BIG R/C favour wanted!!

I have three 'sugarbox' locos, all of which are battery powered via a trailer wagon. i would love to have just one of them radio controlled. I've bought radio controlled cars and taken the R/C out of them but I just cant get it to work. Is there a kind soul who lives in France and would be able to install R/C for me? On payment of course!

mikey

I would be quite happy to do it Mikey if.....
1. There is no one nearer who can oblige.
2. Not for the money as long as you have most of the bits.


I surmise that the RC kit from the cars is non proportional. Do you want it to be proportional?
If so that requires a bit more ingenuity.

I'm sure it could easily be done in a weekend.

Proportional?, see I am lost already!! Thanks for the offer Carl. I know that you,like everybody else, is busy at this time of year. I'll see if anybody else will take pity on me (perhaps a bit closer?)

mikey

I'm always busy but you know the expression...If you want a job done then give it to a busy person.

It's just the distance that's a problem but if you can wait and I'll see if I can get down for your open weekend.

Proportional = variable control, in that can you regulate the speed by moving the stick control on the transmitter.

Non-proportional = on or off (and usually reverse), in that the speed is fixed when you move the stick.

You can with some 'jiggery pokery' make non proportional into proportional.
This can be done electronically or mechanically or a combination.

I built this machine ('Number 2')many years ago.



It is fitted with a fabrication maison 'accelerameter'.



It is a motor-driven, high-current rheostat. The small fixed-speed motor moves a wiper arm along the restance coil (made from electric fire element wire). The battery feed to the traction motor is then fed through this.

Thus using a non-proportional radio control from a cheap car, one channel (fwd/rev) controls the rheostat wiper motor. The other channel controls an on/off/reverse switch for the battery power.

There are of course more modern, less ludite solutions.

Mikey, don't know if it's relevant or not.

I can remember trying something similar a few years ago. I used a R/c board from a large 4x4 from Lidl and put in a Bachmann 4-6-0, at7.2volts (the proper voltage for the r/c) it worked but very slow, too slow in fact. I doubled up the battery pack to 14.4 volts which I knew would make the engine run ok. Alas the r/c module would not work at all, fortunately it didn't blow.

Now I don't know what a sugarbox is but what I am trying to say is : if your engine needs a higher voltage (ie 12v)than the r/c is designed to run with (ie 6v) there maybe some over voltage protection built in.

Hope this makes sense.

Yes that makes perfect sense Patrick but i think that my problem was/is how i connected everything (despite trying several different ways) the car i bought had r/c to control speed,direction,steering etc and was designed to run with 6 volts. Reading the previous posts of others I think that the hobbyking system is the way to go!

mikey

By the way a sugarbox or 'boite de sucre' is the original slang term for the box tramway locos!

mikey

Just a quickie , you did not perchance snip the ariel when you were pruning wires did you ?
Can you maybe do some pics, maybe we can all form a cooperative and remotely cure your probs

Carl - can you get BBC world service on that contraption ?

Hi Mike

Sorry I've not been on here much lately so only just stumbled across this, but you're welcome to pop up here with your stuff and I'm sure we can get it sorted - phone, pm or email me! No payment required!

Cheers Brian

Carl Hibbs wrote:

It's just the distance that's a problem but if you can wait and I'll see if I can get down for your open weekend.

What open weekend! Sorry guys but I've really been out of the loop recently - explanations available by PM if requ'd!

pjti wrote:

Carl - can you get BBC world service on that contraption ?

Not quite Patrick, but it causes chaos with air traffic control......

It is a motor-driven, high-current rheostat. The small fixed-speed motor moves a wiper arm along the restance coil (made from electric fire element wire). The battery feed to the traction motor is then fed through this.

Thus using a non-proportional radio control from a cheap car, one channel (fwd/rev) controls the rheostat wiper motor. The other channel controls an on/off/reverse switch for the battery power.

There are of course more modern, less ludite solutions. [/quote]

An amazing bit of electromechanicall jiggery pokery Carl.

Mikey:
If you could use the 6v motor that came with the R/C car (or some other 6v motor) it would probably work. 6v is not enough to get much out of an LGB motor (rated for 24v). You might be able to get away with 7.2 v without a problem, but again, this isn't much voltage to an LGB motor. The motor's amp draw could be another overload issue. Your best bet might be the HobbyKing stuff. If I was closer, I'd be glad to help, but the posts Greg Hunter and I have made about these systems should be enough to get you along.

You might think about using the R/C from the model car on a railbus or draisine.

Bon chance, mon ami.

Thanks Bill. Yes I think youve hit the nail on the head re the voltage. I also agree that hobbyking seems to be really good value for money.

BTW these terrible fires in Texas; anywhere near you?

mikey

mikeyh wrote:

BTW these terrible fires in Texas; anywhere near you?

mikey

We are extremely dry. In Houston, we have a deficit of about 10 inches of rain, and we are not the worst off. We have had some wild fires near Houston, but they were not as large as those out in West and North Texas and are under control now. I was in central and north Texas this past weekend and it didn't seem so dry, but apparently it is. The worst of the fires are several hudred miles away.