Zerogee
Clencher's Bogleman

A little technical conundrum, I wasn't sure whether to post this under DCC or Battery Power, because it applies to both....
A bit of background before the question:
After much procrastination, I'm finally getting round to putting together my "multi-power" loco - the mission brief is for a loco that I can take anywhere and run on DC or DCC track power, OR battery power with full DCC sound and control. It's an OBB 2095 (a "whizzy cranks"), with a Massoth XLS for driving and sound control, plus a Tam Valley DRS receiver and a 14.8 volt Li-Ion protected battery pack on board. A DPDT centre-off toggle switch will select either track power (DC or DCC fed straight to the XLS) or onboard battery power fed to the XLS via the DRS module.
Now, the question: what to do about the lights? If I put 24 volt bulbs in the loco and leave the XLS lighting output at full value, that will be fine on track power but rather dim when only running on the 14.8 volts delivered by the battery pack. On the other hand, if I use 5 volt bulbs and set the XLS lighting outputs down to a safe value (usually "6", which means 6/32 of full track voltage) under track power, then they will again be very dim (if on at all) when on the battery, because they will only be getting 6/32 of 14.8v, which is under 3 volts....
The only way I've been able to figure out so far is to use two separate 5 or 6 volt voltage regulators (one each for front and rear lights) that are fed from the light outputs of the XLS - then if the XLS is left at full output values for the light functions, it shouldn't matter whether 24v track power or 14.8v battery power is being fed from the XLS, because in both cases the voltage regulators will step this down to a suitable level for the 5volt bulbs.
So, (a) will this work, and (b) any better and/or simpler way of doing it?
Over to you, chaps.......
Jon.
A bit of background before the question:
After much procrastination, I'm finally getting round to putting together my "multi-power" loco - the mission brief is for a loco that I can take anywhere and run on DC or DCC track power, OR battery power with full DCC sound and control. It's an OBB 2095 (a "whizzy cranks"), with a Massoth XLS for driving and sound control, plus a Tam Valley DRS receiver and a 14.8 volt Li-Ion protected battery pack on board. A DPDT centre-off toggle switch will select either track power (DC or DCC fed straight to the XLS) or onboard battery power fed to the XLS via the DRS module.
Now, the question: what to do about the lights? If I put 24 volt bulbs in the loco and leave the XLS lighting output at full value, that will be fine on track power but rather dim when only running on the 14.8 volts delivered by the battery pack. On the other hand, if I use 5 volt bulbs and set the XLS lighting outputs down to a safe value (usually "6", which means 6/32 of full track voltage) under track power, then they will again be very dim (if on at all) when on the battery, because they will only be getting 6/32 of 14.8v, which is under 3 volts....
The only way I've been able to figure out so far is to use two separate 5 or 6 volt voltage regulators (one each for front and rear lights) that are fed from the light outputs of the XLS - then if the XLS is left at full output values for the light functions, it shouldn't matter whether 24v track power or 14.8v battery power is being fed from the XLS, because in both cases the voltage regulators will step this down to a suitable level for the 5volt bulbs.
So, (a) will this work, and (b) any better and/or simpler way of doing it?
Over to you, chaps.......
Jon.