9v powered up hybrid

[duifkelego]

This weekend I challenged myself to upgrade a 9 volt train motor with powered up functionality. The result can be seen in the attached pics.

I discovered that the train motor only needs 2 wires connected to the hub to actually run , only the 2 PWM signal wires. , or pin 1 and 2 on the connector.

This enabled me to used the other 4 wires for power transfer from the wheels to a bridge rectifier and a 7809 voltage regulator before feeding it back into the hub.

The track is powered from the  switch port of the 12 V speed regulator. which puts out 16 volt.

 

Edited May 9, 2020 by duifkelego

[zephyr1934]

So I take the 16v coming out of the 12v transformer and feed it in to the 9v tracks. And then I take the 9v motor and bypass the power feed so I can use the brain from a PUP battery box without its 9v batteries and replace the track based speed control with Bluetooth! Wahh ha hah ha ha! I've created life!

In other words, that's very Frankenstein mixed with a hint of Rube Goldberg. Impressive that you made it work.

[Electricsteam]

I've been mulling this over for a while.  

 

It shouldn't be hard to make new 9v tracks with the right tools but the major problem is getting new motors for the 9v rails.

The best way would be to run the power from the 9v tracks into Power Functions and Powered Up battery boxes so you have the control of the newer systems without needing to run through a million batteries.  

The hardest part is pulling the power from the rails and bringing it to the battery boxes.

You could use spring metal as a brush the run it alone the rail, use a roller like some Lionel trains use to pull power, or machine your own wheels for say the truck bricks or just the stand alone wheels with the axle hole.

New tracks really shouldnt be as hard it just takes a lot of work to make the tooling you need.

I mean the cheapest solution is to use conductive copper tape on the PF track which works really well, hell I've done that for a good chunk of the track I have on hand and it's great. 

But for a more advanced option that I've been mulling over is making a sheet metal punch and another die to bend the punched part into shape to just lay on top of the PF track. 

Hopefully succeed where the ME rails failed by their realistic but over engineered rail and tie system.

 

Sorry for the long tangent I didn't think my idea needed it's own thread.

 

Anyways it'd be great to see that refined to fit in the same space as the PUP bat box tanks to be able to just plop it in place instead of batteries.

[LEGO_duden]

13 hours ago, Electricsteam said:

I've been mulling this over for a while.  

It shouldn't be hard to make new 9v tracks with the right tools but the major problem is getting new motors for the 9v rails.

You should have a look at FX bricks. I met Michael Gale last year and he has great visions of recreating the 9V system including motors and controllers.

Tracks are well on its way, I got a sample S32 last year, and the quality is superb.

https://www.fxbricks.com/fxblog/

https://www.fxbricks.com/downloads/FxTrackPreReleaseJun2019.pdf

[duifkelego]

Quote

23 hours ago, zephyr1934 said:

In other words, that's very Frankenstein mixed with a hint of Rube Goldberg. Impressive that you made it work. 

I must admit I did spit out a little MWUHAHA when the first test was a succes. Thanks !

@ electricsteam :

I've been tinkering a lot on getting powered up to run without batteries. check out my earlier post from 2 years ago ...

https://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?/forums/topic/171543-9v-and-pu-hybrid/&tab=comments#comment-3111781

I've done another upgrade on this system as well but I still need another cycle of development for it to run smoothly. parts are on order but it can take a few months , printing a wheel in metal and then do a casting run from it in nickel silver / alpaca.

I've made some alternative track as well , I'll post some pics later today

 

@LEGO_duden

I've been wondering about progress on the FXbrick system , the thread is quiet for a month now. I really hope for some update soon !

[jrathfon]

On 5/11/2020 at 5:23 PM, Electricsteam said:

I've been mulling this over for a while.  

 

It shouldn't be hard to make new 9v tracks with the right tools but the major problem is getting new motors for the 9v rails.

The best way would be to run the power from the 9v tracks into Power Functions and Powered Up battery boxes so you have the control of the newer systems without needing to run through a million batteries.  

The hardest part is pulling the power from the rails and bringing it to the battery boxes.

You could use spring metal as a brush the run it alone the rail, use a roller like some Lionel trains use to pull power, or machine your own wheels for say the truck bricks or just the stand alone wheels with the axle hole.

New tracks really shouldnt be as hard it just takes a lot of work to make the tooling you need.

I mean the cheapest solution is to use conductive copper tape on the PF track which works really well, hell I've done that for a good chunk of the track I have on hand and it's great. 

But for a more advanced option that I've been mulling over is making a sheet metal punch and another die to bend the punched part into shape to just lay on top of the PF track. 

Hopefully succeed where the ME rails failed by their realistic but over engineered rail and tie system.

Honestly, if there are pickups integrated into a PF, PUP, BuWizz, or FxBrick controller AND you have a battery, you could just incorporate a few powered straight sections of old 9V rail for charging on the go and parking. No need for new 9V rail and you can save the expense and go with all the new 3rd party plastic options! Since a lot of my straights are 9V my power functions layout had plenty of "charging areas" already built in.