bogieman

The last post currently on page 15 you link to is mine after I made the switch inside the motor. Was really easy to do, hardest part is getting the motor cover off without destroying it.

I just did a similar mod on a WeDo 2.0 medium motor used in a locomotive by just unsoldering the wire on terminal 5 and soldering it on top of the wire on VCC terminal 4. I didn't touch the resistor so restoring it to it's original configuration would be easy. WeDo 2 Motor Rewiring for Trains by David Goding, on Flickr

I need to thank you Stephen for the design of the Shay and Roadmonkey for this designing and posting this neat train. As soon as I saw this thread, I had to build that locomotive. I found the lxf file of Murdoch and ordered all the parts 10 days ago. Last night I assembled it, the trucks were a challenge (mostly I think due to the way LDD ordered the assembly sequence) and it runs great with a WeDo 2.0 motor and PUP hub. I too am a mechanical engineer so the visible spinning gears and crankshaft were really appealing. There's an operating Shay at the Hesston Steam Museum, not far from me, that I've seen and marveled at, so it's great to add one to my layout. Now to figure out how to hide the hub and to make the hub think the WeDo motor is a train motor. Dave

Thanks for sharing your files Thorsten, I ordered the parts last night to make a couple with the PUP motor. Dave

Thanks, I've searched but hadn't seen that, does look pretty simple.

Thanks so much for developing this software, Cosmik. I'm seriously looking to purchase a 24" touchscreen monitor to incorporate for controlling my layout. A while ago you mentioned you might add support for 4DBrix. Is that still on you list? Although I don't have any of their products yet, their switch motors seem like a nice solution.

I agree it's very nice, thanks for sharing the instructions.

I just took the PUP motor and spliced the PF motor into the motor wires about 2 inches from the plug. I used a connector that I could plug in reversibly so I could reverse the polarity to get the direction correct.

Really like what you did here Roadmonkey. When do you plan to build it?

Agreed. I did see that thread but I didn't like the battery solutions that put the batteries inside the hub since it requires the hub to be removed from the loco and then opened up to replace the batteries. With the power tool battery, it's in a nice commercial package, cheap, easily charged, and easy to remove and replace. But it does take up more space which can be hard to fit. On the 60197 locomotive, I replaced the 6x24 base with a 6x28 while adding a front powered truck, both of which I think make it look better anyway. Dave

Good question, so I weighed the parts. Six Duracell Alkaline AAA batteries weigh 67g. The Dewalt battery weighs 80g and the Shentec 76g. The socket and wires add 12g so the net increase is about 25g, not too much. I'm actually thinking of adding more weight as I get a lot of wheel slip with a 10+ car train on the 4% grade on my layout. Dave

Thanks. I am not seeing that on the locos I've converted. I just tested four of them under no load conditions at throttle step 1. You can see in the videos they all start and spin about the same speed: VID_20190209_130429 by David Goding, on Flickr VID_20190209_130403 by David Goding, on Flickr VID_20190209_130514 by David Goding, on Flickr VID_20190209_130329 by David Goding, on Flickr These are some of the other locomotives I've converted to use the Dewalt battery: VID_20190209_130622 by David Goding, on Flickr Dave

As far as I know, there is no Lego option for Powered Up, the only Lego rechargeable is for Power Functions and the cost is $100. for two not including the charger. The cost of what I am doing is about $44. for a charger (for its socket) and two batteries. Plus it is really easy to remove and replace the battery and drop in a Dewalt charger. I have two powered trucks on all my locomotives but I use one Powered Up truck and splice a Power Functions truck into the motor leads on the PUP truck with a reversible plug/socket to get polarity correct. This only uses one hub socket and both run all the time. I had no problem mixing the PF and PUP trucks on the hub on 6 locomotives so far. At $14. for the PF trucks direct from Lego including axles and wheels, they are a bargain in my opinion. For lights, on some of my locos I have used terminals 3 & 4 on the hub B socket which are VCC (+3.3V) and ground, on all the time, with 3.3V white LED's. This leaves the headlights on any time the hub is powered on, which has the advantage of reminding me which locos are active.

Thanks. I live in Bridgman in the very SW corner of Michigan. I posted a thread just now detailing the mod of a Maersk loco with the rechargeable battery. Dave

I am quite new to Lego trains having bought my first sets in September of last year. Right away I decided the AAA batteries are not a great power source due to their cost and the difficulty to change them so I went searching for another option. I discovered that Dewalt made a power screwdriver, a clever gyroscopic one at that, that had a lithium ion battery that would provide the right voltage and fit within the 6 wide locomotives. It's an "8V MAX", really 7.2, which seemed would be okay since at top speed, the trains go too fast anyway. I bought a screwdriver kit with battery and charger and a flashlight that uses the same battery on ebay to try it out. Once it seemed it would fit within a 4 wide brick space I bought another charger on ebay to get the battery socket from. I since bought several chargers for $17-20. each. The batteries are $40. and up for a Dewalt battery but Amazon sells several compatible batteries in the $13-15. range. The Dewalt battery is listed as 8.0 Wh, the competitors list theirs as 1500 mAh, probably stretching the truth. Here's what the battery, screwdriver, flashlight, and charger look like: IMG_20190208_171051 by David Goding, on Flickr The Maersk locomotive was the most difficult so far to fit. I made the long hood removable to make the battery change easy. The battery socket is removed from a charger and the bottom filed flat and smooth. The back side of a 4k6 trap door hinge plate was milled smooth to mount the battery socket. A pair of small holes were drilled into the bottom of the hub for the wires that are soldered to the + and - battery contacts that feed the hub electronics. IMG_20190208_174543 by David Goding, on Flickr I added a 4 amp fast blow fuse and socket in the bottom battery position just in case there was a short internally in the hub, I had to mill part of the rib inside the box to fit: IMG_20190122_180702 by David Goding, on Flickr I lengthed the long hood by 3 studs and made it a rigid assembly that mates with 4 studs on the locomotive, two on top of the hub, two on underframe that engage the end structure. The underframe length is not altered but the long hood is one stud closer to the end handrail. I changed the radiator inlets to align with the cooling fans and altered the dynamic brake to look better in my opinion. The pushbutton for the power switch somewhat resembles the carbody vent between the DB and radiator fans. IMG_20190208_174615 by David Goding, on Flickr The width of the hub and the plugs posed a problem solved by placing the cables where the traction motor blower housing on the left side and a panel on the right allowed room for the plugs but I did have to shave a bit off the rib on the panel and file some of of the side of the plug in the A socket. IMG_20190208_174754 by David Goding, on Flickr IMG_20190208_174834 by David Goding, on Flickr While I was at it, I added LED's for the headlights and ditch lights. The ditch lights required drilling horizontally between the plates at the end to route the wires but the lights are in there original Lego position. For the headlights, I used a 1x3 plate with a 1x1 centered below it and 1x2 vertically on top of them. I think the number boards look better without the black slopes beneath them. Those were glued to a 1x2 brick and holes drilled thru for the LED's. I used the Lego Powered Up light cable but cut the original LED's off and soldered on 3mm bright white ones. IMG_20190208_175308_1 by David Goding, on Flickr Here's the finished product: IMG_20190208_174450 by David Goding, on Flickr I ran some back-to-back tests on this setup comparing the life of AAA batteries, the Dewalt battery and the Shentec battery. I set a 10 car train running on a level track a speed 6 in each case: the AAA's lasted 101 minutes, the Dewalt 115, and the Shentec 109 so they all seem to be comparable in capacity. Overall, I am very happy with the results. I only wish the original owner of the Maersk set put the stickers on better. I've bought a set of replacements though. If anyone is interested, I can post pictures of the other locomotives I've modded. Dave

I've been a lurker here for since September last year when my wife encouraged me to buy my first train sets (60197 and 60198) at the Lego store at Disney World. This forum has been an invaluable help to understand the Powered Up system and its predecessors and to see the range of possibilities in Lego trains. My background is I'm a retired mechanical engineer who has worked in the US rail industry for 47 years, 42 of those at Electro-Motive Division (EMD) of General Motors. I'm best known in the industry as the inventor of the EMD HTCR radial steering 3-axle locomotive bogie (or "truck" as used in the US), but I also designed the SD80MAC and the DE30AC and DM30AC passenger locomotives during my career. My most recent designs are the 2-axle bogie on the MotivePower/GE HSP-46 commuter locomotive and the 4-axle articulated bogie on the EMD SD70ACe-BB built in Brazil which was granted 8 patents. My main hobbies have been building and modifying cars over the years, do a google search for "Daverri" to see the car I've been working on for the last 26 years. As my two boys were growing up they got plenty of Lego sets of all varieties, including 4.5v, 12v, and 9v trains and the monorail in the late 1980's and throughout 1990's, all of which my older son, now 36, still has. He continues to buy new sets, mostly modular buildings. I live in SW Michigan now and he's in Houston so taking advantage of his huge stock of bricks is not so easy. My younger son lives near Chicago and has two sons, 3 and 5 years old, who are serious Lego builders and love to come here to play with our Lego's. While our kids were growing up, the most memorable Christmas day's were spent in our pajamas around the kitchen table assembling Lego sets the kids got for presents. My Lego layout has taken over the basement at my house now, I'm just finishing building 200 sq. feet (18.6 m2) of tables around the perimeter, soon I'll start laying track. My wife is building most of the city building sets we've bought. I've bought several retired train sets, mostly on eBay, over the last few months, including the blue cargo train and the Maersk train and modified them all to add headlights and ditch lights. How I've gone about that would not be approved by most I imagine as it's involved drilling holes and sometimes a bit of superglue but I consider that the beauty of Lego's, making what ever you want. I've also come up with an easily changed rechargeable battery solution that I've implemented on most of my locomotives. I'll create separate threads to show what I've done if there's interest. Dave a.k.a bogieman