Hi Guys - I just discovered your train forum today. I have been a garden railroader for the past 12 years or so. Along the way I also started a business to support my hobby (and hopefully yours too). I produce custom vinyl lettering for large scale trains. But I also produce simple, low cost, battery power solutions for large scale. If you have any questions or concerns about battery power or radio control, I would be happy to try and help. You may also visit my website to gain some insight by reading the manuals for my products.
Aww heck, nobody is interested in radio control. Nope. Never. Why would anybody want to go against tradition, no wiring, no cleaning track, no electrical issues...model railroaders sure love to hit themselves with ball peen hammers. I have to go now, my batteries are charged and I have trains to run. Woodie-the Outlaw troublemaker
Prior to posting here, I thought I had read the rules quite carefully, and didn't see any restrictions on vendors. While I understand, I do believe, forums that allow vendors to "walk the line", provide some valuable insight and information not available from the average battery power user. So.... Has anyone here done any automation with their battery powered trains? Note: I think this forum would also be much more useful if it provided instant e-mail notification rather than daily. You would get a lot more activity. Just my opinion.
There are rules spread out all over the site and are not in the same spot, some may be in the FAQ, some in another spot which is why the site relies on moderators just to inform people of certain rules that they have missed or not seen because it is elsewhere.
I take direction from E-8 (Charlie) who is the head admistrator and when he tells me to delete links to other train sites than thats what I'm gonna do. I only worry about what I'm suppose to do and NOT what other moderators do and don't do. I WILL inforce ALL rules as per instructed by E-8. Flash Blackman is another one who will also inforce this same rule so I'm not the only moderator who inforces rules. If you have a certain problem with the way I inforce rules and how I moderate the G scale forum in which has been assigned to me please contact E-8, he is the one I take direction from. I also take direction from other admistrators such as BoxcabE50 & Okane which you can also contact them. If you can somehow get this rule abolished, than I'm fine with that but until then I will continue to moderate as instructed. EMD Trainman G Scale Moderator
PLEASE GO BACK ON THE SUBJECT OF THE POST OR I WILL DELETE IT. I WILL also DELETE ANY other post that is NOT subject to the post here which is Battery Power/Radio Control. ANY OTHER questions on rules please PM me.
All I know is that when a gent asked a question about using radio control, I sent a link to another website that had the info he needed, no sales call nor was I trying to get someone to "jump ship" from this site. I simply wanted to help the guy get the info he needed. I have been told that there is no interest in r/c..well, over 50 thousand views on that other thread means something else. After being shot down, I won't post any more links to anything and it seems that nobody cares about my modeling efforts here anyway. Woodie C Greene
Well you can send links to other sites in a PM. There are no restrictions in a PM that I'm aware of and have done this in the past myself. I wouldn't say there is no interest in R/C, but the cost does keep alot of people away. When I go to the ECLS train show in York there are a few that use R/C controls. My transformers are R/C controlled so needing a speperate system is not necessary for me. I do think however on this board the majority do run track power.
I don't have anymore money into R/C then I would if I was track power! I was track power for 18 years then I seen the light, I went over to the dark side.
RIGHT ON! I ran dc for almost 50 years until I "crossed over" to a better way of running trains. Track power on an outdoor layout is OK for those who want to sit and watch trains run around and around, But if you want to actually operate, there is NO substitute for onboard batteries and r/c. Your choice, your railroad. Woodie
HHHmmmm, thats funny..... I have no problems switching into sidings with track power. Actually I own fully remote control transformers, so "operating" as you would say is almost not a big deal. If I went DCC which is now available from AirWire for USA Trains locomotives I can actually make the horn and or bells work indepently work. Plus how long do you think you can pull a 50 car train on battery power, especially if you are using USA Trains locomotives? I don't know about you but yeah I can run all day long as you said. Plus I don't have to replace batteries, you can only charge them so many times but my transformers are pushing 10 years old and still work just fine. Don't get me wrong R/C battery power is cool if you are going to bring your trains to different club displays or train show displays, but other than that I myself would not switch over, especially being one who owns 15 different locomotives it would not make sense. But as you said it's your railroad, your choice
Battery power, etc Ive been watching this thread, and thinking, and refraining from posting....but here is how I see this topic. This is from someone who has life long experience with R/C aircraft, but only the past few years of outdoor railroading. I love to research and read about the battery and r/c possibilities of G scale. I am interested and familiar in the technology used today, especially the type of reciever the OP is marketing on his site. I am excited about the possibilities of the newer technologies... However, this is what bothers me.....and , in my opinion, will hinder many railroaders from converting.............. Untill the manufacturers of our locomotives embrace multiple running systems........and I dont have to rip open an expensive locomotive, and hope I dont screw things up.......in the process of modifying the running system on said loco....will r/c battery power become mainstream. How hard would it be to design the wiring system so that If I want to run battery power from internal or trailing car, that I could just plug said battery into the a port on the loco. How hard would it be to have pigtail wires for the power to plug the reciever into so I can use r/c? And have a switch on the chasis so I can select what running option I want???? Why not make the body shell accessable in a way that I dont have to dissasemble the whole unit to make the hook ups??? Why do I have to open everything up and splice/solder up what I need onto the main power board?? I could go on.....but that is what keeps me from doing anything at this time.......plus the expense of the change over on 5-6 locomotives. I dont know how someone with a big collection would do it. I only have a handfull of locos........but the task of changing these over is not a fun thing for me to think about at this time. Only recently have the manufacturers started making some head way into the plug and play area of sound/ dcc controlers on certain types of engines........its about time. Yes, I have opened up several of my locos....and a conversion would not be all that difficult......but one has to custom modify to make the changes now......... The manufacturers could go a long way to make these changes commonplace.....if not a standard.........if they wished. I will continue to watch......listen and learn what others are doing..As I said, I love learning about all the different aspects of the hobby.........but for now....on my little layout, I will continue to run track power, which I have been doing succesfully for a couple years. Hopefully, somewhere down the road I will change over.....but for now..I am content with what I have. It is simple.......it is reliable......and it works. As I said, these are only my opinions......from my limited experiences, and not intended to bash any one type of power. Darryl
dmiller, For USA Trains fans AirWire has come close to what you want. They partnered up with USA Trains and made a drop in replacement board. Of course you still have 12 screws to take out and remove the body to access the board. The new AirWire board is a direct replacement, no soldering or cutting needed. The new board has extra pigtails for a external battery pack and a battery charging jack. However the main technology still focuses on DCC with the new boards. Here is more info on the USA Trains AirWire drop iin boards http://www.cvpusa.com/doc_center/dropins_flyer.pdf
Power options EMD, Yup, Ive seen the airwire ads, and read the info......it would be a good system, and option, if one ONLY had USA trains.......but those, like me that have a hodge podge variety of running stock......would still require difficult mods to run. (I cant even think about opening up my steamers,, and I repair pcs and laptops for fun!) I guess my point is.....that there is zero compatablility from one manufacturer to the next, and one has to figure out what to do with the batteries, etc. This is the thing that will keep the many from changing to non track power options. I can only compare to what happend in the R/c aircraft/radio market over the years. Early.....one had only one option.....buy the radio from the manufacturer u wanted.....and ONLY use that manufacturers servos.....recievers, etc. Later, they finally realized that it was good to have cross compatability......and no longer did u have to use one type of servo....reciever.......one could pick up any brand (save one or two notables) and it was completely compatable with yours. What I would like to see in G scale will never come to pass.......there is not enough market...We are not many in numbers..and would cost money and time for the manufacturers to change.....but it would sure be nice to see compatability of systems from brand to brand......with easily selected power choices......with little to no modifications required by the end user. D
dmiller, I'm afraid you are right, there will probably be no cross compatibilty between G scale maunfacturers. As you said even if there was most would probably never switch over anyway. I don't see many clubs or people using R/C battery power at the ECLS train shows, mainly only DCC with constant track voltage. It seems each G scale manufacturer did pick thier own companies to go with, USA Trains partnered up with Phoenix Sound and AirWire, I believe Aristocraft may be partnered with QSI Solutions for sound and of course they have thier own DCC system. If you don't buy the right system for your locomotive, you may just need a PHD in Electrical Engineering to put everything together and make it work right. So yeah there is no cross compatibility.
I only run USAT locomotives so I've been waiting patiently for the full range of drop in boards before I invest some pretty big money into a switch over from DC. I'll need all NW2, SD40-2, F3 and GP9 before I convert. It was a long time coming but I'm going to live to see the day. No Battery though. Haven't needed to clean my track in 12 years. Ok for outside I guess but simply not needed inside and is a waste of time and money. Dave at Winter Valley Regional Railroad - Welcome!
I'm more on an interested reader with the hopes of G scale in the yard some day. Is it possible to run battery, but use track power to keep the battery charged up. Seems like it would eliminate any conductivity issued and keep a charge on the battery. I'm sure it's not a new thought, but is this possible?
