Battery Power Cars - Vintage 40 Foot Covered Gondolas | Show Menu |
by Paul Norton
Our garden railway group has not run track power since the introduction of the Bachmann Big Hauler in 1990. As a result, we have continuously experimented with different types of radio control and battery power.
When the original Aristo-Craft Train Engineer (TE) was introduced in 1995, it was designed to control an entire garden railway. A member of our group, however, quickly realized the potential of using the TE for on board radio control. The receiver and two, 9-volt, Ni-Cad battery packs were placed in a gondola. When this trailing car and the receiver were coupled to a locomotive, it provided almost two hours of glitch free, radio controlled running time.
Later when NiMH cells became readily available at a reasonable price, I filled two, Radio Shack battery holders (270-387) with sixteen NiMH, 1800 mah, AA cells. Although these packs are considerably smaller than my old Ni-Cad ones, they provided 2.5 amp hours of power at 19.2 volts. The photo below shows two of these packs installed in my updated power car.
After two days of test running a GP-9 diesel, the results were beyond my wildest expectations! The NiMH packs ran the diesel for three and a half hours. Pinch me! Almost double the running time of my Ni-Cad packs with batteries that are smaller and lighter.
As these packs are made of individual cells, faulty cells can be removed and replaced if necessary. Unlike the Ni-Cad ones, these packs can also be topped up without being completely discharged.
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Last Modified 8/25/08 5:58 PM