Making up a battery pack...

 My Playmobil based RC locos, use a 4 x AA battery pack.  I have a proper one, but thought it would be good to have a spare one with another set of batteries in it; so if the batteries run down during an operating session I can put the spare in and carry on..

I used a standard 4 x AA battery holder fwhich its into the loco as needed with the +/- contacts pressing against the loco ones. To stop it falling out some small spacers 'dots' are fitted; to remove it a small self adhesive wall hook is fixed to the other end. I have to paint the hook black.

RC Diesel (4) - Finally done...

I couldn't get the lights to work at all with the new speed controller; the wiring setup for it was not compatible with what was in situ and also one of the two light LEDs was faulty. So I opted to forego having working lighting (I know when I'm beaten 😭).

So on with finishing off....I repainted and varnished the loco body, then replaced the faulty on/off slider switch..

In the loco I made a couple of cradles to hold the speed controller and receiver, now everything is relatively neat and tidy....

Re-assembled and ready for its first run-test...

Engineering inspection first....

Running with the sound on...

I am so pleased to get to the finishing point of getting the new RC electronics working and the loco running 😀

Definitely a good learning project about how to put battery RC stuff in a loco.

I'm sure I'll do a few tweaks, perhaps a little bit more battery power for running to get a bit more speed and pulling power.

RC Diesel (3) - the new control stuff...

The new receiver, speed controller and control handset have arrived... 

From a quick look the receiver and speed controller appears to be a drop in replacement, after studying the manuals provided I'm ready to plug and pray....

---oXo---

Before starting I exercised some self-discipline and finished tidying up the wiring for the rear and front lights.

The new receiver and controller plugged in, paired with the handset and nothing happened 😡

Back to fault finding mode... receiver and controller with power feed direct from a battery - transmitter paired and LEDs flashed ! so a wiring gremlin in the loco somewhere.

Connected the loco motor 's power feed into speed controller.. hoorah its alive ! 

Connected up everything as it should be, a bit of wire wiggling on the front switches - no effect; jiggled the right front switch and the LEDs on the receiver and controller started flashing. Hoorah it works - all down to a dodgy two way slider switch. This time I put the loco on a 'rolling road setup' for some tests

That damn switch....

So I'll have to replace the switch.  Hopefully I can find one to match.

Impressions of the new RC Fosworks electronics - really easy to setup; I like the nice flashing LEDs so you can see it is connected and working, well worth the cost (and I can get replacements if needed).

RC Diesel (2)... checking things out....

 More tinkering with the recently arrived RC diesel...

I removed the receiver and speed controller so I could label up key wires and check connectivity

I managed to check the lights worked properly, with some flying leads on a PP3 battery.

Finally located some information on the sound card, it is an Acme Multi-Cylinder Diesel sound card (out of production since 2019) - it just has a looped sound with volume adjust but no link input from the loco speed. The sound card works OK as per the info I have.

Next I used up some spare plasticard to provide a holder for the sound card and a simple holder for the battery pack.

 

The Tranmitter Controller, Receiver and Speed Controller are all at least 5+ years old and at least one of them is not working plus they are no longer available. I think it would be a good idea to buy new ones, which also gives me access to support if needed - so I need to identify and order replacements.

RC Diesel (1)... delving inside....

First attempt to get it running with new batteries in the Transmitter Controller, no go...

Bought a battery charger and charged the loco batteries ... still didn't work...

So desperate measures, time to peek inside, removed the battery pack (which was wrapped round with gaffer tape !), all the other bits were held together by double sided sticky strips.

Checked the Loco batteries ( 8 x 1.2v), removed them from the pack and put them on a charger - one duff battery - so that explained the non-running ??? Nope - I tried a PP3 without success

So I pulled out my old tester and started checking voltages...

I found two broken power wires between the Receiver and the Controller .. fixed these but still no joy.

Hooked up the PP3 directly to the motor input and it moves - so the motor is OK.  Investigation of the switches and tracing wires

• Front switch1 on/off power to motor; 
• Charger socket
• Front switch2 on/off charge
• Rear switch2 on/off sound card - which makes a diesel sound ! so something worked (it has its own battery)
• Rear switch2  on/off lights - which don't work

I searched online and managed to find manuals for the Transmitter/Receiver,  Controller but not the sound card.

Time to RTFM !

At worst I could have a fault in the transmitter, receiver or control card - hmm one option is to replace with new more up-to date and smaller kit.

How did those get in my 'cart'...

Aaah! the delights of looking through Ebay over Xmas period.  Browsing resulted in some nice presents to myself...

A radio control diesel loco, needs new batteries and a bit of tinkering.....

A wagon and two rather tired signals... 

plus a job lot of bits which includes figures, barrels, a phone box and two post boxes...

plenty to keep me busy😀