Greetings from New Zealand, Hope you all had a nice start to the New Year.
I am going to put R/C in my " Annie" and am wondering if 12volts is enough to get a reasonable speed ,pulling 3 J S Coaches around 8ft curves, and up 3% grades and so forth.
I'm always open to advice so if anyone can help me here I sure would appreciate it.
Cheers
Dave in Waikino
DAve,
12 volts will work OK, but more importantly will be the battery rating in mah. I am using 14.8 volt lithium ion battery packs I make myself. Since my grades are less than 2% on my mainline I get over 5 hours run time with an Annie pulling 10 cars using four 3.7 volt 2600 Mah rated Tenergy brand batteries with built in protection circuits. Theoretically a 1300mah pack would give me only half that time. My sons layout is very different with Grades as much as 5%(but mostly long 3%) on the mainline. My same train will run only 2 1/2 hours on his grades with 7 cars. In my case I never run at full throttle, so 14.8 volts is more than adequate for me. I rarly exceed 8 volts when running. I install the batteries so that they are easy to change by lifting the coal load.
When using two USA Trains GP38-2s (4 motors) pulling 10 Aristo hoppers and a caboose my son only gets 1 hour run time using my batteries. He uses 14.8volt 5600mah battery packs to get two hours run time, but pays a lot more for the batteries.
I am not really an expert, but am giving you my actual experience. In simple terms more volts = higher speed and more Mah = longer run time. Also longer trains and higher grades means less run time. my personal recommendation is to go with a 14.8 volt battery pack with as many Mah as you can afford, but with only three coaches 12 volts will do unless you like high speed.
I am sure most of the electronics experts can say it better than I, but hopefully my personal experiences will be of some use.
Have fun with your conversion!!
Bill,
Many thanks for your advice. It has answered quite a few questions for me. I am toying with the option of a 1.3ah sealed lead acid battery @ $35 or the other option is 10 NI-MH batteries @ $6.50 each. They are AA @ 2500mah. It looks like a price over weight decision. I am leaning towards the AA batteries as i can squeeze them into the Tender with the R/C gear and a simple sound board. I can also use the same Tender with a Pearce 2-6-0 live steamer that a friend has lent to me for an indefinite period. I hope he forgets about it. I wish.
Regards
Dave
Good Grief! $6.50 per cell for a NiMH battery??? I get 4 of 'em for $12 from the grocery store. I get 2600 mAh Li-Ion packs for $45ish. (www.all-battery.com , they'll also have good prices on NiMH cells.) I don't know what shipping to NZ would be, but I'm sure there's got to be a similar on-line store on your side of the globe.
Later,
K
Dave,
The 12 volt 1.3 ah battery = 1300 mah which will result in lower run time
I am also amazed at the high cost in NZ. All battery has a 14.8 3600mah pack for us$32 http://www.all-battery.com/144vnimhpackseries.aspx Lithium Ion pack can be had for US$49
http://www.all-battery.com/148vli-polymerandli-ionbatterypacks.aspx. I use the set of 4 3.7volt 2600 Mah for US 29 and make my own packs using standard Tamiya leads for under US$30. Their smart chargers are low cost as well and have worked well for me. It may be that the cost of shipping is prohibitive, and I am not sure how the NZ dollar value compares with US dollars, but it couldn't hurt to look into it.
All Battery is the lowest cost battery source I have ever found!!
I used the l-ion packs in my Connies and Annies with excellent results. I use the TE revolution R/c and Sierra or Phoenix sound boards and it all fits with no problem. If you are interested I can send you a set of slides I used on how to battery power an Annie. These are slides I used during a clinic I give on how to do it. just email me, my address is NOT private and I will send them to you.
Hope your friend forgets about the steamer too ;D ;D
Thanks for the replies Kevin and Bill. Yes, the cost of goods in NZ is quite high and the exchange rate of 77c in the $1 adds another 25% on the cost of importing Train related gear from the US,plus postage, a bit beyond the realms of most people. I purchased a 2 Truck Shay about 18months ago, from Trainworld, and it ended up costing a tad over NZ$400. The same Loco would sell on the open market here for at least NZ$650.
Track is virtually unobtainable, and when it is,people want $15/ft. Hence my Railway is not finished for the want of 20ft of flex track.
I guess its a case of supply and demand,we only have a population of just over 4 million so we don't have the demand for high quantities of Garden Railway products and this reflects on the prices. The upside is, this is a lovely country to live in and I enjoy my Model Railways, I must do, been doing it for 50 years.
Cheers to all
Dave
Yes you surely live in a beautiful country, hope you get lucky and find that last bit of track, in the meantime enjoy your railway!!!