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Help Identifying a Battery

BobK

Jan 5, 2010
7,682
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Jan 5, 2010
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7,682
Yes, that battery is just two cells put together like your other one.

Bob
 

hevans1944

Hop - AC8NS
Jun 21, 2012
4,878
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Jun 21, 2012
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4,878
This has to be one of the worst kludges I have seen in more than sixty years, including some kludges made by yours truly. So, instead of electrifying the two brass rails and incorporating sophisticated remote control electronics to operate the engine, we have a pair of 1.2 V Ni-MH cells powering a three-salient-pole toy motor driving a plastic worm gear: And, instead of recharging from the rails, we have to "park" the engine over a special section of track that (1) disconnects the motor and (2) recharges the Ni-MH cells with four non-rechargeable and disposable 1.5 V AA alkaline cells connected in series to provide 6 V DC to some sort of charge regulator circuit. Kludge.
250px-Electric_Motor_Rotor.jpg

I have to assume the two pairs of "charging strips" are connected with opposite polarity to accommodate charging an engine approaching from either direction... but just to make sure, let's stick a diode in series with the battery pack while charging, saving the expense of a four-diode bridge which would allow recharging from only one pair of "charging strips" with any polarity.

I realize that "N" gauge models present a challenge in fitting sophisticated electronics... well, they did in the previous century, but that should not be a significant factor for a serious modeler today. This engine, finely detailed or not, is a piece of junk. The trucks and couplers are shoddy according to reviews I have seen, so poorly made that a train will not stay on the tracks. Some reviewers loved it though. Your mileage (or kilometers) may vary. If it was my model train setup, I would park this engine on a side track as a static (inoperable) display.
 

Bluejets

Oct 5, 2014
6,901
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Oct 5, 2014
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6,901
A way to protect against reverse polarity is to feed the train circuit with a bridge rectiifier first.
This protects against reverse polarity.
Maybe they did this here as they have potential to spare.
 
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