The $10 wireless speed controllers are now even cheaper

[tramcar trev]

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Wireless...-Adjust-Brightness-/271006261253?pt=AU_Lighti

I have one of these I have been experimenting with, ( I paid $10 for mine) they do not give reverse but they do give quite good forward speed control. Now I'm trying to find out if each unit is paired to its key fob so that I can run more than one battery powered tram at the one time... I propose removing the plastic case, easy to do and put one receiver in the trailer of a steam tram....
There are no DIP switches inside either the receiver or the transmitter so maybe they are all on the same frequency. I have sent some questions out to suppliers but my English explanation of my problem seems to get lost in the translation to Chinese.. Maybe lash out on another at this cheaper price and try it....

 

[ge_rik]

Trev
Looks like the one I used to control my railbus
[*]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VcfKxg8YBE [*]http://riksrailway.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/how-i-constructed-railmotor-from-two.html Rik

 

[tramcar trev]

There are litteraly hundreds of these on eBay all look identical, when you were setting yours up did you see any way the frequencies could be changed?
Presumably you're happy with the control these give? I have tried controlling a Bachmann tram by controlling the track power and I was quite impressed, the R/C cost me $10.....

 

[ge_rik]

There are literally hundreds of these on eBay all look identical, when you were setting yours up did you see any way the frequencies could be changed?
Presumably you're happy with the control these give? I have tried controlling a Bachmann tram by controlling the track power and I was quite impressed, the R/C cost me $10.....

Sorry no. I only bought one which is what I used for the railbus bash so I've not had a chance to see how/if/ why the frequencies might or might not be changeable. I've been dabbling with a very cheap 2.4ghz transmitter and receiver system since then and so have taken my experiments with this keyfob controller no further.

I'd say the best authority on cheapo r/c solutions on the forum is Gregh, who is of course from your part of the world (though we Brits have only a vague conception of what an enormous chunk of land you guys have out there where 'round the corner' is 1000 miles). His website is a real gem when it comes to tinkering around with battery and r/c control as I'm sure you already know.

http://www.members.optusnet.com.au/satr/electronics.htm < Link To http://www.members.optusn...u/satr/electronics.htm

Maybe if you described the circuit to him he might advise on whether twiddling frequencies was possible. You may recall that he contributed to the development of the circuitry for my railbus....

http://www.gscalecentral.net/tm?LED-Dimmer-query&m=179491&mpage=2 < Link To http://www.forum.gscalece...p;m=179491&mpage=2

....... which I now note was inspired by your posting on the dimmer units. So, thanks for the original idea which I seem to have hijacked (sorry). I now hand it back to you for the next instalment and await with interest the outcome.

Rik

 

[tramcar trev]

Rik feel free to hijack.... strewth mate I can't remember what I posted yesterday let alone months ago.... I do recall when I found these that they were the answer to a maiden's prayer and for my tramway with balloon loop termini they should be adequate.
Please details of your very cheap R/C setup would be most interesting , as we have such great distances to combat every cent I save is a cent I can use....

 

[ge_rik]

Please details of your very cheap R/C setup would be most interesting , as we have such great distances to combat every cent I save is a cent I can use....

This was the thread - it was under the Shopwatch heading

http://www.gscalecentral.net/tm?high=&m=231888&mpage=2#241867 < Link To http://www.forum.gscalece...888&mpage=2#241867

This second page is where I stumbled across the type of rx which works with the tx. You'll see I've just updated the thread having now just tried it with a 6ch rx.

It might be worthwhile keeping an eye on eBay so see if any more of these tx's come up. Here's the link to the eBay page where I bought mine from.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/170871012233?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT < Link To http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm...PageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT

The last time I checked they were sold out but I'd imagine China turns these out by the truckload so maybe somewhere someone else will be selling them.

Rik