Radio/Battery Powered DCC Decoder

[conrail98]

Saw this on another forum from Tam Valley Depot:

Very interesting and while I know some of the larger scales have similar items, I don't recall them being able to integrate with DCC so easily,

Phil

[Ian MacMillan]

Wow. Pretty impressive. And like you said I too have seen the radio systems, like LGB, but never integrated with DCC.

[sizemore]

Pray your battery doesn't die with your locomotive in a tunnel.... There is no neutral when the worm is always engaged, so fishing out the loco is a little tough. I wonder how they charge it? You'd either need to have a connection underneathe or disassemble the locomotive.

Nice in theory, tough in application among the smaller scales.

The S.

[Ian MacMillan]

The battery they showed in the tender in the video looks like one of the typical RC batteries that I have in my park flyers. You just unplug it and plug it into a wall wart and its good to go in about 15-30min.

It will be interesting to see how it is implemented in hood units.

[sizemore]

The battery they showed in the tender in the video looks like one of the typical RC batteries that I have in my park flyers. You just unplug it and plug it into a wall wart and its good to go in about 15-30min.

It will be interesting to see how it is implemented in hood units.

Kinda figured it was the same as EPO planes. Swapping/charging requires potential disassembly. Disassembly leads to fingering your model, wearing out or breaking parts. Just not practical in small size.

Conceptually it's pretty cool!

The S.

[John]

Kinda figured it was the same as EPO planes. Swapping/charging requires potential disassembly. Disassembly leads to fingering your model, wearing out or breaking parts. Just not practical in small size.

Conceptually it's pretty cool!

The S.

What about one of those charging mats, like for cell phone ..

[conrail98]

What about one of those charging mats, like for cell phone ..

Interesting. Wonder if you could put that under and engine terminal for recharging while a your train is cut down/made-up,

Phil

[sizemore]

What about one of those charging mats, like for cell phone ..

That could work, with the inductive pads in service areas. I'll finance it, keep coming up with ideas.

The S.

[rswinnerton]

Maybe charge the onboard battery from the on track DCC power. That way, it charges as it runs.

[Chris333]

He says lipo battery. You need a charger for those. I just bought one for a RC truck and you have to match the charging amps with the discharge rate of the battery. Plus if it is a 2 cell battery you need to match them while charging.

[central.vermont]

It's all about the battery and charging system to make this a reality.
This is a cool idea and might just be the future of model railroading.

Jon