I finally found the right size of 'Round Tuit' and went for a drive to the last RC shop left in this area to get a few bits needed to complete the project this weekend. It has been in pieces for a couple of weeks and I wanted to clear the modelling desk before Christmas.
The r/c gear came from Tony Walsham at RCS at at this years GSSU a month or so ago. A Fosworks Cobra-160 ESC and one of Tony's new auto-binding DSM2 Rx. For the Tx I used the RCS TX-1 that I already had.
The first job was to remove the manual speed control and rewire the loco control panel. The result is shown in the photo.
- Fowler-rc1.jpg (149.36 KiB) Viewed 9100 times
The old speed control pot and reversing switch were replaced with bits from the scrap box to maintain the cab appearance, as the original speed control was disguised as the handbrake and the reversing switch was masquerading as the throttle. Reading left to right, the little green object is the dud potentiometer, then the old switch, then the existing charge/run switch and finally the charging socket on the right.
The yellow disc under the charge run switch is a PTC resistor. This is a solid state device that limits the current drawn from the battery to a very low level once tripped, but will reset when the high current draw is removed. Cheap protection for the expensive battery and ESC.
The old motor and ESC connections were replaced with JST plugs and a new battery clip was fitted. The control panel and cab were then refitted to the chassis with the new leads fed through a suitable opening at the bottom of the cab front. The three plugs are the battery connector, the JST-M plug to connect the motor to the ESC and the JST-F plug to connect the power from the charge/run switch to the ESC. The next photo shows this arrangement.
- Fowler-rc2.jpg (155.81 KiB) Viewed 9100 times
The next photo shows the battery, ESC and Rx plugged in and stuck to a simple polystyrene sheet frame with double sided tape to stop things rattling around and also keep the wiring runs neat.
- Fowler-rc3.jpg (188.81 KiB) Viewed 9100 times
I used this installation to test one of Tony's new auto-binding AB-RA Rx which worked like a charm straight out of the package, but was bought to be fitted into another loco. The Rx shown in the final assembly photo. is a Deltang RX-102(AB), which was cascaded down into this loco. The Deltang Rx was a bit more of a fiddle to get set up, but does the job.
R/C installations and I don't usually get along well, but this one was easy. Everything worked out of the box and there was no monkeying about replacing dodgy motors, spike suppression, etc. etc. etc..........
I didn't even have to email Tony at RCS for help. 
The only speed bump on the road to progress was the JST plugs and leads. Simple enough you'd think, but when I got them home, instead of there being one male and one female plug in the bag, someone, somewhere, had packed two male plugs. I took them back and all the packets in the shop were the same. Luckily they found me an alternative type of lead, but the distributors ears will still be burning........
The last photo shows the loco running a light engine test on a gloomy afternoon in Melbourne. The loco doesn't run any better than it did with manual control, but I don't have to bend over low to the ground to access the controls now, which is getting more difficult to do.
- Fowler-rc4.jpg (242.26 KiB) Viewed 9100 times
Regards,
Graeme
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