Jump to content

USAT Hudson - Battery/RC


mjltuk
 Share

Recommended Posts

 

Hello

 

I'm lucky enough to have just got one of these that looks (and weighs) great. It looks to be a low-mileage early model with its Phoenix 2k2 card and manual dated 2002. Are there any other identifiers as to which version/run it is? Or even a hidden serial number?

 

We're all Battery/RC and I'm looking for your experiences of converting this loco please. With previous (mainly Aristo) loco conversions I have ripped everything out and started over with all the controls in the tender. That might be very foolish with this one, where nearly everything is already built into the loco and tender. How much of the existing wiring can I retain?

 

Specific questions:

  • Battery voltage to haul 7 HWs at a brisk but not reckless pace up to 2.5% gradient?
  • Physical location of main switch and charge socket, assuming batteries end up in the tender
  • If USAT don't provide a wiring diagram, does anyone have pin-outs for the six-pin connector cable - please?

 

Thanks in advance

 

Mike in UK

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Hi there,

 

I'm not sure how to identify certain production runs.

 

Haven't converted any of these to battery power but with how slow these are stock I would be using a battery voltage as high as your control electronics will allow.  Battery voltage affects top speed.  For the Hudson I would be getting a good size(ie Mah capacity) battery.

 

I would retain all existing wiring and isolate the track power pickups as is standard practice.

 

I've never seen a wiring diagram on the engines and have just used a voltmeter to determine what the pinouts are.  Since you are in the tender this will be straight forward.  (Two are track power pickups, 2 are for marker lights and the other 2 are for reverse/backup light as I recall).  While you could get a pin out from someone, you are better off doing this yourself just in case there has been some sort of change.  If they change the wiring pin-outs and you rely on what someone else tells you they are, you'll end up blowing something up.  If you blow something up you will then be spending 10x more time trying to fix and procure replacement parts than if you had just confirmed everything with your voltmeter.

 

Raymond

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 
 

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
  • Create New...