Converting Lionel Ready To Play F7 Engines To LocoFi DDLLHA On Battery Power.

Ok so probably a final post for this project.(Time to start prepping airplanes for spring!) Anyway, here is a video that I uploaded with my final updates to this project. It’s been a challenging and fun ride! Take a look/listen and see if there’s some extra fun stuff!

Well after a lot of modifying, testing, trying different setups, DDLLHA alone, DDLLHA paired with Cytron MD13S, different motors, different voltages I believe for my application I’ve settled on a final configuration:

1. DDLLHA unit Stand-alone. Due to the load of the final motor selection this is the simplest and most reliable config.

2. RS-365RH-11240 5-pole Motor. This motor fits all the required criteria of dimensions and shaft length plus operating at 24VDC(6sLipo) at full stall only draws about 1.3A(DDLLHA is rated for 2A). I found with a no-load 24V RPM of 11,800 this motor remains very cool and the Locomotive top speed is about the same as before when it was running the stock configuration. One of my goals with these projects was to make the top speed faster and I was able to do so with different available RS-365 brushed motor’s however not only did these motors require the additional Cytron board but they produced ALOT more heat than the settled on motor and with only a plastic gear case that cannot sink heat away that is not good at all.

3. I decided to use all the LocoFi kit provided LEDs. Two for headlights and two for ground lights. I think they look awesome and I can turn the ground lights off/on easily. Again I’m not a scale rail purist, I’m just having fun with these kinda-scale units!

4. I ended up using both of the previously mentioned 50mm speakers. Three of the silver looking ones in the New York units and two of the black ones on the Santa Fe units. These speakers make these units THUNDER! I love it! I can feel it in the floor when they pass! The black ones thunder the most but unlike the silvers are a bit less pronounced on the highs of the bell/horn. I will be posting a video of all five units running together. Hopefully the full sound of these things comes across ok.

5. Done. For now..

I’m a modeler at heart. And I seldom leave thing’s completely alone. I always revisit and modify. Who knows where I’ll take this project from here but for now it’s time to just run ‘em!

A few checks before first fire-up.

Think I found a good spot for the MD13S board!

LEDs seem to want to shine through the red shell. Little black paint should fix that!

Let’s try a 5 pole 12k RPM motor!

WAAAY better speaker! Had to modify the chassis a bit With a dremel. This speaker is a little bigger that 50mm

Some cooler horns and windows..

A little bench mock up to make sure I don’t let the smoke out of any components ;)

Everything worked great!

Well I guess it’s time to do another loco mod with a slight difference!

MD13S for a high(er) current application!

Just a short clip of my current state of mods! Not sure if I’m done with these just yet ;)

I ordered these speakers to test how they perform installed in the Lionel F unit with the LocoFi DDLLHA. Sadly the one on the right is just slightly oversized and won’t fit without modifying the loco. The left one however fits perfectly and sounds amazing! It really makes the locomotive sound big and powerful

After a lot of research and trial and error I’ve determined that the original motor in the Lionel RTP F7 is a 3 pole RS-360 type. This motor does not work well with the DDLLHA unit. In this discovery process I tested a couple of 5-pole motors, an HO Walthers 5-Pole Skew-Wound and an O gauge MTH RS-385PH and both of course run beautifully with the DDLLHA unit! So I ordered a few Mabuchi RS-365 motors. The 365 motors are a direct physical replacement for the old 360’s and have similar performance specs to the MTH 385 and of course are a 5-pole motor.

One of the most fun aspects with a project like this is testing, modifying things and learning what works and what don’t! I tried the large original Lionel speaker and it’s ok but I wanted better! So I ordered a few of the silver ones(pictured here for size comparison). So far they sound awesome! Much more fuller rounded sound reproduction! I have some other ones (same size as the large one) ordered and I’ll try those as well when they get here :)

BTW I can’t say enough about what a great kit the DDLLHA is! In Addition to the LocoFi unit you also get extra wires, heat shrink, a micro to standard SD adapter and 4 LEDs!! Plus their willingness to respond to questions in great detail is simply amazing!!! Awesome job guys!!

Couple things to note from the last couple pics: I honestly don’t know if the original F7 had ground lights but these will! Also the original speaker was removed for a way better sounding option. At this point I’m not sure what to do about the blue power light on the DDLLHA, in the dark it does light up the cab with a faint blue color.

I needed a way to mount the LocoFi DDLLHA unit in the front of the Loco so that wiring it was simple, the SD card was easily accessible and in a way that allowed the front trucks to pivot freely. So a doghouse/stand was created. The LocoFi module is simply attached with double sided “servo” tape. This is kind of a working mock-up approach to test as I go..hence the blue tape isolating some conductors..

Here I removed the cap plate that houses the old battery tray so I can use that space to hold up to a 4000 3s lipo! This also means I can utilize the original battery access door and easily remove the lipo to swap it out for a fully charged one.

I utilized the original power switch and headlight LEDs. I removed the stock one-piece black plastic windshield and installed semitransparent windows to allow the cab to be lit up from the inside.

Great way to blog and track progress on your project! Thank you! If there's no objection, we will move this post to O Scale Forum.

Also, try 'Add an image' instead of 'Add a file' for displaying images inline.