Hi to all. Anyone of you have any experience with the new Aristocraft Revolution 2,4 Ghz, and USA Trains loco's. I have a GP38-2 and a SD70MAC, that I want to use batteri power and wireless controll on. Would the receiver drive the motor current on the USA Trains loco? I have looked at many types of wireless system for G scale and most of the other brands use frequensis that cant be used i Norway. Ivar
First off, Yes I have used the Revolution system. I acted as a co-beta tester with my friend. The units are set up for analog (Extra auxillary board) and digital DCC Drop in. Programming and using the remote is very easy. For analog installation, If you're not good with a soldering gun, get help or have someone do it for you. As for installation in Non Aristocraft units: AC Defines "NON Aristo" as non digital units. My U25B and FA/FB are considered "Non AC" units since their analog. But this receiver can be installed in aftermarket or other competitiors units. That auxillary switchboard I mentioned... That's how you do it. It acts as a piggyback so the digital receiver can translate digital commands to the analog power trucks. For example, to load it into my LGB Stainz, I would wire it into the jumper cable port then use the jumper cables to tie the tender and locomotive together. Installing w/ pickup shoes, I can't help you there. My friend removed all of his shoes to reduce drag. EDIT: I would only know how to wire into the Stainz/Tender with pickup shoes since the jumper cables port is where I'd be installing it. Anything else, I don't know
You are in luck, a joint venture between USA Trains, Phoenix Sound System and Airwire has been formed and they came out with a total "Drop In" board for DCC and sounds Of course the board will only plug into the Phoenix Sound System and Airwire's DCC system. Here is more info that I copied and pasted from my USA Trains Registry info> USA Trains now has a plug and play DCC system for thier locomotives. A new series of AirWire decoders has been developed in conjunction with USA Trains and Phoenix Sound Systems which is USA Trains sound of choice manufacturer has been released and designed specifically for USA Trains locomtives. YES FINALLY, no more complaining about USA Trains, they have moved up to the 22nd century with the rest of the manufacturers. This is unbelievably a SIMPLE DROP IN Installations, WOW, we no longer have to be Electrical Engineers to install a system into our USA Trains locomotives. You won't believe whats next..... Simply unscrew the body from the chassis, unplug the smoke generator and lighting wires, remove the original board, install the new board, plug into the Aiwire board which features matching pigtails and sockets. THATS IT Your Done, WOW. The new AirWire board even has the same On/Off switches just like the USA board. There is even a Charger Jack if you want to run battery power. This new AirWire board also allows direct plug and play of the Phoenix Sound System P8 sound module using a supplied cable. There is MORE yet, This new AirWire board includes ALL of the G2 effects such as Mars, Gyra, Flasher, strobes and ditch lights. They have even thought of safety, if you forget to turn off the smoke generator, the AirWire board will time out and automatically turn it off. These new boards are now available for the USA Trains GP-7/9, SD-70MAC and the F3 A/B locomotives at this time. USA Trains locomotive fans, our day has finally come, I hope to see more USA Trains locomotives at club displays now that they will be just as easy to install DCC and sound into them. More info here >>> www.cvpusa.com Remember, these systems will not come standard from USA Trains, you have to install it, but it's a simple install thanx to USA Trains getting involved in the design. Once you easily upgrade your board, your USA Trains locomotive becomes a plug and play system to many things which opens the door now to the endless oppurtunities of what you can do with your locomotive.
I hate to say this, but putting a Aristocraft Revolution into a USA Trains is like putting a Ford engine into a Chevy car, it's just too much work and alot of time.
Thanks for your comments. I'm not afraid of the work it would be, and should have no problem with soldering etc. My concern are the output of the receiver, and the amp the USA Trains engine use. My problem are, the Air Wire and the like, use frequensis that are not allowed to use for this thing, in Europe and Norway. Those band are used for mobil phones and things like that. So I have too use a 2,4Ghz system, that can be used with battery power for the trains. There will be no electricity in the rails. Ivar
You are right it is work. My friend has all his Southern Pacific USA Trains running on the Aristo TE. It's not easy, it can be done, but we're talking complicated wiring and soldering skills up to my severe level. If you want this done, please make sure you know what your doing or have someone who does install it for you. One crossed wire can be fatal here and you will burn out your motor blocks AND the wireless receiver and it's auxillary board.
I think you would be ok on the SD-70MAC as that locomotive has better and more effecient motors and does not draw as much amps as the older typical USA Trains locomotives. I have amp meters on my transformers and I own 2 SD-70MAC locomotives and they don't draw as much amperage as the other older locomotives. The GP38-2 however have power hungary motors in it that love to suck up power and the more locomotives you put in a lash up or the more cars you add to on single locomotive, it can push the amperage up there which is why the older USA Trains didn't make good battery power candidates. You will definately have the GP38-2 on charge more than you will be running it. I pull long consists with my older locomotives and usually average 10 amps if I'm only using 2 locomotives and pulling about 18 cars on a track with no grade. Hope this helps
I think it's great that USA Trains finally got together with phoenix sound which I think is the best sound system out there and Airewire which is a well recognized dcc system manufacturer to make a complete drop in system. Someone with no skills at all could put in a complete system now. You are just simply removing about 10 body srcews, unplugging the old board, removing it, installing the new board which is a direct fit. Then the new board has plugs on it for the sound unit and the DCC unit, so you cut or solder nothing, you just plug in what accessories you want....simple.
That was what I was worried about. Looks like I have to find something that use track power, and 2,4 Ghz, or just use DCC on the track. Thank you all of you for your response. Ivar
I remember a few years ago USA Trains made a joint venture with Lionel and came out with a system called "Train Command". I don't think it's available any more however and I'm not sure what frequency it used. It did use the track itself to send DCC commands to the locomotive and it had a capabilty of handling 99 different locomotives. It was not a popular seller due to the fact it did not have very long range and the antenna on the locomotive was a pain to set up to recieve signals properly.
Ivar - You really need to measure the actual current draw of your USA Trains engines under worst case load conditions. Older ones used to require a lot of current and required 8 amp steady state DCC decoders; NCE brought out a special one just for these USA Trains engines, in Europe people use the Heller 10 amp decoder which is Zimo based from a software perspective. So with DCC there are some choices. With the Aristocraft Revolution you of course are limited in that you can only use a ART Revolution receiver.The spec on that is 5 amps continuous, 8 amp stall current. Amperage above 8 amps will destroy decoder. There is no overload protection like on the typical DCC decoders. I probably would be gesitant to use it if the measured maximum current was much more than 4 amps just to be on the safe side. Somehow these decoder manufacturers, not just Aristocraft, tend to specify a somewhat higher current than the decoders can take especially if you're running outside in the heat of the sun. Maybe in Norway that is not a consideration. The other option you may want to look at is the track side receiver that Aristocraft is supposedly coming out with in June. It's supposed to handle 10 - 15 amps, maybe it's small enough to fit into the USA Trains engines. I take it you looked at the Train Control System that is being sold in Germany. It's also 2.4 GHz and has been around longer than the Aristcraft Revolution. But the key is a current draw measurement especially when it comes to USA Trains engines since the company changed motors a few times and the current draw of the newer vintages is now much lower than a few years ago. Knut
Thanks to you all, for commenting. My friend and I, find out we took a chance, and got us the Crest Revolution. We will combine this whit the Train UPS, and have power in the track and backup batteries in the engines. If we are lucky, this will work. Will see when we bulit the track, and can try it out. I know it's will be a lot of work, but at the same time, I will change to LED in all the lamps. Ivar
