Locomotive Electronics

I'm not feeling the greatest today so I opted to move to a different area of this locomotive project.  I'm not feeling well enough to be making decisions on weathering so I decided that was out pretty early this morning.  Anything requiring a judgement call is out of the question today so that eliminated any further weathering today.  This meant it was time to start working on something that has a pretty firm plan like getting the tender ready for all the electronics.

Fortunately, there is plenty of room inside this tender for everything I will be adding to it.  This will make this conversion to battery power quite easy.

First, I installed the big speaker for the sound.  Then I installed the fuse-holder and the On-Off-On switch.  Then I placed the battery inside the tender too to ensure I still have plenty of room for the DCC circuit board.  This circuit board is shockingly small so I know I have plenty of room it is just a matter of where I will position it inside this tender.  I can probably mount it on top of the battery with mounting tape or, if necessary, I can mount it on a separate mounting plate of some sort above the fuse-holder and under the coal load.  I think it will fit on top of the battery though so that will be the easiest solution if it does fit there.  My biggest concern is avoiding interference since I will be controlling this circuit board wirelessly.  

I drilled two holes underneath the frame of the tender so I could mount a couple of necessary electronic parts.  First, I need a fuse that is easily accessible so I drilled a hole for a fuse-holder and installed it.  Then I drilled a hole for the On-Off-On switch and installed that too.  

I explained the use of the On-Off-On switch in a previous blog entry but I'll briefly mention that again.  One of the two On positions is to start up the locomotive and run it.  The other On position is strictly for charging the battery.  Now that switch is installed in the tender as well.

I had to figure out how I was actually going to mount the jack for charging the battery.  I want the jack underneath the water hatch on the rear end of the tender so it is out of view but still easily accessible from the top.  Unfortunately, there was nothing there under that hatch to make it easy to mount a jack.  I had to cut off a few plastic protrusions on the underside so that I could mount a piece of wood to act as a mounting plate for the jack.  I didn't install the jack because the glue holding the newly mounted wood is drying.  I'll drill the appropriate hole and install the jack either later tonight or tomorrow morning.  This is ready for the jack though.  

We had planned to head up to Burlington to pick up a few things at Lowes again but I'm not feeling well enough to wander far from home.  Instead, we'll just stay in Waterbury and do our weekly food shopping at our Shaw's here in town.  That is only about 7 minutes from home.  We'll have to squeeze in a trip to Lowes some other evening.