Model Forum / General / Railroads / June 2004

Several articles in Electronics Australia in 1967/8 showed how to do
exactly this and much else. I recall they parked the coaches on a
special charging siding between running sessions.

apw

Using rechargeable batteries is not going to be a problem with power
consumption from typical model railway controllers, however some sort of
circuitry would be required between the battery and track power. By the time
you have built all this installing DCC seems just as easy. The advantage of
using just  batteries is you do not need pick ups on your carriage wheels,
and you don't get the lights flickering. You can use alternatives to
batteries with DC. 1 simple solution is to use LEDs and a couple of diodes
as voltage droppers installed into each locomotive. Some locomotives with
'constant lighting' already have this. Then you can have about 2 volts on
the track before the trains move, but the lights are on. However this means
you don't get full speed of your models without increasing the maximum track
voltage to at least 14 volts. New models with DC /DCC decoders also don't
move until you have over 2 volts DC.
Try these sites for locomotive lighting circuits to do with diodes
http://www.mrollins.com/circuit.html
http://home.cogeco.ca/~rpaisley4/xConstLight.html

And for a current regulator circuit for lighting in carriages see
http://home.cogeco.ca/~rpaisley4/xCurrentReg.html

Some time ago I played with a Bachmann Spectrum heavyweight car. Ex-factory,
this has lighting off track power. Because I use DCC, this meant that the
car had the equivalent of 20 PortaFloods inside. My passengers would have
been very cross. Now, I had been in DCC long enough for me to start
upgrading the decoders in my loco's - replacing old Lenz LE100 14-step
decoders with other decoders more appropriate for the loco, be it 28 step,
advanced consisting, sound, back EMF, silent drive etc etc etc. This left me
with a pile of old decoders.

Looked at old LE100 in one hand. Looked at Spectrum car in other. Thought -
"Hmmmm". Dismantled car and put red/black wires from decoder to track pick
up. Put orange/grey leads from decoder to lights (incandescents, BTW). Also
thought of running yellow/blue/white wires to marker lights via LED's/fibre
optics, but thought one heroic feat of intellectual genius was enough per
night. Might try that another day.

Anyway, put coach back on track and called up the decoder. Turned the lights
on via the motor control, and used the 14 step function to adjust the coach
lights for the ambient light condition (dim for night, etc). In comparison
with uncontrolled cars, it was much better. You can now buy function
decoders cheaply to put into your passenger fleet, but they do not have the
option to control light output. So I figure this is more fun than batteries
recharged off track power, but whatever floats your boat.

Mind you, ultimately, I'd love to see loco's with a 9v ni-cad battery as
their power source, radio controlled, with the "charging" tracks located in
the loco servicing area. Few hours of running, then a blinking LED in the
cab reminding you to "refuel" urgently, or you've a dead loco! Would maske
wiring the layout a whole lot easier, too.

Steve
Newcastle NSW

In the UK, Harvey Godber of First Class Trains has produced something
along the line of what you are looking for.

http://www.ukmodelshops.co.uk/catalogues/fct/lighting.html

There's a diagram showing how it's done:

http://www.ukmodelshops.co.uk/catalogues/fct/fitting_ultra.html

Pete