What is the best way to power a train layout?

[mobricki]

I'm going to be making a lego town with a couple trains going through it and I was wondering what the best way to power them is. Is the new power functions the best way to go or is the older 9v method better? I'm a pirate theme guy so I have never done this before so any help would be appreciated. Thanks. I apologize if this is a repeat topic but I tried searching and couldn't find this topic anywhere else.

Edited December 24, 2010 by mobricki

[Fistach]

9V: It's the best way to power the train layout if you don't mind the costs.

Power Functions: it's rather cheap (maybe except the rechargeable batter and IR receiver and pilot. You can control up to 8 trains (2 for each IR receiver)

RC: I do not recommend it because it's quite old and not very good.

[mobricki]

9V: It's the best way to power the train layout if you don't mind the costs.

Power Functions: it's rather cheap (maybe except the rechargeable batter and IR receiver and pilot. You can control up to 8 trains (2 for each IR receiver)

RC: I do not recommend it because it's quite old and not very good.

Thanks for the info I think I will go with power functions then because I plan on running 2-4 trains in my lego city.

[LegoSjaak]

I'm going to be making a lego town with a couple trains going through it and I was wondering what the best way to power them is. Is the new power functions the best way to go or is the older 9v method better? I'm a pirate theme guy so I have never done this before so any help would be appreciated. Thanks. I apologize if this is a repeat topic but I tried searching and couldn't find this topic anywhere else.

Hello Mobricki, you shuold choose PF, because if you start now, it is a way easier to buy RC/PF track and trains.....so, in my opinion there is only one possibility....RC!!

I started with RC this year and also bought trains and track second hand...like 7897 and 7898....(Have a look at my Flickr-pictures...)And now i can combine them with the new Power Functions trains

Succes and have fun!

Greetz LegoSjaak

Edited December 25, 2010 by LegoSjaak

[hoeij]

I'm going to be making a lego town with a couple trains going through it and I was wondering what the best way to power them is. Is the new power functions the best way to go or is the older 9v method better? I'm a pirate theme guy so I have never done this before so any help would be appreciated. Thanks. I apologize if this is a repeat topic but I tried searching and couldn't find this topic anywhere else.

9V would take longer to acquire, getting a good deal on a 9V train requires quite a bit of patience, waiting for a good price on eBay (note: anything that has the words "9V" and "track" in the eBay title will tend to sell very high, if you are looking for just track, then it's hard to get a good deal). I managed to buy most 9V trains at good prices (i.e. less than what they costed when they were new) but this costed a significant amount of time.

If you like the trains lego is currently selling (they're quite nice I think) then that's a lot easier.

If you plan to run the trains a lot, you can consider buying the rechargeable battery that lego sells (it's the same size as the battery box in the current trains, and it's also great for running motorized lego technic constructions because it is light weight and can deliver plenty of current. The remote control parts that come with the current lego trains can be re-used to make lego technic things remote controlled, so they're pretty useful).

[fred67]

Hello Mobricki, you shuold choose PF, because if you start now, it is a way easier to buy RC/PF track and trains.

Well, I see mobricki has already decided, but I wanted to add that I agree with LegoSjaak - if you are starting now, the only reasonable choice is PF. It'd just be asking for a very painful train experience trying to acquire 9V stuff to start. If you already had 9V, and just need replacement parts occasionally, it would be a different story.

EDIT: BTW, LEGO S@H has the charger on sale... of all the PF stuff, the rechargeable battery is a pretty bad price-wise, but $25 for a (10v?) wall-wart is highway robbery, and right now it's half price.

Edited December 27, 2010 by fred67

[Snapshot]

Well, I see mobricki has already decided, but I wanted to add that I agree with LegoSjaak - if you are starting now, the only reasonable choice is PF. It'd just be asking for a very painful train experience trying to acquire 9V stuff to start. If you already had 9V, and just need replacement parts occasionally, it would be a different story.

Agreed 100%. If you're starting from scratch then PF is the only rational choice.

EDIT: BTW, LEGO S@H has the charger on sale... of all the PF stuff, the rechargeable battery is a pretty bad price-wise, but $25 for a (10v?) wall-wart is highway robbery, and right now it's half price.

Are you sure that's the right charger? The UK sale may be different from the US but the only one I can see is the 9V one for the old NXT battery, not the 10V one for PF & new NXT battery. The voltage would be okay but the connector is different.

Jonathan

[fred67]

Are you sure that's the right charger? The UK sale may be different from the US but the only one I can see is the 9V one for the old NXT battery, not the 10V one for PF & new NXT battery. The voltage would be okay but the connector is different.

Right... I don't see either one on sale anymore anyway, but you're probably right.

Edit: They are the same (at least in US, item 8887).

Edited December 28, 2010 by fred67

[Snapshot]

Right... I don't see either one on sale anymore anyway, but you're probably right.

Edit: They are the same (at least in US, item 8887).

Same here. The one that's on sale here is 9833 which is the old NXT version. The old NXT battery was on sale too but has disappeared now they've had a tidy-up and removed most of the 'sold out' items.

[Rustie86]

I'd have to concur that Power Functions is the way to go these days. 9V is just too expensive to do on a fairly large scale, and there are a number of clever and ingenious builders out there finding ways to adapt PF to their creations.

[Toastie]

EDIT: BTW, LEGO S@H has the charger on sale... of all the PF stuff, the rechargeable battery is a pretty bad price-wise, but $25 for a (10v?) wall-wart is highway robbery, and right now it's half price.

Folks,

don't worry about the LEGO PF LiPo 10 V charger. It is a rip-off. Get a 12 V DC cheap wall wart and it will do! Tested it many times now. It works perfectly well.

Regards,

Thorsten