Large Scale Central

Converted 2 LGB engines to onboard battery

The plug has been completely pulled on my line. My two main engines, both LGB, have been converted to onboard battery with Locolinc RC control. The first one under the knife was a DRGW #50, I swapped my friend an Aristo RS-3 for this one as the RS-3 proved to large for my small line and his #50 was always right at home. It had already been converted to battery power so you could just “plonk” it down and let it run. I took that set up out and put a cordless renovations 14.8vt, 2200mah Lith-ion battery under the hood, mounted all the way forward with the Locolinc reciever mounted between it and the front of the cab. A DPDT micro toggle selects power to engine or to the charging port. I put the port in the little stand off part of the hood/carbody, facing rearward. I will blacken the mounting nut to help camoflage it. Run time on the 7.2vt 5000mah was over 7 hours, so I hope for 2-4 hours with the smaller 2200 mah battery. Today I got my 2080d Harz 2-6-2T out of layaway. I took the battery RC out of the Aristo Alco FA-1, its departing the line now, and installed it in the old 2080d. I got the 2080d out of the collection of David Graff, he was downsizing as he moves to a condo and the local shop down in Zionsville served to sell off the unwanted LGB. A large hotel got most of it for thier growing European theme layout, but I managed to grab this engine and put a couple Harz beer reefers in layaway. The large Tenergy 14.8vt 5500mah battery wouldnt fit in the boiler area, even with the ballest weight removed. So I did a little hacking to the back of the boiler face and the engineer lost his home as the large black battery now lives in the cab. I will cut down the engineer figure so I can stick him in the the window with some hot glue. I retained all the LGB 5vt headlight electronics and smoke unit in the 2080. From the outside they look stock. I removed all track power pickups from both engines. Loving battery power more and more! Mikie

I agree, Mikie. I understand that battery power is not for everyone, but for me, it was the best thing I did for my railroad over 10 years ago. I keep my batteries in a trailing car so I can instantly change them out when they need charging - but then I always have to have the trailing car behind the engine. It’s all trade offs.

I hope you continue to enjoy your battery powered engines. I am sure you will.

Ed

I waited a couple extra years to go over to battery. Some to do to cost and me wanting decent run time with onboard power. I dont like having dedicated trailing cars and I seldom run trains long enough to exhaust the batteries I have installed. I did have the 2-6-2T’s battery in an Ariso FA-1 with sound and after 4 hours of run time, both motors were quite hot and I was tired of running that one engine. So I dont run out of battery life hardly ever. My layout was built primarly for LGB Euro meter gauge engines in mind, larger ones tend to run hot due to dealing with R1 curves. I do keep the trains short, long ones look out of place and put to much strain on running gear. Original power when I built the line was a 2080d and 2180s. So going back to the original power was an easy decision. Swapping for the DRGW #50 gives my wife something to pull her American beer reefer train with. I do need to deal with a headlight issue on the 2080, the lower two lamps are dimmer than the upper headlight going forward. The rear lamps are fine and equil in brightness. Not sure whats going on with the forward lamps. I retained all the LGB circuit boards, using the feed wires from the trailing truck track pickups to feed the whole engine. Maybe thats the problem. Mike