Model Railroading > Newest big thing

Model Railroader says the newest Big Thing needed in the hobby is battery power radio control locos to eliminate the dirty rail issue.  I say Yes, a thousand times. I am a returnee to the hobby.  My modest new HO DCC layout is meant to mimic a yard operation - lots of switches and side tracks requiring many back and forth movements at slow speeds. I can easily go several weeks between operating it for an hour or two, but when I do I don't want to have to spend an hour beforehand cleaning rail and loco wheels to even hope for a fun time.

I have spent enough on rail cleaning cars and materials. Another thread discusses the current cost of model locos. I hate to think what new technology locos would cost, but I'm not buying any more of the old.

It sounds good and might be cost effective if you only have a few loco's.  If you have a bunch, not so much.

Indeed, it could be the next big thing.  We've talked alot about this at the shop.   Some roadblocks may be where to put the battery and properly charging batteries to avoid house fires (happens all the time with the R/C batteries for airplanes).  One of my customers had a good idea of bringing back dummy locomotives, where a few could be used to hold the batteries.

Jason Eminian
Smith Brothers Hobby Center

How about adding a battery that would charge while the unit is running normally and provide power when it senses loss of contact.

CPR_4000 Wrote:
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> How about adding a battery that would charge while
> the unit is running normally and provide power
> when it senses loss of contact.

That is basically what a "keep alive" in a DCC decoder does.

Posted from Android

CPR_4000 Wrote:
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> How about adding a battery that would charge while
> the unit is running normally and provide power
> when it senses loss of contact.

Isn't that what a Capacitor does?

Rick

too bad the "newest big thing" is not just purchasing as many locomotives as u can afford that will allow you to enjoy just running ONE train at a time.  it has worked for me since 1989 and track cleaning has always been easy.  just add a little rubbing alcohol on a wood shim. easily rub the track clean, and then run a LOT of trains.............

66    

If you just keep one or two of the cars with the hard board sliders like the A-Line kits use you will probably not have any dirty rail issues.

If you are going to use track power to charge the batteries you will need clean rail.

Batteries in dummy units will require wired unit connections between units in the consists.

Lipro batteries are the strongest and most likely to catch fire. Their discharge cycles must be tightly regulated.

What are operators going to do when their batteries run down about half way around the layout on a long train.

Rechargeable battery life is measured in recharge cycles. Depending upon brands it is commonly about 1000 charge cycles. Then they start down the end of life cycle.

So batteries are an option though I would rather see simplified methods of track cleaning.

rschonfelder Wrote:
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> CPR_4000 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > How about adding a battery that would charge
> while
> > the unit is running normally and provide power
> > when it senses loss of contact.
>
> Isn't that what a Capacitor does?
>
> Rick

Yes and no.  A capacitor only suppose a short period of power before running dry, such as Keep Alive.  Depending on the capacitor after track power is lost or cut, the capacity can supply a few seconds to maybe 10 or so seconds.  A battery can supply power for many minutes or perhaps an hour or so.

I hear the term "dead rail" has been coined and thrown around a lot in recent years but actual dead rail makes little sense as if the rail still had a charge, then batteries would be getting recharged on an on-going basis so you wouldn't have to pull a loco from operaiton and put it at a charging station for however long before being able to use it again.

What seems to be to be an ideal option would be for loco's to be like a laptop computer in that while they are on powered track, they are like the laptop which is either charging or charged and if power is cut trains will continue to operated for the service cycle of the battery.

What is being overlooked in this discussion is the overall control system. By using a battery based power source the layout wiring to the rails no longer goes through control panels and distribution terminal blocks, with the intent to isolate one train from another. There are no DCC distribution amplifiers. In this application the rails could be simple power source, perhaps less regulated, while the Commands are sent by radio. Or the track voltage and the miles of wiring completely replace by a battery.

Some of us have been using infra-red to transmit commands to the model locomotive using Rail-Lynx. Examples of a radio link have been around with the Astro-something system used for mostly Garden sized systems. Ring Engineering and CVP Engineering have recently developed radio control systems using more recent 'miniaturization'.

+ Should add no dead frog, no power routing, no juicers, no contact switches to wire while upside-down under the layout...
 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/02/17 16:06 by TCnR.

Go to Youtube and look up "Railpro on battery power (deadrail)..

A friend of mine already has a working engine on battery without track power... Just food for thought...

I tried to copy and paste the video but for some reason it is not letting me..

Yes, Ring Systems Rail Pro is much talked about in the "dead rail" genre.  It does make sense to have live rail rather than dead rail and use that to recharge the batteries.

Cheers, JIm Fitch

 

Seems the dead rail has been out for several years in HO scale check into it on Google.
Dont think its anything new at all Tam Valley might be the one or one of those who
support it.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/02/17 18:46 by BAB.

I have a good friend in Free-mo who is anti DCC and is running Railpro at our setups right along with the rest of us who are using Digitrax per the Free-mo standard. It coexists beatifully. I have to many DCC equiped Motors to make the change myself but I like that the 2 can be run together.


                                                                                                      Regards, Dave Dane

They now have wireless battery charger pads for cell phones that don't require the cell phone to be plugged into the charger. The phone is charged via magnetic resonance.

This could be a boon to this type of model railroading as it would completely eliminate the cumbersome task of changing out the battery to charge and putting it back in.

Newest big thing?

Garden Railroaders have been using battery powered R/C controlled locomotives for a quarter of a century.

-John

Batteries not included. Its bad enough i have to deal with batteries in hand held throttles. If that's going to be the latest greatest, ill be happy with what i have wrapped up in dcc. I think the keep alive capacitors are a great addition for eliminating trouble spots and the cleaning takes part when i run my rail grinding train. 5 kit bashed cars resembling a speno rail grinder that has Masonite pads under them. WP used to host the train every year, so i add it into my operating now and again.

The sliding hardboard cleaners do work well though running them now and then is not the most effective way to employ them. Build a couple of them and keep them on the layout and in motion all the time the layout is operating.

This seems to work better if the sliders are made from the lighter colored hardboard than the dark brown Masonite.