Garden Railway Forum

I'm hoping this Is a quite straight forward job.

I have an LGB 21670 track cleaning loco which currently runs on DCC. This is a bit of a catch 22 when the track is dirty and it's stalling all the way round because the track is dirty so hence the idea to convert it to battery power. Ideally with some kind of remote control that will let me change the speed and direction (couldn't care if the lights work or not)

I'm fine if it ends up needing a car to pull along with the battery in, fine with drilling holes in it if needed, comfortable with fitting DCC to non DCC ready locos so if anyone recommend a control and power system?

Deltang!

There are many providers but I like the RC Trains transmitters:

www.rctrains.co.uk

Agreed Tom, the RCTrains Deltang system is used on all of my locos and is outstanding in performance and reliability.
Look on the RCTrains website for full details and availability.

Interesting proposition. The track cleaning loco has two motors, so you will either need a receiver capable of running two motors, or you will need two receivers - one for each motor.

As indicated previously, Deltang would enable you to do both. You can get a daughter board to attach to the Rx65, which enables the one controller to power two motors, but they would not be separately controllable. Alternatively, you can get two Rx65s, one connected to each motor which would enable you to operate the track cleaning motor independently of the traction motor.

In the days when I operated my railway by DCC (and analogue before that), I always felt it would have been useful to have some control over the cleaning wheels. The two rx solution would have been my choice. You would, however, need two control knobs on the transmitter. Again, not a problem for Deltang. Four possible solutions:

• 1. Buy two transmitters (eg the RC Trains Tx10), one for each motor
  2. Use the Tx22, with one rx bound to one Selecta channel and the other rx to an adjacent channel
  3. Buy a Tx23, which has three control knobs. RC Trains don't sell the Tx23, but I'm sure Phil would sell you a kit for one, or might make you one for a fee
  4. If you are reasonably savvy with electronics, you could design and make your own bespoke Tx. There are circuit diagrams on the Deltang website for all the different txs

Hope you figure out a solution. It'll be a fascinating project. If you want any more info about Deltang drop me a line.

Rik

Aware it is two years later but to update on this with what i ended up using.
The only thing i may do differently was use a larger capacity battery, i get around 30 mins of cleaning on this one before i have to charge. This would of involved putting the battery in a box car but if were doing regular locos i would choose the box car route anyway so the cars could be universal and spare 'battery cars' could be kept on charge.

Transmitter:
Tam Valley Depot - DTX022 DRS1 MKIII TRANSMITTER 868MHZ
https://www.digitrains.co.uk/dtx022.html

Reciever:
Tam Valley Depot - DRH186 DRS1 HI POWER 869MHZ RECIEVER
https://www.digitrains.co.uk/drh186.html

Battery:
Ansmann 14.8V Lithium-Ion Rechargeable Battery Pack, 2.6Ah
https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/recharge ... s/8114693/

Charger:
Ansmann Lithium-Ion Battery Pack 4 Cell Battery Charger with EURO, UKplug
https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/battery- ... s/7209100/

Do you know, or can you measure, the physical dimensions of the battery pack?
It would be helpful.

MRail wrote: ↑Sat Apr 11, 2020 11:33 am Do you know, or can you measure, the physical dimensions of the battery pack?
It would be helpful.

Found it on Amazon also (although also unavailable)
8 x 7.5 x 2.2 cm
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ansmann-Li-Ion ... B072VLFQ4K

Thank you for your trouble.
Info stored for future use.

I have used Hobby King for my Li-Po batteries, a huge selection, and all the specifications are available including the physical size. Obviously no personal connection just a satisfied customer