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 Posted - March 23 2016 : 10:50:45 AM
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Has anybody considered experimenting with the new Bluetooth decoders by Bluerailtrains? these decoders use Bluetooth to carry a dcc like control signal from your controller to the locomotive. the decoder also has provision for the addition of a rechargeable battery pack instead of track power. since the power pickups were among the greatest shortcomings of a tyco locomotive, eliminating track power to the locomotive altogether is a very interesting concept. in particular, due to the self contained power truck design of the diesels, there is plenty of room inside for batteries that is not available in most other diesels.
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Posted - March 25 2016 : 07:45:15 AM
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This is useful information. I had heard mutterings
about Bluetooth, but I was left with the impression
that it was just another high tech gimmick.
What you say here goes to the heart of the matter;
the unspoken gorilla in the room. And that is that
traditional DCC is very sensitive to even slightly
dirty track.
I'm not a DCC expert, but I have fooled with it
enough to know that much. I'm going to look
into this.
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Posted - March 25 2016 : 2:10:07 PM
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| my feeling is that since it would be very hard to modify the unique c430 and c630 locomotives for all wheel electrical pickup, finding a way to eliminate the need to pick up electricity through a limited number of brass wheels should greatly improve operating characteristics. plus, adjustments in programming in the decoders themselves would allow the lowering of an excessively high top speed. there would also be enough room inside to use standard NiMH AA or AAA batteries instead of the smaller lipo batteries commonly used by RC cars and planes. this would greatly simplify charging the batteries if you could use the wheel pickups for charging off track power (dc or dcc) rather than having to remove the batteries for charging.
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