# Battery powered trains.



## norgale (Apr 4, 2011)

I want to hook up three car batteries to a solar charger to run my trains. I'll hook the batts in series but do I need anything between the batts and the transformers to protect the trains electronics? Pete


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## rrgrassi (May 3, 2012)

While the voltage is fine, have a short, and everything gets cooked!! I do believe that thee are regulators you can get to avoid meltdowns.

I have seen thinks get welded together because of the amp potential in a car battery.

A deep cycle marine battery would be your best bet though.


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## pookybear (Feb 3, 2011)

Norgale,

Remember that batteries in series adds to the total voltage available. One
12 in series with a second gives you 24 volts. Deep cycle marine batteries
would be a big plus here but not escentual.

Remember to do two things with this system, circuit breakers and fuses. For
this of course you will need to know what your engines pull current wise to
start with so you can build the circuits accordingly.

Pookybear


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## DonR (Oct 18, 2012)

Pete

3 car batteries...in series would be about 36 volts DC...
or if parallel a lot of amperage at 12 V DC.

But you mention transformers...they need AC and most 
likely 120 volts. 12 Volt inverters are readily available
to give you the 120 v AC...the size depends on your
load...amperage required should be on your transformer label.

Fuse or breaker between batteries and
what's connected to them would be mandatory.

But how did you plan to hook this up?


Don


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## rrgrassi (May 3, 2012)

Plus, they need to be charged in ventelated area. Hydrogen gas is created and released by charging.

With batteries in parallel, all you would need is a rheostat for voltage control to the track.


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## NIMT (Jan 6, 2011)

I live in the land of off the grid living, solar panels and batteries galore.
One deep cycle battery will run your trains along time!
But food for thought... when do you run you trains the most? During the day and for how long at a time?
You could probbaly get away with a small deep cycle battery and both a proper solid state low loss charging regulator and a low loss output regulator. 
All the parts could run you less than $200 for the whole set up.


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## T-Man (May 16, 2008)

One train show had an alternator tied to a bicycle. I tmay have been a light generator. It was small. Pedal and see the train run. Easier than regulating car batteries. My brother does that for boats to operate bilge pumps by solar. Use a dry cell.

With those solar powered Xmas walk lights, just mount them on the train if you are bored. Fla they should work OK outside.


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## DonR (Oct 18, 2012)

One of my sons in a graduate engineer. In his young
and brave days he lived in a log house off grid on the
side of a small mountain. 

He rigged a waterwheel to a generator and let a babbling
brook keep his batteries charged.

Don


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## norgale (Apr 4, 2011)

Sorry I havn't been keeping up with this thread but I've been busy at work closing down ??? the store.
WOW! What a lot of great information and suggestions. I guess I was thinking about putting the juice to the transformers but I forgot they have to be plugged into 110v.Obviously I hadn't thought this all the way through. I have a solar panel with a regulator on the roof of the trailer that will keep up to four good batteries charged up. I will be using them to run a couple of bilge type pumps for irrigating my plants and shrubs around the trailer. So naturally I was thinking about maybe running the trains or some accessories with the same batts but after reading all this I probably will be better off using my transformers for variouse things like lights and tunouts. That will work much better for my electrically challanged brain. Ha! I hadn't considered the amps and I was wrong about using the batts in series. Parallel was what I wanted but there will be the high amps and I can't afford to be melting my locos.
I really appreciate all that' s been posted here and you have saved me from making a huge mistake. I'll just keep the batts for the irrigation system and maybe a light on my flag pole and some lights around the place for looks at night. Thanks. pete


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## Gansett (Apr 8, 2011)

Wondering why you want to run your trains off battery power? Your a/c unit plugs in to a regular outlet, plug into that outlet and run a power strip in need be.
You can buy a power inverter to run a/c stuff off a battery. What about a extension cord?


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## timlange3 (Jan 16, 2013)

If all you need is 12vdc, that is what one battery will supply, or multiple batteries in PARALLEL, not series. Or you can get an inverter that will give you 120vac ...

In any case, one battery alone will give you way more amps than you will ever need, so a fuse with the right amp rating is a MUST!


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