On board video power
From IPTrains
Why On Board Battery?
Even the best built and maintained track powered railroad can deliver power from the rails to the locomotive in a variable and 'glitchy' manner. This is a simple fact of life given the dynamics of steel wheel power pickup on steel or brass wheel. This variability may not bother control systems but it can be a problem for on board computers so we offer a float battery in all our on board video and control systems. If you have well maintained track and power feeders and run a constant voltage railroad (i.e. you use either DCC or radio control) then you may not need an on board battery. If your trains run smoothly and you either don't use reversing loops or you have a fast acting revering loop switch then you may be able to run barefoot. The video server can tolerate about a half second power loss before it reboots. On a power loss the server may or may not require a hard power cycle to properly reboot, it depends. If in doubt, use one of our battery based systems. Variable DC (conventional 'transformer') railroads should always use our on board battery and external charger system.
Flex Power Subsystem (video only)
When operating on track power greater than about 12V your run time is essentially unlimited as the unit draws power from the track and just uses the battery to stabilize the 5VDC regulated power. You can operate the DVRAC off dead track (on board battery only users) or off variable DC where the track power is often less than 12VDC however your video run times will be limited to about 3 hours. You must park the unit on powered track (constant voltage greater than 12 V) to charge the battery. Battery charge time (fully discharged) is 5 hours.
Battery life is rated at 500 charge/discharge cycles, about 16 months of daily operation. In reality you will most likely get a much longer period as the battery will rarely fully discharge on powered track. The battery is connectorized for easy replacement. The six cell battery pack is 83x50x10mm in size.
An optional plug in charger is available for the flex power system that will safely charge the battery pack in place in the locomotive in about 70 minutes.
Optional TrainUPS power system for radio controlled trains
We also offer our TrainUPS as an optional power supply for the DVRAC. This is the configuration that we normally run our trains with in house here at IPTrains. When used with the TrainUPS, the power subsystem provides UPS power for both the video system and the loco motors and radio. If you use some form of radio control for your trains (Aristo, Locolinc, Airwire, etc.) and you have constant voltage track power of between 21 to 24 VDC on your rails then you can use the TrainUPS system to greatly reduce track cleaning and totally ignore the nightmare of reverse loop wiring. It's hard to overstate how much better this will make your trains run, it is a significant improvement in reliability over a pure DC or a DCC track power system. We also offer add on 2300mah packs with float/charge circuits for 2 motor per truck units and for those of you who like to run LONG trains.
The TrainUPS system will power a medium sized locomotive and train on totally dead track and provide video power for at least two hours, much much longer on track that has power available on some segments. Since the battery subsystem is designed to supplement, not replace, track power it only draws down when track power is not present. When the train stops on powered track, the battery charges.
Charging and switching between track power and battery power is totally automatic under control of the diode switch and happens in milliseconds. No user intervention is required, the system is 'mode-less' as far as you are concerned. In reality, it has three modes but they are totally automatic. Charge mode happens when the system is sitting still on powered track, the battery is in a charge state. The system auto regulates the amount of charging current, a fully charged battery will go into trickle charge mode and may be left in that mode for months. At run time on powered track the system 'floats', the battery is normally in a low state of discharge, providing a few milliamps of power. At low speeds on powered track the battery may actually charge. At run time on un-powered track the battery provides full power, instantly.
The system is polarity protected and can run on whatever flavor of electricity (AC, DC, DCC, PWM, etc.) you happen to have on the rails. At track voltages below 21V the battery will go into a discharge state and run times will be reduced. The battery will actually charge on track down to about 18V but will not take a full charge below 22V (21V with the low drop rectifier option). The bottom line here is that you may run your locomotive on a friends layout or on the club layout, it will operate, it may just not operate as long. Turning off the video subsystem will extend run time on low voltage track as it presents a constant draw of about 200ma when in operation. Using a dual battery system essentially doubles run time.
An optional plug in charger is available for the TrainUPS power system that will safely charge the battery pack in place in the locomotive in about 70 minutes.
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