top Slots' " basket" for these items currently states "pre-order". I think this'll soon change.
If your Crest unit is the one I think it is it'll be fine. Probably because of it's high output it has sensitive output protection
For the record I've read somewhere the max. rated output of the T.E. is 10A pulsed with a cooling fan reducing to 7.5A on linear. Without a fan the max. recommended output is 3A!
I mention this as a comparison with the new Piko unit. This is rated at 5A total output, 4A track power and 1A auxiliaries. I think it will make a good T.E. replacement in many applications as. unlike DCC, it'll often be driving a single loco.

 

[JimmyB]

The 35028 looks very good, shame the controller has to be switched on the back, and I hope they do "accessory" switches e.g. for points.

 

[Cranford]

Neil,
On the 3 counties layout I have used a 240v -24v 5 amp transformer, ( off ebay about £8.00) this voltage is a bit to high as it recommends up to 22v so have fitted 2 adjustable voltage reducers( one for each track) and lowered to 20v, this is connected to the left side of the switch, the right hand side is for battery only, you could use an LGB 5amp 20v transformer, if you had a spare or any other 5amp 20v transformer. I personally don't understand why they should sell the transmitter as a separate item as it's only function is to transmit to a receiver. Extra receivers would make more sense.
JimmyB hopes they do accessory switches, there are, for battery operated onboard receivers but not for points etc.
At £55.99 from topslots it has to be a bargain way of r/c.
I have one to install in a battery conversion plus 2 more on order for another dual track layout.

 

[Greg Elmassian]

If you are worried about hitting the max input voltage, get a regulated switching supply as opposed to an unregulated transformer. In G scale, we have an advantage that while some larger locos need 24v on the track to hit top speed, often 20 volts works very well, and many laptops have a 20 volt DC supply, which is high current and regulated. This are on Amazon and ebay cheap.

This one is 96 watts for 10.5 pounds, and you can set the output voltage

96W AC DC Adapter Switching Power Supply with 8 Tips: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics

Free delivery and returns on eligible orders. Buy 96W AC DC Adapter Switching Power Supply with 8 Tips Universal Multi Voltage Laptop Power Charger Adapters Converter Tips Plug 12/15/16/18/19/20/24V at Amazon UK.

www.amazon.co.uk

much better than a "transformer", more consistent voltage and able to run 20 volts, and cheap.

Greg