Radio Control for Small Trains.

This is the Radio Control with Batteries part of my On30 "Japanese Rail Truck - Card Stock Scratch Build". I use this same RC System for both HO and HOn3. The complete Rail Truck thread is located here:

Japanese Rail Truck - Card Stock Scratch Build Version - TrainBoard.com

I did a thread search for Radio Control for the smaller scale trains and only found a few comments. I am posting the RC part of my on-going Rail Truck Project for your comments or questions.


Part 6. Radio Control for Small Trains.

I use a Radio Control System made for small scale trains by a company named "All-Trol" as in "All Control".

All-Trol Model Train Controls - Home Page

I have 7 of their RC Receivers and 2 of their Hand Held Controllers. Their Controller works very much like a DCC Hand Held.

This system is very easy to setup and the wires are color coded like many of the DCC Decoders sold today.

For now the Rail Truck Receiver is only wired to the motor and the battery. The Receiver has wires for both a front and rear light and a sound module. I have 2 sound modules one for steam and one for diesel. The sound module will make 3 noises, engine, whistle and bell.

This picture shows the Rail Truck and the Radio Control Hand Held, the Receiver, a Team Lois, 7.4 li-po rechargeable battery, and the Rail Truck



The next couple pictures show the RC items in the Rail Truck and running on my test loop.







When the Rail Truck is finished all the RC items will be covered with a fake load of some sort and will not show.

 

I added this thread for "Radio Control using Batteries" back in Dec 2009. I didn't get any comments. Tonight I went searching for the thread. I found it on page17.

I have decided to add at least one comment a week to this thread. I will slowly update you all on what I have done and what I am doing in the area of Radio Control with Batteries. I use a commercial product that is made for small trains.

I will add one of my first RC projects later this week and will follow up with at least one project a week till I run out of them.

Feel free to jump in with questions, comments (about RC for trains) or if you have played with RC for trains and want to talk about it or post some pictures, join in.

I am not trying to convert anyone but just talk about how I am using Radio Control with Batteries.

I am a friendly old man (had my 70th birthday last Saturday). I have a few cats for pets and feed a lot of strays, cats that is.

 

HO - RC- Garratt

Working out the wiring and placement of the RC equipment.



Finial RC placement and related equipment. The RC System is made by All-Trol.



Mostly finished Garratt. Lots of detail parts to be added and a paint job.





The full Garratt thread can be found here:

http://www.freerails.com/view_topic.php?id=2363&forum_id=5

 

Considering the recent explosion in comments on this, it sounds good to me that your updating.

So I take it this system is compatible with DCC sound decoders?

That puts it a leg up on the Aristocraft system, but I wonder about battery life.

 

New Sound Option for All-Trol Radio Control System

Hi,

Compatible with DCC sound decoders - No. DCC sound decoders will not run on Battery Power. I talked to SoundTraxx about this and they have "0" interest in a battery powered sound decoder or Radio Control such as this. I believe a sound decoder might be modified to use battery power but that is well beyond anything I know how to do.

DCC sends it signals through track wiring (current) to your decoder. I don't use track power so a DCC decoder doesn't work with my battery powered RC System.

All-Trol sells a sound module that gets its power from the RC Receiver and the battery used to power it. This is good and bad at the same time. When turned on the sound uses current from the battery powering the RC Receiver and train motor or motors. I use the large 11.1 volt battery and seldom have a problem running down my battery. I get decent run times using sound.

The battery situation has just gotten to where the extra battery drain has been solved.

=========

"New Sound Option for All-Trol Radio Control System". (written last week)

Sometimes progress has to measured in small steps. Sound for Battery controlled, Radio Control, for small trains took a small step forward today.

How this came about is a long story and started over a year ago. When Lewis Polk first mentioned that he was working on a Radio Control System for small trains I called him. One of the first questions was about availability of sound. He said his system would or could use a Phoenix Sound System. I then called Phoenix and asked about that. Jim, at Phoenix told me they were working on a new system that would be smaller than the current systems and would work on battery power. Battery power, separate from what was used to power the RC Receiver and train engine.

I told Jim about the All-Trol RC System that I was using. I asked if he thought their new system might work with the All-Trol RC System. He said he would have to see my system. I asked if I could send him one of my receivers and Hand Held Controllers to play with. The answer to that was yes, send it. The first test models of the new system (P8) were late by what seemed a very long time. One day I called to see about them and they had just arrived. It was a couple more months or so and he said he was ready to send me a test system. It was put in the mail along with the All-Trol System I had sent him.

The new Phoenix Sound System P8:

BigSound P8

Somehow the post office lost the package coming to me but by luck it showed back up at Phoenix. The package was sent to me again and I received it yesterday.

I called this afternoon to get wiring instructions and the following picture is what it all looks like along with the All-Trol RC System. The Phoenix System has its own battery so the Train Engine battery is not used for the sound module. While the Phoenix sound module is a full feature system I only have 3 buttons to activate noise on my All-Trol Hand Held Controller. The engine noise comes on with the power control along with a number of other related engine starting and stopping sounds. Then I have the bell and whistle. The advantage of the Phoenix System is the large number of engine, bell and whistle sounds now available. The next big advantage is the separate battery that only powers the sound module. The voltage range is from 10 volts to 34 volts. The sound shuts down at 10 volts to protect the battery. The toggle switch is the volume control and can be attached where you can get to it if you want.

Phoenix Sound System Library:

Phoenix Sound Sound Library

I will be mounting all this on a test chassis this weekend for testing.

The pre-loaded sound in this module is what you might expect to hear from a McKeen Motor Car.

1.

A Hollywood Foundry power truck is used as an example to show the 2 wires going to its motor.

You may think this is a lot of wire but in the past I have been able to get rid of the extra wire by shortening it and changing out the wire to a smaller gauge.

As a side note to all of this is a phone conversation I had last week with Lewis Polk about the status of his small trains RC system. Lewis had posted the following about the new system on 9 Aug, 2010.

"We will show an H.O. Revolution system at the Chicago Hobby show in late October and should be able to deliver early in the 2011 cycle. We have also developed an r/c switch controller that will work with any switch machine on the market.

We're working on a hybrid battery system to charge itself from track power,

It will all be ready in early 2011."

When I talked to Lewis Polk last week I asked about sound. This time he said his system would work with the Dallee Electronics Sound System. I had never heard of them but checked out their web site. I am not sure if the Dallee system runs on its own battery or uses the battery for the RC Receiver.

 

Now that's what I've been waiting for. A manufacturer getting into it. That's a good omen

Gosh - Dallee have been around for years. I used their sound system in my battery powered #1/G-scale stuff 7 or 8 years ago; I expect (hope) the stuff is smaller these days ...