Large Scale Central

Drawn to the Dark Side

Electronics Power and Sound
#1

I was recently drawn over to the Dark Side when the notorious Bruce Chandler enticed me with an RCS system…at a price I couldn’t refuse. As there was no budget for this project, I went on a search for the cheapest batteries I could find. When talking batteries, cheap usually means big. So I found this 14.4V 3800mAh NiMH Battery Pack for the IRobot Vacuum Cleaner. http://www.all-battery.com/144v3800mahnimhbatterypackforirobotvacuumcleaner-roomba4905.aspx For now I mounted the battery pack in the tender. The battery pack can replace the weight in the Annie and I may go that route if testing today proves the tender too heavy. Here it is with the components mounted before wiring everything up. I turned this mess into a nice, neat job but forgot to take a picture.

Not wanting to wait for plugs to be shipped, I used computer plugs to connect the tender and engine. Not having a suitable plug handy for the charging side, I decided to use charging posts. I had on/off switch I could have used, but decided to go with a DPDT switch, which I mounted in the 9v battery compartment. I picked up the switch at Rat Shack, but couldn’t find any suitable connectors there :open_mouth: This engine is an early Christmas Annie I had picked up from Cale. There was no working light in the tender, so I installed one. Still need to paint the light.

As soon as it warms up from the 26 degrees here this morning, I’m going to break out the leaf blower and do some testing. Ralph

#2

Soooooooooooooooo Ralph, by coming to the dark side, you found the light eh??? Since yer using tamaya plugs go to batteryspace.com’s ebay site 2-4200mah 7.2 for $49 shipped, already have the tamayas on em. They also have wiring harness’s I use that run 2-3 battery packs in series or parallel, I use series 3 of em on my K with the Pittman they like as close to 24 volts as possible. 2 in series on all my other things! Welcome to the “Dark Side” Oncest ya trys it you prolly won’t go back. Hah LOL Regal

#3

Those are the batteries I use. Good value for the price.
However, I wrap mine in electrical tape and stick a label on them saying what they are and the MaH, etc.
They will pull an Annie and 4 or 5 Accucraft cars on a level track for 4 hours plus!

#4

Looking good Ralph. I wish my first stand-alone conversion had as much working room as that Annie tender. I’m still struggling on how to make everything fit in the Porter’s boiler. TOC says it’s a piece of cake, but then he’s been doing this for what, three hundred years ?

#5
Jon Radder said:
Looking good Ralph. I wish my first stand-alone conversion had as much working room as that Annie tender. I'm still struggling on how to make everything fit in the Porter's boiler. TOC says it's a piece of cake, but then he's been doing this for what, three hundred years ?
Fortunately I don't have to worry about fitting a sound system at this time. Should I get sound in the future, I'll either have to move the battery pack to the engine or go with a more compact battery pack.

JB- 4 hours is good news. I figured if it would run the vacuum for 2 hours, a engine should run longer.
Ralph

#6

The battery guys have been lieing to us :open_mouth: You do have to clean the track. Those big leaves will derail a caboose :wink: Testing went quite well. Ran the Annie about 6 hours. Not continuous, but it was running most of the time. Battery never did run down. RC coverage was good. I had no problems controling the engine from the opposite end of the RR. So now it’s time to put the Annie back together. Ran it today missing a number of parts.

(http://freightsheds.largescalecentral.com/users/cabby/_forumfiles/darkside018Med.jpg)

(http://freightsheds.largescalecentral.com/users/cabby/_forumfiles/darkside024Med.jpg)

Track power will be phased out as the budget allows :wink: Ralph

#7

Muuuhuuuuuhaaahaaahaahaaaa! Do I get some credit for contributing to your delinquency!

(http://images.zaazu.com/img/darth-darth-vader-star-wars-saber-smiley-emoticon-000555-large.gif)

Nice Surprise-you shoulda called me, I’da cheered you on! You’ll love the RCS/Elite control! Ya know what this means? One day, if I ever get started, you can come down and run one of Your locos on the pike! cale

#8
C. Nelson said:
Ya know what this means? One day, if I ever get started, you can come down and run one of Your locos on the pike!

cale


True.
But you could have already brought one of your locos up here to run :wink:
Ralph

#9
Ralph Berg said:
C. Nelson said:
Ya know what this means? One day, if I ever get started, you can come down and run one of Your locos on the pike!

cale


True.
But you could have already brought one of your locos up here to run :wink:
Ralph

if I go that far North, folks will be calling me a Yankee :slight_smile:

#10
C. Nelson said:
if I go that far North, folks will be calling me a Yankee :)
:lol: I don't think you'd be confused for a Yankee anywhere on the planet ;)

Did manage to shoot a low resolution video clip.
Ralph

http://www.vimeo.com/16604066

#11

Sorry I lied. I said 4 hours. :slight_smile: :slight_smile:

Don’t forget to wrap the brick.
Then put a little piece of female velcro on the battery bottom and a little piece of male on the bottom of the tender to hold it.
Take the white wire and fold it up and put it under the wrap.