Large Scale Central

Converting a USA GP-9 To Battery via Trail Car

Electronics Power and Sound
#1

I’ve had a USA GP-9 sitting on the shelf idle for a number of years. It was my first LS loco, purchased in 2001. I recently decided to strip out it’s Phoenix Big Sound 97 board to use in my Connie conversion.

While I had the loco open I noticed how devilishly simple it would be to adapt this loco to use my 1:24/1:29 R/C battery & Sound trail car. All one needs to do is unplug the trucks from the circuit board Track1 and Track2 and extend these connections to the front and rear of the engine!

I threw a battery, ESC and RX unit on the open frame just to test it out. Even with the skates still attached (I will remove them) the low-speed performance was awesome. Many times better than it ever was on track power.

The decision was made to complete the conversion so New Haven 1224 can once again be used in plow service on the C.V.S.Ry.

I will need to do some minor repairs first. This Geep has had a hard life. Several of the shell mounting posts are snapped off. They will be repaired and reinforced. The front steps were knocked off on more than one occasion. They will be re-attached. I previously used a Hook & Loop coupler on the rear with a transition car to allow the loco to negotiate R1 curves. I’ve since eliminated all but a few sidings that use R1 so Geep 1224 will get my standard Delton couplers front and rear.

Film at 11.

BTW - As I mentioned, 1224 was used a lot in plow service. The Phoenix board was mounted on the smoke heat sink directly under that fans. It’s no surprise that it got wet on occasion from snow. When I removed the board I was concerned about corrosion that had formed bridging some of the tiny connections to the large chip in the bottom of the board. Using a trick I learned from a cell phone tech, I scrubbed the board with alcohol and a tooth brush. After giving the board 10 minutes or so to dry I powered it up for a test. 100% functional!!!

The chips will be sent off to Phoenix for reprogramming to steam sounds for the Connie. 1224’s speaker will be fed from the 2K2 board in the trail car through a 3 pin plug.

#2

P.S. I leave the Track1 and Track 2 connections on the trucks open isolating the track pick ups. My R/C Battery power feeds the board at Track1 or Track2. All functions continue to work just like track power from the supplied trail car. LED’s/lamps are dark when idle and are directional based on the supplied battery power polarity.

#3

Just in case you want to go whole hog.

#4

Be careful when applying power to the main circuit board. On the GP-9s I have worked on the traces on the board connect the red wire of one connector to the black wire of the other, and vice-versa. This is done because the motors are wired exactly the same, but mounted in opposite directions.

You only need to power one connector with the output of the receiver, as both are joined with traces on the board.

#5

I made a posting on how to do it here;

http://archive.mylargescale.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=27819

During the upgrade at LSC earlier in the year it somehow got disassociated.

Perhaps Bob could relink it.

#6

Tony - It wasn’t the upgrade at LSC that disassociated it. Your link point to the MLS Archives which are now gone.

#7

Oh Poop. My abject apologies to Bob.

That will teach me to engage brain before opening mouth.
In the meantime this works: http://www.rcs-rc.com/PDF/Acessories/Installation-kits/BIK-USA.pdf

#8

Thanks Tony - That is essentially exactly what I am doing. I keep the plug sets in stock. I decided to remove the existing Track plugs from the board and wire my ‘train line’ directly to the board rather than use two more plugs. I’m glad I did because while I had the board out I discovered the motor lines were only hanging on by one strand. Fixed that while I had the iron hot.

@Steve thanks for that link. Paul’s write up is very complete as usual. I wish I had seen that before I tried removing the shell. I had the shell open years ago to install sound but forgot several of the screws at first.

@Paul - I noticed that. Since I’m never sure of the polarity of the JST connectors I get from All Electronics I did an operational test with the trail car from each end before soldering the connections. I wanted to be sure that when the trail car is in Forward, it was being pulled, not pushed regardless of which end of the loco it was connected to.

#9

New Haven Geep 1224 is back on the road after spending at least 4 years in mothballs. I didn’t bother to take any pictures of the interior since Paul and Tony have both done a great job documenting the connections. If you need details just refer to the links in Steve and Tony’s posts.

I ended up putting an Aristo coupler on the rear. Not my favorite coupler, but that’s what’s on the front of my trail car to be compatible with my fleet of Aristo locos. Someday I may convert them all to the Delton style which work better for me. I’ll need to change out the front coupler too to be compatible with my plow. I’d rather not butcher the USA knuckle attachment (needed to adapt to the Aristo coupler) so I’m hopeful I can get one or two of the coupler mounting bars from Charlie Ro.

Shake down trials this weekend. I’ll try and get some pictures.

#10

If it was mine, and HAD to have a trail car, it would be hook and loops. Prevents unwanted uncouplings and possible wire/plug damage.

You do know there is all sorts of room for batteries inside, right?

I probably should have kept track of all the ones I did.

Makes it real handy for runarounds…and turntables.

#11

Yes Dave - The interior is cavernous. Big enough for Fred’s gel cells!

I removed a Hook-N-Loop to install the Aristo coupler. I’ve never had issues with wires between the loco and the trail car - not that it will never happen but so far it hasn’t.

I do trail cars because I can’t afford to make every loco stand alone and I wanted to pull the plug on track power. I have two trail cars that include programmable sound; one for 1:29 and one for 1:20. I also realize the advantage of self-contained. I currently have two and working on my third self contained loco. Striping the sound out of the Geep for the third was the reason to open it up in the first place.

I can’t believe how smooth this loco is on battery. Can’t wait to get it outside this weekend.

#12

You are doing exactly what I have done on the few USA diesel locomotives I’ve had over the years. By doing this, I don’t even have to open the locomotive. I just connect the battery leads to the track wires that originally were connected to the trucks, and hot glue the wires right under the engine to the ends. This has worked very well for me. Besides I like to have at least one trailing car with the receiver (I am using the Revolution system) and sound boards in the trailing car so that I can use that car for different diesel engines with similar sounds.

Ed