Saturday, December 19, 2009

Plantraco / Grandt Line Box Cab

While I am waiting for the Futuba Transmitter I have on order, I have started my second RC Loco.  This one will be the Grandt Line - GE 23 TON Box Cab.  I found two of these, one is the motorized versions in HO scale and one is the non-motorized version in HOn3.   

I have a second and really small - postage stamp size - receiver that I will use in it.  I have the Transmitter for this receiver so when I get the Box Cab put together I should have my first running (RC) controlled loco.  I can't wait to see it running around my test track in battery mode.  This second Transmitter, receiver, and battery is from a company in Canada called Plantraco and the receiver and battery are very small. 

http://www.microflight.com/Online-Catalog/Receivers/Micro9-3-Channel-PlugnPlay-0-9g-Receiver

http://www.microflight.com/Online-Catalog/Radio-Systems/HFX900-M2-Transmitter-with-10mm-Bahoma  

The receiver in the picture is sitting next to (2) pennies and the battery is sitting next to (2) nickels. The battery connects to the receiver by the 2 round magnets or small circles you can see on one end of the battery.



The transmitter has the battery charger built in.



My Radio Control effort is all uncharted territory for me so anything can happen from running good to who knows what. 

cont:

1.  I finished enough of the Grandt Line Box Cab to install the RC receiver.  The RC set-up was from a very small airplane.  It ran really nice - but - how many airplanes do you know of that can fly backwards?  It was a bit of a shock when I discovered that I could only go in one direction.

I am working on this. 

2.  The same day I was playing with the Box Cab my LHS called and said my Futaba Attack transmitter was in.  I went over an picked it up.  Back home and with batteries loaded I put my RC McKeen Motor Car on my test track.  The McKeen didn't run very well in forward before and it still doesn't run well forward.  It does run in reverse OK.  I turned the cab around to make it look it was running forward.  I think the springs for the drive system are weak and I also think the gears on the power truck are worn out.

I am working on a complete new motor drive system for it and if it works OK I will do my other McKeen the same way. 

I took the RC McKeen to the San Antonio Model Railroad Association club track to run it.     http://www.samratx.org/
It ran OK after a couple of minor fixes.   I may write a book and call it "A funny thing happened when I ran my RC train".  I ran the McKeen into a tunnel and it never came out.  The McKeen lost its radio signal when it went into the tunnel.  I can fix this one of a couple of ways.  When I make my layout I can run an antenna wire inside the tunnel or any tunnels I might have.  I could also get a RC transmitter with more power.  Or I could have a layout without any tunnels. 

cont:

Radio Control and the Box Cab:

The fix for the RC Transmitter / Receiver was very simple.  A call to the company and the following information:

The receiver has three plug outlets on it.  The primary one is for the motor.  That one only gives me one direction but speed control.  The other two outlets would give the plane right / left and up and down functions and also speed control.  The fix was - plug the motor into one of these two outlets.  That worked but I was told the speed might be a bit slower.  I tried this and I now have both direction control and speed control.  The speed seemed about the same.  I have to do a bit of a rebuild on the Box Cab before I can put it back on my track.  I hope to finish that today.


cont:

Here are a few new pictures of the "HO" Box Cab.  It is very small and very slow - I think.







How would I figure "HO" scale speed?  The Box Cab moves 12" in 24 seconds.  Watching it I believe it is to slow but I could be wrong.  I may try a larger different battery.

cont:

My first step into the World of Radio Control for Small Trains.

There is a small but growing interest in Radio Control (RC) with on board batteries and no track wiring for indoor train layouts. When I first thought about putting RC in small scale trains I knew of no RTR systems being sold.  Parts were being used for HO to O scale were coming from RC car, plane, ship models etc.  N scale may be possible but I don't know anyone that has done RC for "N" scale. 

The first thing that is necessary for an RC conversion is a very good running motor in the locomotive being converted.

I have thought about adding RC to a locomotive for maybe 9 months. I have had most of the parts for two conversion's for some time but thought this was going to be a big deal to get working. I was very wrong, it turned out to be very easy.

My First Radio Control Train - McKeen Motor Car - Team Lois Receiver

Friday I decided I would start on one of my McKeen Motor Cars.

I am using a Team Losi Micro-T receiver with a Team Losi 7.4 V Li-Po battery.  After I installed everything I took the car to my Local Hobby Store (LHS) RC department to show them and to buy a Futaba Attack transmitter.  The transmitter they had was a 75 MHZ AM and they said I needed the 27 MHZ version.  The LHS put one on order and said they should get it 14 days or less.

When the installation is finished the battery will sit on top of the Receiver.  I have been running the chassis on RC and it runs very well.

Here are a few pictures:
1.


2.


3.


4.


5.


6.



Cont.


R/C planes, cars etc each use a (crystal / frequency / channel) that is different or should be so that problems don't occur.  The crystal is a plug-in and can be changed sort of easy.  Every controller (Transmitter) would have a different frequency (crystal or with some transmitters a controllable way to set or change a frequency). 

The nice thing about a train on a track is that all I really need is a way to control its speed or on / off.  That only takes one (crystal / frequency / channel) or what ever word is the easiest to understand.  The Futaba transmitter I am getting should let me control two different trains (individually) on the same set of track at the same time.  The radio receiver on my Locomotives (Team Losi - Micro T) all have (on / off) power switches so I could use the same crystal on several different locomotives if I wanted to park them in the "off" power position on a siding while I was running two other Locomotives.

As I build more Loco's with RC I will test additional transmitters / receivers.   I have two different sets of hardware to play with.  One big question I will need to consider is just how many Locomotives can I run or do I want to run on my layout at the same time.

This first transmitter is the Futaba Attack (2-crystals) on sale for $39.95.  You can get a Futaba that has from 2 to 14 crystals but the price goes up accordingly.  You can buy a hand held transmitter that can be programed with 1 to 9999 address or frequencies but the receiver that goes in the Loco is larger than the one I am now using and also requires a larger size battery.   

There are a number of RTR - RC train items being made for "garden" size trains where size is not to important.  For HO - O scale most or maybe all is what you might call custom applications made from the smaller RC Plane and Car stuff.