A 4th Video featuring LocoFi is now on YouTube

Thanks so much. :-)

Was a LiPo in a blue plastic shrinkwrap rectangle

Thank you so very much for all the information. It is very much appreciated.

I see the capacity was 850mAh with the cells in a 3S configuration. Was that for a LiPo, which is Lithium-ion cell in a pouch or were they Lithium-ion cells in a cylinder?

Again, thanks,

Ken

Size of lithium battery 2" x 1 3/16" x 11/16" 11.1V 850mAh Was using basic litium battery recommended standards that you do not drop below 10.6 V before recharging. That is where the one hour +- of running time came from. If you drop below that and have to deep charge a lithium battery it can overheat, burn and catch on fire. That is why I suggested you do not discharge your battery until it is dead and do your evaluations within safe recommended operating conditions. I have no idea as to how LocoFi performs at low voltage. LocoFi can tell you if it has an operating voltage range before it stops functioning.

I abandoned the idea of dual power sourcing, rail and battery, after I was satisfied the locomotive would perform to my liking using either power source. I now use 12V track power only because we rewired our club layout and do not have power issues to content with.

As note of caution I did provide adequate ventillation around the LocoFi system and the battery in case there would be a heat issue. Basically I created a thermal chimney in the locomotive shell with vents in the bottom of the chassis and open grills in the locomotive shell to minimize heat buildup in the shell.

Thank you John for your practical comments.

I do have a couple of questions.

What type, physical size and capacity cells were you using for your O-scale?

How were you measuring capacity remaining?

Thanks,

Ken

Finding how long your locomotive will run depends totally on how long you want your battery to live. Rule of thumb is not to let you battery power drop below 50% and never go below 70% before reaching. Back in 2020 when I was retrofitting an O scale 2 rail locomotive with deadrail I would run it for one hour max before recharging. A more meaningful test would be to see how long the locomotive would run until the battery got to 50% and 70% rather to when it was dead.

>...but it has been a ton 'o fun. :-)

Glad to hear that.

>I hope that others are finding these videos helpful. I left in some of the bloopers just to show what happens in "real life". ;-)

That is what makes it a great video, more real! Thank you.

Thank you for the three excellent tips. They are very much appreciated. As you can tell, I'm still in the learning stage, but it has been a ton 'o fun. :-)

I hope that others are finding these videos helpful. I left in some of the bloopers just to show what happens in "real life". ;-)

The videos. haven't started to get the traction on YouTube that I thought they might, but time will tell.

Thanks,

Ken

Wow! Wow! Wow! Great video! Thank you for doing that! It clearly shows running locomotives independently, then consisted and then independently again.

Few points to note:

1. There's no need to exit to save (https://youtu.be/uJmfgDUa9l8?t=250)

2. There's no need to go back and click on the second loco separately to get the second loco up. Simply swipe or click on the loco name in the top tab bar to switch to it (https://youtu.be/uJmfgDUa9l8?t=365 and https://youtu.be/uJmfgDUa9l8?t=750

3. If you configured your locos for scale speed for a given load (probably none), then having a different load during run may not match exactly with scale speeds.

As always, thank you for the kind comments and making the effort to produce all these great and informative videos.