someguy

How to power 16 L-motors

Recommended Posts

How can I power 16 large power function motors? I would NEED them all to be on the same IR reciever. No seperate circuits with seperate IR recievers.

Would it be possible to open up an IR receiver and modify the components for the job?

Could I even use a standard Lego battery box or would it drain too quickly?

Edit: sorry meant 16 XL motors.

Edited by someguy

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Maybe you can use 9V tracks and use your own electronics to power the track and the L motors?

I think nearly all portable batteries would drain really quickly.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

If you need batteries and purism:

use the Power Functions IR as a relay: control a M or L motor to rotate 8 PF switches at the same time, then connect a PF battery and 2 XL motors to each switch. Yes, 8 batteries.

If you don't need purism and know some electronics you may try an Arduino with several motor shields and a Infrared shield and a good RC LiPo /LiFe battery that can handle 8A continuous discharge.

But I got curious... why so many XL motors? And do you really need full power for all at the same time? If not, you may use less batteries.

Uh, sorry, read XL motors. But it's the same solution, just perhaps less PF switches and batteries, maybe 3 L-motors per switch/battery.

Edited by MajorAlvega

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

From Philo, each L motor has a no load current of 120 mA. The V2 IR receiver nominal current is 1.5A per channel. The battery boxes have a 750 mA resettable fuse. You may be tripping fuses.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Maybe you can use 9V tracks and use your own electronics to power the track and the L motors?

I think nearly all portable batteries would drain really quickly.

The original 9V speed Regulator has a current limitation and perfomance limit as well, so it won't help in this case in the exception of connecting 3-4 9V Speed regulators paralell to the train track. We had to use two modified ones (with 3A limitation) to drive 12 of 9V train motors.

How can I power 16 large power function motors? I would NEED them all to be on the same IR reciever. No seperate circuits with seperate IR recievers.

Would it be possible to open up an IR receiver and modify the components for the job?

Could I even use a standard Lego battery box or would it drain too quickly?

SBrick's each output hangles 3A by specification. Maybe SBrick instead of IR Receiver?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

SBrick's each output hangles 3A by specification. Maybe SBrick instead of IR Receiver?

I didn't point the SBrick because he wants 16 motors. Even the SBrick cannot deal with that. The App can associate 2 SBricks, but isn't enough (6A total) for 16 motors. And you can only get 3A if you use a special battery, PF batteries cut at 0.8A.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I'm pretty damn certain that you can't put 16 motors on one IR receiver. Well, obviously you can, but just don't expect them to actually work.

I can't remember where I read it, but as dr_spock said above, you'll be tripping fuses, or trying to pull too much power through it, or something like that (I'm no electrician).

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Well, if you use your own electronics on the 9V track, you can design the system to work with the power consumption. What will you use the motors for? That'll play a big role in the solution

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I made a mistake in my OP. I meant 16 XL motors.

As to the why. My friend and I were discussing the possibility of a UP Turbine engine. I got curious how big it would be so I layed out the wheels, if it were built.

I realize I could put 2 XL motors in this and it would run great, but now I have seen the potential space inside the loco, I want to do it kind of as a challenge for myself. Plus then ill have an engine powered by 16 XL motors.

Seems like non lego batteries and ir is the way to go here according to the above comments. I'll need to do someresearch b4 I order anything.

Edited by someguy

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

16 motors jeez. That torque will be over the moon I bet. I would really like how something like this would end up driving. It will probably have to much power. But the challenge is nice.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

If you're building a huge train, you could try with 8 battery boxes, 8 IR receivers set to the same channel and a lot of PF extension cables for LEGO Purist solution. The IR receivers could be all mounted into a single car so that they can see the IR command signals together. The battery boxes could be spreadout on to different cars. With 16 XL motors you should have adequate torque to pull all those parts.

Making your own circuit solution can be much fun. Driving a large current load through a single motor driver IC can generate a lot of heat. Be mindful of cooling requirements, burns to fingers and melting point of ABS plastic. May be better to have several motor drivers each controling two motors and a control module to command them all. You can program special start up power profiles so that you aren't spinning your wheels. I think that's where research and testing come in. Have fun and good luck.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

How many powered wheels? Adding more motor power then your powered wheel have friction will just end up in spinning wheels. I also can't imagine a system long enough for 16 XL motors getting around corners?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I am looking at 20 powered axles or 40 powered wheels.

http://imgur.com/TjJAkE1

Red lines (not boxes) indicate the end/start of a car/engine

Red boxes around motors and axles indicate the motors driving those axles.

This would be about 10 pieces of straight track long or about 50 inches long.

I would use floating axles and lots of universal joints to get the power where I want.

Edited by someguy

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Given the setup, you could/should reduce the number of xL motors to 8, or possibly even 4.

The setup you're suggesting will destroy the components faster than you can use them (just like the real prototype!)

You really only need 1 xL motor for every 4-8 wheels or for every bogie connected to the frame, and not all axles have to be powered.

I assume you plan to model something similar to this UP #80?

D70_2591-Edit.jpg

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Given the setup, you could/should reduce the number of xL motors to 8, or possibly even 4.

The setup you're suggesting will destroy the components faster than you can use them (just like the real prototype!)

You really only need 1 xL motor for every 4-8 wheels or for every bogie connected to the frame, and not all axles have to be powered.

I assume you plan to model something similar to this UP #80?

Indeed :) But, I want to use the other UP gas turbine engine for the lead engine.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Seriously, this is way too many motors. All that torque will be rendered irrelevant because your wheels will slip before then. My Franco-Crosti was 80 studs long with two M-motors and that was already quite enough.

Put two XLs in the middle section and enjoy using the leftover space to model interiors.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

You certainly do not need this many motors. 100% overkill, not to mention impossible, especially if you only want to use 1 battery box. Nate Brill rebuilt his Amtrak AEM-7 for Brickworld 2015, using two XL's on one battey. He found the battery would cut out because it kept overdrawing on power.

You should sacrifice power for practicality. Use maybe three XL's, on three different systems (set the IR receivers on the same channel). The XL's are very powerful, one alone was enough to fully beak a thick technic liftarm.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I didn't point the SBrick because he wants 16 motors. Even the SBrick cannot deal with that. The App can associate 2 SBricks, but isn't enough (6A total) for 16 motors. And you can only get 3A if you use a special battery, PF batteries cut at 0.8A.

Nope! The App can handle up to 16 SBricks!!! (At least on iOS)

And you have 4 channels on each SBrick, so you only need 4, if the battery box can deliver!

I do this with ease in my HE, one in each end (two motors + 2x PF light outputs on each).

Edited by marook

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Two XL motors should be enough. I've pulled 50+ car trains (over 200 axles) with 2XL motors + single IR receiver + single LiPo battery. Much beyond this point and the cars will start pulling off of the track in the curves. If your engine is really heavy and has a lot of drag and you will be pulling a lot of cars MAYBE up it to 3 or 4 XL's. Still if you REALLY want 16 motors and money is no object then SBrick is the way to go.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

But can a HE with 2 PF train motors climb the (USA) Sierra Nevada mountains? I am really curious to see 16 XL motors in action. It's a Union Pacific moar power thing. :classic:

If you plan to use several Sbricks, make sure your phone or tablet BLE can communicate with the number of Sbricks required at the same time. I don't think BLE devices need to be "paired" like older BT but there could be still some limitations based on the BlueTooth hardware chipset used in the master device.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Speaking of big trains and more motors.... How many motors do those huge Big Boy mocs usually use? I assume most have a few 9v motors behind it... It seems like it would need 2-4 L motors or something similar.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    No registered users viewing this page.