LocoFi featured in New YouTube Video

You must be a mind reader. ;-) Most of what you mention is exactly what I planned on doing!

I finished up the 2nd LocoFi install this morning and did a test run on the demo layout in all directions. With all those switches and curves, it was a good challenge for the unit, which consists of the locomotive and a gondola “battery car”. It passed with flying colors.

The 2nd conversion is completely different from the first.

The first conversion used a 3S 300mAh LiPo battery. I did that mostly just to satisfy myself that it could be done with the battery in the locomotive.

Maybe you saw the part on my Webpage where I noted that I did not recommend doing a similar Dead Rail conversion unless you know a lot about LiPo batteries and their inherent risks as well as their safe usage and storage.

This second conversion uses a much safer battery and I could recommend it because the IMR Lithium-ion 10440 350mAh cells are much “safer” for the average user to use. The pack contains 4 of these cells, so it supplies a higher voltage than the 3 cell pack. The pack is in a battery car/gondola, which can easily be covered by a load, and it connects to LocoFi in the locomotive. Charging these batteries is easy and inexpensive as well as being relatively much safer than charging LiPo batteries.

I plan on configuring the 2nd locomotive tomorrow.

I do have a question though.

Since conversion 1 uses about 12V and conversion 2 about 16V, will I be able to consist them?

I do realize that’s unusual, as using track power it would either be 12V or 16V and not both. I guess I’ll answer my own question in the morning.

Thanks,

Ken Myers

Thank you sir for your very kind comments.

This has been quite a journey thus far.

When I started looking into model railroading again, in February of this year, I was surprised to learn that except for DCC, and its variants, and adding foam building construction insulation to the flat areas of layout benchwork, little had changed since the late 1980s, when I was last involved.

When I started this journey, I really expected to find a lot of information, on the Internet and YouTube, about new layout construction techniques, using rechargeable batteries to power locomotives and some type of remote control for the locomotive.

With months of research behind me now, I believe that I’ve found all of the information, regarding these topics, that is available from online resources, and it’s not much! (Yes, I took notes all along the way.)

Thank you for taking at least some time to glance at the Website I created to share what I’ve learned. I do tend to be quite wordy, when I feel that I have something important to say and share.

The original idea behind the portable layout, that I created out of Ross foam board, was to make it easily portable in my Subaru Ascent to take it to hobby shops and local model railroad clubs to share what can currently be done with new benchwork methods, Dead Rail, and of course LocoFi.

After watching several YouTube videos on how model railroading information is best disseminated in 2022, it was apparent that I had to create a YouTube video. I am not involved in the social media of today, except maybe with my monthly newsletter about electrically powered, radio controlled model airplanes.

http://theampeer.org/

I have an iPhone and can use iMovie a little, but I am definitely not a content provider for YouTube, although I did post a somewhat successful video regarding our 2020 Coachman Apex Nano 187RB travel trailer when we got it in 2019.

https://youtu.be/hN4f_4TnhDM

When I checked this morning, much to my surprise, that video had 10,131 views.

My hope is that what I’ve posted currently to YouTube regarding these model railroading topics will get others to start thinking out of the box and investigating if there are possibly other alternatives to what has become traditional model railroad thinking, as well as allowing more folks to become exposed to LocoFi.

Wishing you all the best and great success,

Ken Myers

Wow! Wow! Wow!

This is so awesome! That is quite a progress in such a short amount of time!

The webpage documentation is praiseworthy too. You have put ALL the details to the minutest and it is so comprehensive. Simply amazing!

>I love “running trains” using LocoFi.

>Thanks for a well thought out and useful product that adds a lot to the adventure of model railroading.

You've used the kindest words of appreciation we've ever heard and in turn we do not have the words to describe how much this means to us. Thank you so very much! Wow, what a great start of the weekend to hear this!

We always feel inspired each time a customer comes back and says that LocoFi™ made their "running trains" fun. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Looking forward to your next install and further progress of the layout.