LGB Crocodile Upgrades, DCC, Sound, Lights, etc

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stevenfitch
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LGB Crocodile Upgrades, DCC, Sound, Lights, etc

Post by stevenfitch » Tue Apr 25, 2017 5:08 pm

So i bought this for a bargain price of £150, listed on ebay as just 'Train For Garden' - Brilliant!

I assumed this would be a case of just snipping a few wires, adding a decoder and off we go.... oh no, not that simple i'm afraid!
Tracing the wires back it is clearly one of the older / original models for DC only before the days of all of this digital going on.
I have so far stripped it down as far as opening the two motor blocks up to discover that the motors are direct feed from the track and then the wires come up into the body for lights, pantograph power etc.

Task 1:
Isolate the motor feeds and wire these back to the body where the decoder will be.
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Task 2:
Build a frame to hold the speakers (out of foamex board)
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Computer Controlled Garden Railway.
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Big Jim
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Re: LGB Crocodile Upgrades, DCC, Sound, Lights, etc

Post by Big Jim » Tue Apr 25, 2017 6:29 pm

Have fun with this. I think those locos are wonderful and could possibly turn me to the dark side.
If at first you don't succeed, use a bigger hammer!

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ge_rik
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Re: LGB Crocodile Upgrades, DCC, Sound, Lights, etc

Post by ge_rik » Wed Apr 26, 2017 12:07 pm

Blimey, that was a bargain. Looks to be in good nick as well.

Rik
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stevenfitch
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Re: LGB Crocodile Upgrades, DCC, Sound, Lights, etc

Post by stevenfitch » Wed Apr 26, 2017 9:33 pm

ge_rik wrote: Wed Apr 26, 2017 12:07 pm Blimey, that was a bargain. Looks to be in good nick as well.

Rik
There's plenty of room for batteries and the wiring would be straight forward if you don't need the track pickups
Computer Controlled Garden Railway.
Previously N & OO Gauge Indoors.

stevenfitch
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Re: LGB Crocodile Upgrades, DCC, Sound, Lights, etc

Post by stevenfitch » Wed Apr 26, 2017 9:34 pm

ge_rik wrote: Wed Apr 26, 2017 12:07 pm Blimey, that was a bargain. Looks to be in good nick as well.

Rik
Original condition, I've only had to glue a head lamp back together
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Computer Controlled Garden Railway.
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stevenfitch
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Re: LGB Crocodile Upgrades, DCC, Sound, Lights, etc

Post by stevenfitch » Thu Apr 27, 2017 7:42 pm

For my next trick we are having opening doors with servos.
Servos £5 each from a robotics website and a paperclip does the job for the connecting rod.

Servo In Place
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Door Open
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Door Closed
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(I still need to program the CV's of the chip for servo positions etc but that's pretty straight forward)
Computer Controlled Garden Railway.
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daan
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Re: LGB Crocodile Upgrades, DCC, Sound, Lights, etc

Post by daan » Sun May 28, 2017 9:22 am

Nice idea of the door opening, but wouldn't it be nicer to hide the servo in the locomotive, beside the speaker? With a simple 90 degree angle you can transfer the movement. This way you keep the cab clear of mechanics, since the windows are big enough to give sight to the inside of the cab easily. You can then also use the same servo to open a door on the other cab too.
"En schöne Gruess" from an Alpine railway in Holland.

stevenfitch
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Re: LGB Crocodile Upgrades, DCC, Sound, Lights, etc

Post by stevenfitch » Fri Aug 04, 2017 8:03 pm

Thats was plan A but then i decided i just wanted to get it working!

The black plastic plate that it is all sitting on is just held to the drivers control panel with a single screw so easily removed if needed.

The more pressing concern now is that its started running like crap... does about 6 inches along the track and then starts jerking and splutters to a halt another 6 inches or so later.

Only way to get it to work again is lift it off and put it back on after a few seconds.

The lights and sound work fine for as long as i like until it moves then cuts out after the 12 inches, i suspect either the old motors don't like the PWM DC from the chip or something has worn out after i delved all the way into the gearboxes.
Computer Controlled Garden Railway.
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stevenfitch
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Re: LGB Crocodile Upgrades, DCC, Sound, Lights, etc

Post by stevenfitch » Wed Jun 13, 2018 12:55 pm

Update on this

The running issues were sorted by turning off Back EMF on the decoder but then came back a few runs later.
Eventual solution was to install two decoders (one for each bogie set) with the only link being the track power feeds joined.
This has had it running fine for months now.
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