Question about motorizing Maersk Train/Emerald Night

[JCz]

oic.. thank you so much for your assistance and reply.. greatly appreciated.

[Snapshot]

I intend to assemble 3 Maersk Trains each running dual train motors. 2 engines pulling with 1 helper/pushing at the end.

This seems just a little bit of overkill to me. One dual-engined loco should pull the six container wagons plus the other two locos without breaking into a sweat. If you're doing it just because you can then fair enough, enjoy yourself, but don't feel it's necessary for the number of units involved. My long(ish) red train is quite lively with just one dual-PF motor loco. I admit I've cheated by using five shared bogies which removes ten wheelsets and their attendant friction but the performance was very good indeed. A single PF motor in the loco had wheelspin with just six units.

The only practical difficulty you're likely to have is keeping all the locos in sync. The pusher in particular is likely not to see the signal if the handset is aimed at the front pair. The IR signal is really quite feeble and the receivers tend to be swamped by ambient light so the range can be (is!) limited in open spaces.

Jonathan

[JCz]

The overkill I hope would help me with inclines. I'm renovating my room to accomodate tracks on table level and the floor or table level and ceiling mount.

But the primary reason is that I can switch engines and charge while the others run.

[Snapshot]

Sounds like a fun project. Please keep us updated on how it goes.

You should find you get at least three hours per charge so you would be able to run more-or-less continuously if you wanted to.

Edited November 5, 2011 by Snapshot

[JCz]

Its gonna be take a long time and and substancial financial resources to complete... Thanks guys :)

[le60head]

Thanks for the information!

Now I can only hope that the official Lego Shop ships to my country (Bulgaria). I asked via e-mail, still no answer.

Hey there!

Did you find the battery box you were looking for?

Edited November 14, 2011 by le60head

[eurodan]

Don't forget you'll need to either get the LEGO Charger ($24.99) or go to Radio Shack for one at half that price.

I have recently gotten into Lego trains and am excited about getting these running. I have an Emerald Night and have the receiver (8884), remote control (8879), light (8870), XL-motor (8882), and rechargeable battery box (8878).

I'd like to get a cheaper charger (likely from Radio Shack or Amazon.com). Which charger should I get? What non-Lego brand chargers will be compatible with the 8878?

Thank you,

Dan

[peterab]

I have recently gotten into Lego trains and am excited about getting these running. I have an Emerald Night and have the receiver (8884), remote control (8879), light (8870), XL-motor (8882), and rechargeable battery box (8878).

I'd like to get a cheaper charger (likely from Radio Shack or Amazon.com). Which charger should I get? What non-Lego brand chargers will be compatible with the 8878?

Thank you,

Dan

I don't own a rechargeable battery box, so I'm only passsing on others reports, so take it at your own risk;

The electronics in the rechargeable battery box will work up to 18v or so, so you can use just about any 12v adapter with a plug that fits. There is a more detailed thread on the rechargeable battery box which will probably answer all the questions about polarity etc that you should probably investigate. I can't remember offhand if the battery has a rectifier built in or not.