9v power pickups

[XG BC]

Hello folks!

today i discovered something: a video where one guy showed how to make any powered up/powerfunctions/rc motor a 9v motor! he used the pickups normally used in slotcars (he used carrera 124 pickups, i used the carrera digital 132 ones and they work too) and i had to try it myself. needless to say it works very well. you dont really need the copper tape neither do you need to solder, just wedging the cables in works too. i cant say anything about switches as i dont have 9v switches currently (will probably make ones with conductive tape) but i tried and it looks like it should work. the distance of the pickups is longer than the switch distance. the guy in the video also tried switches and it worked. here is the video:

 

and here is a link to the playlist with more of the same stuff:

maybe this helps anyone wishing to jump into 9v.

[Paperinik77pk]

Nice!

I tried to convert a PF motor to 12v some time ago, using the slot cars string (after all 12v and slot tracks have basically the same electric system).  But it happened sometime to create a short, since the strings were moving a bit too much. Plus, slot cars always work in one direction only, and reversing was a real problem, since the strings tended to bend under the motor.

The shown solution seems quite simple and seem to work properly!!!

Before the summer I discovered the copper tape !!! It's thin and can pass between bricks (I admit that Minecraft and Redstone system were an inspiration). But I still have to try it on a PF motor. 

Currently a PF/RC/PUP piece of track can be converted to 9v using the copper plate tape. I think a bit more of work must be done on switches, since there are some "dead" parts to be powered in order to make the train pass over them without slowing down or stopping 

Thanks for sharing!!!

Davide

 

 

[XG BC]

the issue with the shorts on 12v are more related to the fact that the 12v power rails are super close together whereas the 9v ones are the rails so they are further apart. the solution works insanely well. i have no issues with the pickups bending in the other direction.

[Paperinik77pk]

Ah I did not see the second video - I did the same thing with some straights and curves (and some wheels, too )

I found some pictures (from 2010 - look at the MacMini in the background) of an experiment I did for an ITLUG show. 

Basically it was a wagon with 12v power pickups, connected to the 721 locomotive. At the time i did not have any 9v rails and I could not try it too much , but it worked. The drag was a bit too much, in my opinion, and during the show the power was obvioulsy kept between 50% and 75%, so the 12v motor was slow and without any "spirit".  

[Lok24]

I used that some years ago, but it is really tricky to bring the pick-ups to proper height, because a little bit to far and they get stuck on switches,  where they have to cross the rails.

[Paperinik77pk]

In one version of the wagon I tried to make the whole power pickup with a bit of "suspension", using a rubber band - a bit better, but then I stopped the experiments , using a 9v dead train motor (without motor and gears) as a more efficient  power pickup!