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Traditional Power

Bachmann "Dizzie" plus battery R/C. (Update No4).

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Engineer

Australia

Posted - 24 Jul 2004 : 22:14:34

Hello MLS'ers.

The Bachmann 45 ton diesel is one of the smoothest running diesels I have come across. At first I was not going to convert mine as I did not really like it. However after doing a conversion for a customer last week it has grown on me so I decided to get stuck into converting my "DIZZIE" to battery R/C.

Here are the first steps I took.

First I stripped the loco down to the bare chassis.
Make sure all components are marked as to which go forwards.
All the Bachmann printed circuit boards and wiring were removed.
I left headlight wires as long as possible.
I also removed both trucks and the wimpy plunger contacts.
I soldered new motor leads to the printed circuit boards inside the front and back slots on the top of the motor blocks.

To enable these new leads to feed back up into the chassis with flexibility and still retain the truck swing limiting stops I cut off only the front and back old plunger guides.

This plate was then re-installed.

I hardwired to the trucks to eliminate the plunger contacts.

Before re-installing the trucks I mounted my usual rear charge/aux batt jack on the rear frame. Instead of using an external nut I tacked the jack into position with a tiny bead of super glue and secured the jack with silicone adhesive. Be very careful not to get any glue inside the switch. This way the jack is much less obvious from the outside. ( See next pic). Painted red will hide it even more.
I then hot glued the cables along the underneath edge. These three wires were fed through a new hole I drilled so they go up to the chassis top.
At the same time I cut the antenna and attached a tag at one end. I drilled two small holes in the front and fed the antenna down under the chassis and hot glued it underneath along the other side.
The screw heads you can see in the above pic are holding the inner mounts in place. (Explained below).

The loco uses two long stanchions either end to hold the original Bachmann pcb's. With some difficulty (They are loctited in) I removed the two long ones from the rear and mounted them at the front.
These will support styrene platforms to hold the ON-OFF switch, RCS throttle, RF-RX and whichever sound system I end up using.
You can also see the antenna wire coming through the chassis to a terminal on front.

At the rear I used four 25mm long stanchions held with our normal 3mm screws. These will support the platform for the 14.4 volt 2300mah NiMh battery I will be using.

Also shown are the RCS RF-CHK pcb's that provide the motor noise suppression.
Bachmann have thoughtfully provided a ground (-) contact to the motor case via the yellow wire on the truck holding screw. The three wires from the trucks are connected to the RF-CK's once the trucks have been re-installed.
The styrene platforms will removable so that I can get at the truck screws for easy removal if necessary.

The stock Bachmann speaker enclosure is designed for small speaker which is unlikely to reproduce decennt sound. I removed the baffling styrene and drilled some more holes underneath so that I could install a good quality oval speaker. I mounted the speaker with silicone and sealed off the front from the back with thin styrene sheet.

Ultimately I will also seal off the fuel tank so that the back of the speaker is completely enclosed.

I fabricated system mounting platforms out of 2mm styrene sheet.

Here are the dimensions.

They sit on the previously installed stanchions. Shown here temporarily in place.

Next step will be to mount the batteries on the rear platform and the RF-RX, Throttle and sound on the front platform. Having the platforms removable enables me to work on them away from the loco.

What with getting ready all the new RCS stuff I announced this week I have not had much chance to get stuck into the installation.
However, I did get a bit done.
I have never tried a proper air tight sound enclosure so I plated in the fuel tank with styrene sheet to make a sound box.

I then sealed the speaker magnet hole with silicone and painted the whole shebang a low sheen black.

I had my own design 12 cell 14.4 volt 2300 mah NiMH battery pack made up by Master Instruments here in Australia. Not cheap but I have never had any problems with their Sanyo batteries.

Normally I do not recommend using spring grip battery holders. Mainly because they get a bit iffy at loads above 2 amps. Over time the spring contacts get tarnished and build up resistance. The performance of the loco then suffers. However, because the DIZZIE does not draw a lot of power it would be OK to use two AA six pack holders wired in series. I have only one shown here because that is all I had for the pic but I know two will fit.

My BIK-U power ON-OFF switch was mounted on the rear of the plate.

I also mounted the 3 way programming DIP switch.

Plus the RCS EMD-3 Motor Driver pcb.

....and the Dallee sound system.

I drilled some small access holes from one side to the other to help keep the wiring neat.

Last but not least the RF-RX on the front part.

I drilled some small access holes from one side to the other to help keep the wiring neat.

The component plate was installed on the chassis mounts.

The blue and white wires are for the front headlight.
I loomed up the rest of the wires to make a neat job of locating them under the cab floor. There is plenty of room for the plugs and sockets I like to use.
That takes care of the installation. Final job will be to re-assemble the loco and test.

Final pix will be put up in two weeks or so.

Adding info on August 17th 2005.

The Dizzie has never had really good range. A situation I have long wanted to resolve. I have tried all sorts of remedies. Nothing seemed to make a big difference
I had contemplated using the Azarr antennas but had always thought they must be stretched out in a straight line.
After mounting the RF-RX and Azarra antenna in the roof of my LGB #50 dismal I thought I had beter try it with the Dizzie.
Here is how I mounted bot the RF-RX and antenna in the Dizzie roof.

The RF-RX was mounted in front of the cab light with silicone cement. The antenna was stretched out around the perimiter of the cab roof and lightly tacked in place with dabs of hot glue.
I lightly glued the RX-RF cable to the front wall of the cab.
When the loco is reassembled the wiring is virtually invisible. A coat of grey paint would hide it even better.

Bench testing indicates good range. I will be testing it more thoroughly on Friday when I visit the layout of my friend Bill Wellington.

Amphidiploid heptanoic curine fanlight graphecon doctrinaire shoplift discrimination attenuators? Nondevelopable sweetheart choriocentesis, heritability expireware!

Edited by - on 17 Aug 2005 07:51:31

Foreman

1st Class Member

USA

Posted - 26 Jul 2004 : 22:23:25

Tony, you have taken "clean" installations into another realm - - Art form. Beautiful job and great pics with the step by step. Looking forward to the rest.

Take Care,
Allen B.

Conductor

USA

Posted - 27 Jul 2004 : 14:00:19

You mean there's a better way than just cramming all the circuit boards, batteries, and wires into the body?!?

Heck, with this step-by-step installation guide at my fingertips, I might even buy one-a-them dizzies.

Foreman

1st Class Member

USA

Posted - 28 Jul 2004 : 08:42:20

Tony makes it look so easy and neat that I might be tempted to try R/C and battery power.

Maybe in one loco out of 20.

Perhaps somewhere down the road.

Take Care,
Allen B.

Foreman

United Kingdom

Posted - 01 Aug 2004 : 13:08:52

Hi Tony,
Just spotted this thread, looks like great minds think alike

Engineer

USA

Posted - 01 Aug 2004 : 13:50:37

Ok, I want one. Gotta find another "fire sale" on diesels, though.....

Engineer

Australia

Posted - 01 Aug 2004 : 17:56:24

Hey Richard,

Make that great BRITISH minds think alike.

I am still a card carrying POM even though I have lived here for almost 50 years.

Nice work.
What is that pcb on top on the left?
I toyed with the idea of having the charge jack near the ON-OFF switch under the access hatch but ended up opting for my regular jack at the rear.
I will be able to get some more done this week and will put here up what I do.

Railway Exec (Moderator)

1st Class Member

USA

Posted - 01 Aug 2004 : 18:28:44

Tony,

Maybe it is because the Dizzy is so large, but your battery pack looks small.

What bateries did you use?

Did you start with individual tabbed batteries wire them in seris and then wrap them?

What did you use for the wrap?

Jim

Engineer

Australia

Posted - 01 Aug 2004 : 22:20:24

Jim,
The pack sitting on the platform is actually only 12 volts. 10 x 2350 mah AA NiMh cells. I just wanted to show where it will go.
The final one will be 14.4 volts (12 cells).
I get them made professionally by a battery specialist here.
You could surely use tabbed cells and solder them together.
Sorry, but I do not know where you can get that plastic tubing that shrinks with heat.

Foreman

United Kingdom

Posted - 02 Aug 2004 : 00:30:41

Tony
The pcb is a diesel sound card

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/traxcontrols/modules_diesel_engine.html

Similar speaker fitted. Next thing is to make a fan assisted smoke unit.

Engineer

USA

Posted - 02 Aug 2004 : 02:58:59

I wonder if with all that room, you couldn't have extra batteries for extended running..... but then, I suppose that'd leave little room for the rest of the electronics.

For those of you who like the 44 Tonner sound, there is one coming from Sierra. (I don't think this is a secret...but remember I don't work for them, so it's not like this is an announcement or anything.) It's been delayed due to their Tsunami stuff occupying their time and staff changes..... but it's coming, they tell me. I lent them a Hancock whistle to record for it. It's one thing I've been waiting for to finish up my 45 Tonner. Meanwhile I can wrestle wtih whether I want to convert THIS loco to RCS, or get a second one for that purpose.....

I suppose liking this loco puts me in the minority.... but I do.... really.... in fact I'd love to have a second or third!

Thinking of setting the next one up as US ARMY ..... which would fit in a lot of places.

Edited by - on 02 Aug 2004 03:02:43

Conductor

Canada

Posted - 02 Aug 2004 : 11:51:06

....someone mentioned a "Fan assisted smoke unit"....get real.....if you have ever actually seen a real Diesel electric loco, other than an old Alco operating; you would NOT want white smoke.The reason for most of the Alco "BLACK" smoke, was turbo lag....in case you wondered.
A well tuned Diesel engine would not produce much smoke, let alone WHITE smoke unless it was in very sad shape.
The main reason, in model form, that you DON'T want to look at a smoke unit, is that is a great waste of the battery power that you need to get that long run from.
It is my opinion, and I am allowed an opinion, last I heard; that I would give up on this crazy Diesel smoke idea and devote my battery power to the operation of the loco and train......Diesel sound is another mater.....I do think it is very, very close to realism....steam sounds are another mater.

Fr.Fred

Foreman

USA

Posted - 20 Aug 2004 : 13:27:09

I agree Fr. Fred. I got ahold of a used SD45, eventually pulled the smoke unit and fit it into a Pacific. The smoke looked ok out of a diesel but took too much batt. power. Worth the power in a steam model.

Engineer

1st Class Member

USA

Posted - 18 Aug 2005 : 09:47:20

quote:
Originally posted by TonyWalsham

I am still a card carrying POM even though I have lived here for almost 50 years.

I sat here scratching my head, then my ..., but I just couldn't figure out what a POM is. I suspect that is is a TLA (Three Letter Acronym), but for what?!!!

Enquiring minds want to know.

SteveF

BTW, nice job, Tony. Something to emulate. Got the BIK-TC figured out without burning down the house. There is hope for me, yet.

Edited by - on 18 Aug 2005 09:49:59

Brakeman

United Kingdom

Posted - 09 Aug 2006 : 19:36:49

Dear All,

What on earth is all that electronics inside the 45t.It could be done with much much smaller,cheaper units,for example you could use a radio control car speed controller for the motor,they are about an inch square,there are also sound controllers of similar dimensions.As for running power,there's enough room under those bonnets to fit 2 deep cycle gel cells that would give hours of running before recharging,Ni-mH batteries arent going to be able to give you the long slow output that you require for very long.You can also use a micro RX for the controller as well,they are tiny.

just a few thoughts.

Engineer

Australia

Posted - 09 Aug 2006 : 21:58:21

Hello silver760.
Thanks for the contribution.
When you discover a small ESC that can handle 14.4 volts (or more), provide constant intensity directional lighting and sound control outputs with a transmitter handpiece the size of a cigarette packet, I am sure we would be glad to hear about it.
2,500 mah AA NiMh batteries will run that loco for around 3 hours. Sound included. Taking up a lot less space than two 1,200 mah 12 volt gel cells would.
How about you take the time to show us how you would do it in an article?

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