This has been simmering in my head all day: instead of relying on track power for Gn15, why not make it battery powered? At 4:55 mountain time I hooked up my little HO scale hustler to a single AA battery and so far (about 1/2 hour) it has been running fine.
The way I see it, remote control doesn't make any sense because the layouts that Gn15 operate on are usually small, so I was thinking, why not just use a battery, hide it in the locomotive somewhere, and have a switch disguised as a lever to make the train go forward and backward
The locomotive will run at low speed, and won't stall due to dirty track. and finally, my favorite, the locomotive could be run on reverse loops without any wiring. To make the battery fit, I've put it in place of the weight, so the locomotive can pull just as many cars.
Tomorrow I'm going to get thereversing switch, and I hope to give a progress report.
But I have to ask, has anyone else tried this before? Would anyone like to try?
Battery power is the only way to go with scales larger than HO. You can fit a Losi ESC and LiPo battery in it and have RC in the event you run it on a larger layout.
____________________
"If the women don't find you handsome they should at least find you handy".
James-battery power in large scale is not something new, our English friends have been using batteries and DPDT switches for years on their micros and even garden lines. No, I don't suggest using r/c on a micro...that's like using a cannon to shoot rabbits. However, Dwayne is right, you might want to run the loco(s) on a larger layout sometime and you may wish you had the ability to operate the loco. But do your own thing, don't let us tell you what to do.
Woodie
____________________ It doesn't matter if you win or lose, its' how you rig the game.
jtrain wrote: The way I see it, remote control doesn't make any sense because the layouts that Gn15 operate on are usually small, so I was thinking, why not just use a battery, hide it in the locomotive somewhere, and have a switch disguised as a lever to make the train go forward and backward
I haven't done it yet but that's exactly what I'm planning for a couple of short Gn15 mine trams on my outdoor layout.
____________________ Visit http://www.raydunakin.com to see photos of the rugged and rocky In-ko-pah Railroad!
Well, some news that I must share which brings a setback for this project. Tonight I wired up the motor, switches, and batteries and something is not right. I may have gotten a defective DPDT switch because: A, it only allows the motor to run one direction, not both like it is supposed to. And B, the batteries (AAA) sized are heating up excessively, even when the motor is turned off.
possible explanations include:
bad switch (switch causing extra resistance, forcing the heat of the battery to increase)
bad set of batteries (sometimes happens)
motor is giving too much demand for the batteries (they are AAA's afterall).
Could it be that:
The DPDT switch is not wired right?
That is another possibility that needs to be considered.
Center posts to battery + & -, one end posts to motor + & -, and other end posts wired diagonally to the motor posts. Then it should work. Is that how it is?
Woodie
____________________ It doesn't matter if you win or lose, its' how you rig the game.
Well, some news that I must share which brings a setback for this project. Tonight I wired up the motor, switches, and batteries and something is not right. I may have gotten a defective DPDT switch because: A, it only allows the motor to run one direction, not both like it is supposed to. And B, the batteries (AAA) sized are heating up excessively, even when the motor is turned off. 
