Setting Up Battery Power

I have recently been assisting Kiwa in setting up battery power for his LocoFi setup.

migrating from DCC. I'm not a 'modeller', per se, although Kiwa reckons otherwise,

but I am a retired electrical/electronics engineer.

We found little problem, overall, and the first loco worked out well, apart from an

overheating Voltage Booster, which a heatsink solved and handily allowed a 100% overload

capability as a bonus.

I searched around the internet and found that for a few cents each I could source from

China a tiny USB mini 1 Amp, 3.7v battery charger about the size of a postage stamp and a

Voltage Booster at half that size that took the 3.7 volt battery output up to 12 volts at 1/2 Amp.

I briefly scanned the specs for this PCB and in place of the 'One Amp Peak' I saw 'One Amp'.

So of course the thing ran awfully hot, so Kiwa fashioned a heatsink from a scrap of Alloy

angle and this gave use 'Cool Runnings' even at a full one amp continuous output.

The little loco flies around the full layout, at full load,

without any problems. Have a browse through the documentation "Battery Powered HO Loco". This was written for non-Engineers,

so if you ARE an engineer, please excuse the simplistic approach!

Rj Ws