I currently have a Deltang-based receiver with a 12v 2000Mah battery in my Annie, along with a MyLocoSounds board, I use a RCS Australia (Deltang-based) transmitter.

It works fine, I replaced the 5mm LED headlight and rear light with 3mm LEDs as the Rx is set up to power 3mm LEDs.

I may swap the Rx for one of the BlueRail Rx boards and try it using my Ipad.

BobD

Here's a 3 minute video of my Williams by Bachmann E7 with BlueRail board, battery-powered, and a 2" Gems bluetooth speaker/circuit board installed, run from my Ipad Air:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEd2Y09RAWI

I had to disassemble the Gems housing, disconnect the battery, and connect the speaker and circuit board in line with the BlueRail board circuitry.  Had to install a voltage regulator to drop the voltage down from 9.6v to a safe level for the Gems circuit.  During installation found the Gems housing was too big so I left it off, plus had to trim the bottom which holds the board, so it would fit inside the E7 body.

BobD

They all worked for me.

Thank you Bill for doing this, these need to be made into a booklet, it's history after all.

BobD.

SCALE USRA steam engines in O-scale, with battery bluetooth control and onboard sound (I'm attempting it right now with a 2" bluetooth speaker I got at Target).

BobD.

The sound is louder/better with the hamburger press enclosure on, just need to secure it in place.

With MyLocoSounds, I can change the pitch and volume using the remote I got with it.

BobD.

Thanks Bill!

I believe the hamburger press thingie is loose enough to cause the vibration, just not sure if I want to hot glue it down or use something else to seal it in place.  Maybe a bead of caulk would be better and easier to remove.

BobD.

I recently installed a Rx, on/off switch, and charging jack from RCS Australia, a 12v, 2000Mah NiMh battery pack from All-Battery, a couple of LEDs for headlight and rearlight, and a MyLocoSounds sound board in my 4-6-0.  It sound is pretty good, but I do have a question.

Should I enlarge the slots cut in the bottom of the tender to allow more sound and less vibration?  The slots appear to be done by the molding process and I was thinking maybe running my Dremel thru them a few times to let more sound out.  Good idea or bad?

I placed a plastic cover (it's was actually a cut down plastic hamburger press/mold).  It's not air tight, just sitting over the speaker with some electrical tape holding it in place.  Should I run a bead of hot glue around it to make it air tight and secure?  This may be where the vibration is coming from.

The 12v battery provides plenty of power for the engine, I haven't run any tests to see how long it will run on a full charge though.

BobD.

Oh...Got my 3rd BlueRail board the other day and now have the new-ish WbB semi-scale 4-6-2 wired up, just haven't taken a video yet, but it's running as expected so far.

Also got a Gems 2" Bluetooth speaker from Target for $5 the other day.  I can put it on/in a flat car or gondola and play the sounds thru it vice thru my Ipad and it sounds great.  Need to figure out how to move the guts from the speaker housing into the engine.

BobD.

Joe,

Not hard, but I did spend some time back in the 70s-80s as an electronics tech at Norfolk Naval Shipyard, so I know my way around a soldering iron.

The instructions under "Our First Board" that BlueRail has on their site are pretty straight forward.  There's 2 wires that go to the battery assembly (battery, on/off switch, charging jack), 2 wires going to the motor, and 3 wires going to the headlight/rear light LEDs (1 of the wires is regulated +12v).  Buy the board with the battery wires already wired in and get the 9 pin to 8 pin cable (although I cut the 8 pin board off and solder the wires to where I want them to go).

That's basically it, there are more wires you can use but that's up to what you have in your engine.  I used the wire(s) for ACC3 to light a "Mars" light on my Williams E7.  Actually it's a LED with the lens colored red using a red sharpie, need to get one of those Mars Light simulators from N Gineering to replace the LED.

Probably the hardest thing is finding a spot in your loco to put things and trying to keep the wiring so it doesn't look like a bowl of spaghetti.

I usually try to find a battery pack of the voltage and amperage I need and go from there.  I just put a 12v, 2000Mah battery pack in a G gauge Bachmann 4-6-0, but my O-scale engines use either a 9.6v, 2000Mah NiMh or 11.1v, 2200Mah LiPo battery pack from All-Battery.  The 12v pack I just bought I got from their Ebay site for $22 shipped, I've gotten the 9.6v for $15 shipped in the past.  Not a bad price.  I'm going to look into how much it costs to make your own battery packs to see if that way is cheaper or worth the effort.

Look at the videos they have on the BlueRail site to see what's been done so far.

Oh, and thanks for the B-day wishes!!!

BobD.

Quote from: Country Joe on August 11, 2016, 08:54:00 AM

Quote from: Seaboard Air Line Fan on July 30, 2016, 09:25:40 AM

Bachmann needs to start offering the Williams line with the bluetooth boards  

BobD.

I agree 100%, Bob. I think they would be very strong sellers. I certainly would buy them.

Yes indeed Joe.  I'm having a blast running my WbB E7 with plans to install the BlueRail board in one of the new-ish WbB semi-scale 4-6-2 soon IF there's room in the tender for the battery.  I'll be checking that soon.

I think this bluetooth thing may open the door for folks of all ages to get excited about trains.  I know it has for this young train buff (I'll be 65 this month  !).

BobD.

Quote from: Grapevine Flyer on July 29, 2016, 07:50:51 PM
I see you got it working. Looks great.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eD33wmSBj2s

Thanks for posting the link!

I ordered the BlueRail board Tuesday and got it Thursday, 2 days coast-to-coast ain't bad.

Had it installed a couple hours later.  I ran it for 2+ hours yesterday and so far the Williams E7 is running great, no problem with the 2 motors.

I mounted the on/off switch and charging jack thru the rear door.  Painted they're hardly noticeable and with a diaphragm mounted you can't see them unless you get directly behind the engine.  I'm using a 9.6v NiMh, 2000Mah 1.1"x1.1"x3.9" battery pack I got from All-Battery.  The circuit board and battery fit nicely between the motors.

While I had the E7 apart I replaced the diecast fuel/water tank with one I made from styrene, not sure if you can see it in that video.

Bachmann needs to start offering the Williams line with the bluetooth boards  

BobD.

Good job!!!

I've converted two Williams brass 2-8-2s, one 4-6-2, and one 4-8-4 to BPRC (battery-powered, remote-control).  All 4 brass engines look and run great under battery power.

The two USRA 2-8-2s I modified/painted to represent 2 classes of Mikes that Seaboard Air Line owned.  The USRA 4-6-2 was modified/painted for Atlantic Coast Line and the N&W J 611 4-8-4 was only modified for BPRC.

BobD.

Anybody know what the stall current is on this engine with 2 motors?

I'm considering installing the BlueRail board for battery powered remote control.

BobD.

Andrew,

I've been running battery-powered, remote-control (BPRC) in 8 O-scale steam engines since last May and am very pleased with them so far.

I'm using 2000Mah, 9.6v NiMh or 2200Mah, 11.1v LiPo battery packs and get well over 2 hours run time.  I don't have any sound or smoke in my steamers now (I did put a MyLocoSound unit in one of them, but it sounded too much European).

I have NO WIRES to the layout at all (even pulled out my middle rail so I'm 2-rail now).

You might want to check out the RCS Australia website:

http://www.rcs-rc.com/

There's others that sell RC gear as well (I but my batteries here in the states from All-Battery), but this one met my wants and the cost was lower than most.

I plan on converting my Annie to BPRC soon.

BobD.

Thanks Lee!