Functioning Charging Station and Train Pantograph

[niveth]

For the past couple of months, I have been working on a solution to charge my train without having to remove the batteries every time. My train layout is close to the ceiling and goes around my wall, so I had the additional trouble of getting up on a ladder every time. I redesigned the LEGO Express Passenger train to accommodate a pantograph with electrical terminals, and I also built a charging station for the train to dock and charge. I'm planning on automating the entire process by charging the battery when it is low and having multiple trains run on their own, in any direction, when switched on. I have documented everything and explained why I haven't considered using the 9V system in my blog, please do check it out, drop a LIKE, and SUBSCRIBE!

Link to the blog: https://medium.com/@niveth/building-a-lego-train-pantograph-and-charging-station-with-the-powered-up-system-803f097f1493

You can find the design in action here: 

 

 

You can also find the detailed build video here: 

 

[Venderwel]

I was thinking about doing something like this in the future, but then with some kind of brush contact on the charging station track. But this might be better!  

[Venderwel]

I miss a small thing in your video's. What batteries are now inside the hub?

[niveth]

44 minutes ago, Venderwel said:

I miss a small thing in your video's. What batteries are now inside the hub?

Hey! So I use AAA batteries, no modification to the battery compartment. Toshiba AAA 950mAh x 6 batteries. Charging current should be 0.1A (1/10C)

[Venderwel]

16 minutes ago, niveth said:

Hey! So I use AAA batteries, no modification to the battery compartment. Toshiba AAA 950mAh x 6 batteries. Charging current should be 0.1A (1/10C)

Ah okay, that's brilliant! 

I am using Ikea AAA 750mAh batteries, but I guess that will be the same idea as your Toshiba's. 

 

Could I also use it to power an ESP8266/ESP32 board with it at the same time? That would make it even better for my layout! I mean to use an ESP8266 board with IR to automate PF hubs and motors. And the ESP32 with bluetooth for automation of PU. I know the ESP32 doesn't have to be on board with the train to work. But I'm guessing on real large layouts, Wifi might have a better range then bluetooth, so I want to add a esp32 on every PU train. 

Edited November 30, 2023 by Venderwel

[Yoggington]

The creativity and sheer genius of Lego users continually blows my mind. I would not even have considered this was possible.

Astounding work, you've got a new subscriber on YouTube, and I'm looking forward to what you come up with next.

[niveth]

42 minutes ago, Venderwel said:

Ah okay, that's brilliant! 

I am using Ikea AAA 750mAh batteries, but I guess that will be the same idea as your Toshiba's. 

 

Could I also use it to power an ESP8266/ESP32 board with it at the same time? That would make it even better for my layout! I mean to use an ESP8266 board with IR to automate PF hubs and motors. And the ESP32 with bluetooth for automation of PU. I know the ESP32 doesn't have to be on board with the train to work. But I'm guessing on real large layouts, Wifi might have a better range then bluetooth, so I want to add a esp32 on every PU train. 

The ESP boards may require 3.3 or 5V to function and the hub with rechargeable batteries will output between 7-8V. You can use maybe 3 or 4 batteries from the hub to power it, but that will deplete the selected batteries faster and it will damage the overall performance and the batteries during charging. What I'd suggest is using a DC-DC 5V converter/regulator and wire it to the batteries directly(this will have the ESP on standby and will slowly drain the battery) or you can wire it to come from within the hub, so only when the hub is turned on, the ESP will turn on.
Yes, ESP 8266/32(Wi-Fi) has good range and is much more reliable compared to Bluetooth. I use them for my ARGB stuff, but not with LEGO as of now.

I'm anyway planning to use the hubs themselves and automate the trains and track switches, as I can program them through Pybricks and have them communicate with each other. I'm still in the early phase and I have yet to see how reliable they are. I might even switch to an ESP/Wemos D1 mini board in the future, but let's see :D

[Venderwel]

Yeah well depending of the size of your layout, using ESP boards especially for the sensors and switches and other stuff, might be a cheaper solution in stead of controlling everything with hubs. And also more flexible I think.

Anyway, you have a new subscriber in me and can't wait to see what is more ahead.

I use Mattzobricks project https://mattzobricks.com/ as a controller you might want to look into it and RocRail to orchestrate the layout. 

It's not much yet, but it works! 

 

Edited November 30, 2023 by Venderwel

[niveth]

2 hours ago, Venderwel said:

Yeah well depending of the size of your layout, using ESP boards especially for the sensors and switches and other stuff, might be a cheaper solution in stead of controlling everything with hubs. And also more flexible I think.

Anyway, you have a new subscriber in me and can't wait to see what is more ahead.

I use Mattzobricks project https://mattzobricks.com/ as a controller you might want to look into it and RocRail to orchestrate the layout. 

It's not much yet, but it works! 

 

I think I have come across this video. Yes, you are correct, they are way cheaper, I even have a lot of arduino esp boards lying around from my university final year project(home automation project(2016)) LEGO made me get back to all of this and made it easy. I will make sure to look into this further. Thanks again and I've followed you back!

3 hours ago, Yoggington said:

The creativity and sheer genius of Lego users continually blows my mind. I would not even have considered this was possible.

Astounding work, you've got a new subscriber on YouTube, and I'm looking forward to what you come up with next.

Thank you, sir! 

Edited November 30, 2023 by niveth

[Craig Strader]

If you want to use steam engines and utilize some realism, might I suggest going with the Swiss experiment with an 0-6-0 shunting engine. The experiment utilize pantographs to heat the boiler.

[FGMatt]

I did have a little play around with pantographs, got a basic version working with a 9V track working before I decided to go in a different direction. That kept things nice and simple, just cut a 9V cable so that it could be split off to the pantograph. 

[LEGO Train 12 Volts]

Impressive project and great video.

Thanks for sharing!