power for sandpaper sound on Stainz

Hello all,
Any one know how many milli amps or volts is needed to run the basic chuff sound on the Stainz. It is the small unit underneath the roof of the cabin. I am converting to battery power & would like to know if there is any significant difference in run time with sound on or off.

Regards from Andrew at Sandbar & Mudcrab Railway

Hi Andrew,

Don't know about the Stainz specifically - although there are a few Stainz luvvers here.

I have canabalised basic LGB sound units notably the diesel one for use with battery power and they work fine. I have a diesel that runs with 2200 ma AA cells and it makes no noticeable difference with or without sound.

Thanks Carl, what would members consider to be the best voltage to run as battery power on LGB 0-4-0's (Stainz etc) I am running as little as ten & up to 16 x 3000ma AA in series.
10 batteries give a nice cruising speed, 16 derails the Stainz on bends - due to speed. This is straight battery with no controller.
I was tired of cleaning tracks. I think with the money spent on track cleaning eqiupment & other bits & pieces, I am better off with battery power. At least with my home made points, I don't have to worry about electrical problems.
I was using the Aristo Revolution until I accidently had a short. It is waiting for repairs.
Regards from Andrew

Mikey's probably your main man. He's been dabbling for a while.


I run diesels with LGB and similar "G scale" motors with mostly 10 AA cells (12v) but with a speed controller. Some railcars are straight powered and will run on as low as 4.8 volts.

I have had Aristocraft motor bogies running on 3.6 volts just idling round.

We talked on another post about simple pre-set speed controllers too. You can make them fairly easily and cheaply. This can be a benefit instead of juggling about with dfferent battery configurations.

Mikey....have you tried that one I sent you?

All my locos are run on battery power. 5 of them are stainz. True to my apparent reputation for recycling they run on batteries scrounged, borrowed, re-used from other sources,

1. 9.6v battery from radio controlled car (runs at realistic speed and sufficient power to haul three carriages or three wagons (all I usually need)

2. 14.4v battery from black and Decker drill.runs at same speed but will haul another couple of wagons
both these batteries gives me about 40 minutes constant running time.

3 a 7.4v pack from R/C car ,nice slow running for about 20 mins

4.Ordinary rechargeable 9v battery (use this one in the newly converted stainz to tram loco. Slow running ideal with two carriages but havent timed ruuning time.

5. Still looking!

Havent hooked up the esc yet Carl I'm saving it for another project. nearly forgot! I dont use sound modules. i have loudspeakers secreted around the track and play a home recorded CD of sounds. Much better and much louder!

Mikey

If you plan to run without any speed controller, then you shouldn't need more than 9-10 volts. I'd recommend though that you build one the controller circuts Carl mentioned. It works well, is cheap, and it's easy to build. You'll have much more flexibility.

Have you built one Bill? If so what did you use it on?

To be fair I copied the principal (using a darlington pair transistor) from Roger Amos - author of Practical Electronics for Railway Modellers.

Yes, I have built several (after I quit laughing about the vibrator story). The first one was just a simple one thrown together with parts I had laying about; the darlington was purchased from my local Radio Shack store. I think it was a TIP-120 and I paid around $1.50. I later bought some more from an on-line supplier for about $0.40 each. Anyway, my total investment for the first one was under $5.00. It did not have a reversing switch, however.

I then got creative and cobbled together a circuit of my own design which uses a darlington and three trimmer potentiometers and a DPDT relay which can be selected by a remotely controlled switch to give me a three speed + reverse remote control. (This was before I started playing around with the commercial R/C gear.)



It all fits on a 45mm X 90mm circuit board and works pretty well. As I recall, the parts cost less than $10. The Remote control came from eBay, a four channel device with SPDT outputs which can be programmed for momentary or latched outputs (I used latched) and push button key-fob controller. I think it was around $15. After wiring it all up, I did a few test runs, adjusted each pot for a different speed.

My first one is installed under the bonnet of a LGB "KoF" diesel along with the battery to power it.





The battery is a Li-ion 11.1 volt 3000mA (or so) pack which will run for two or three hours between charges. I wish I had more photos to share, but that's all I can find at the moment.

Now that's an idea with the trimmer pots and remote control.....mmm

I haven't really expanded on the basic circuit (yet...) except for a reversing switch!

BTW I've recently been given another defunct vibrator (from an unamed source ...... )to 'play' with for it's 'multi-speed electronic control' value.
Apparently it has a high torque motor.....
Pictures to follow...perhaps...