Mr. Motorman AD mod to work w/Trackmaster Revolution trains

Ok so most people know what a Mr. Motorman device is.  Those who don't know though, research it because it's a wonderful tool for any Trackmaster collector/creator.

There are 3 versions of Mr. Motorman (Technically 5 or 6 but not getting into that). These "versions" essentially are just different battery size fitments for trains that take different batteries. 

Mr. Motorman 1 or 2 is sized for C battery trains, Motorman 3 is sized for AA battery trains, and Motorman AD (advance) is sized for, you guessed it, AAA battery trains. 

The version I'm going to be talking about is Mr. Motorman AD as it's the only version that has a problem naturally fitting into the battery compartment of any Trackmaster Revolution train for a couple reasons, surprising of all, it's shape.

Forum member Super has uploaded a YouTube video here on BPT created by Tomica & Trackmaster regarding how to setup a Motorman AD with the intended trains the company had in mind. The first issue if you watch it or know about motorman products prior is that the battery that powers the battery sized device is external so that's a big problem finding a place to store it inside a TM2 train. You're just not going to, period. Let's pretend though, if the battery was inside the device, you still have the problem mentioned in the beginning; it's shape.

Even though the device is sized as a AAA battery and will, in fact, fit a AAA battery compartment the problem lies with two things. 1 the device is mostly squared on the edges not cylindrical like a normal AAA. Coupled with the fact that every TM2 train is molded on the inside top cover to hold the normal batteries in place and you have a problem fitment. It simply won't go down enough to catch the screw to close; Almost, but not quite. And DO NOT force it either.

So, now we have two obstacles in our way from remote control fun with TM2 trains, the battery and the device fitment itself. (And btw if both things weren't a problem you would still need a dummy battery to close the loop since TM2 takes 2 batteries, but we'll get to that later). Enter stage right, the purpose of this post...modification.

Modifying the train was NOT an option for me because it would mean I would have to cut out the inside mold of every, single, TM2 train I have. Now even though the mod to the trains wouldn't be visible since it's the inside, I would still have the laborious job of meticulously cutting the inside mold out of every character engine that was never a TM1/TOMY engine. Plus I do not, in any way, want to mutilate my collection. Inside or out. So the next logical step was modify the way the m4 engine (as it's called) interacts with the battery compartment in the train. 

Ok so NOW the parts that matter if you knew about all these issues you would've faced beforehand. 

Ok so here's a picture of what you get by default. (Ignore the masking tape and pink & green wire soldered directly on the positive and negative terminals of the m4 engine for now)
 

So the first thing we need to do is work on getting the function of the m4 engine to transmit its' power to the train battery compartment without the device actually being inserted there. 

In the picture shown, I soldered wire long enough from the positive and negative terminals of the m4 engine. In order for the solder to attach itself to the ends of the m4 engine you have to sand a little both ends of the terminals to give them abrasions so the wick could adhere to the micro peaks and valleys of the freshly sanded terminals. This also prevents you from heating up the terminals to much as this IS a sensitive device not meant to be soldered on to. Anyone unfamiliar with soldering onto normal battery terminals should either NOT attempt this, or look up how to do it (soldering onto battery terminals) to become comfortable attempting it. 

 
As stated, I made the wire long enough to connect to a dummy battery that could be split open easily so I can attach said wires to the corresponding terminals. The specific dummy battery I used came from China through Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B083K9DGF...asin_title (im sorry to the Admins if this isn't allowed). I also opened up my dummy battery so you can see what it looks like inside.
 
  
And here's a picture of the battery opened up not modified.
 
As you can see, the wires need to be very thin (I forget the gauge, maybe 30-32?) So they can fit through any shell that sits on top of the battery housing.  Also in the picture you need another AAA dummy battery so you can complete the circuit. DO NOT USE A NORMAL BATTERY, YOU'LL KILL YOUR M4 DEVICE. Now that we have the m4 engine capable of sending signals to the appropriately sized AAA dummy battery from outside the train we move on to the next step. POWAH!

*Ahem* this next section is relatively optional because if you decide to use the included 2.4V rechargable battery, all you would have to do is connect the wire connector to the battery and then to the m4. Buuut the battery is woefully underpowered and would only properly function if the mascon (remote control) is set to power 3 (P3). So here's a picture of the mascon and here's a video of what could be for you, the finished product (obviously try to hide the battery& m4 engine under some TM2 stock like these:

  
Here's the video:

BTW the reason for the masking tape on the m4 is to keep the soldered wires from moving/tugging off the soldered terminals of the m4

Ok now for the change in battery power supply. 
This guide might be extremely long I have no idea so I'll try to streamline the battery guide and if I miss something I'll respond to questions. 

So first here's the battery you want:

Amazon readily sells these so they're not hard to find.

Then you need to sand the ends to prep for solder as before except we are going to use the connector wire from the Motorman kit. You're going to cut one end right at the connector and solder the cut ends to the battery. Then (what I did, you don't HAVE to) you're going to shrink wrap the ends to protect exposure and you get what's pictured here:
 
if you decide to protect the ends you'll have to make a way to charge the battery as you now can't with the ends shrink wrapped so now we're going to cut the wire from the original Mr. Motorman battery leaving as much wire from the connector as we can

Now we're gonna solder wires to extend it just long enough to attach the other end to a dummy battery so we can use said dummy battery to charge the lithium battery. I used a AA dummy battery but you can use whatever allows you to solder the wire ends to the terminals of the dummy battery. Here's a picture of mine
      
I included an unmodified dummy battery (image 4) to show what it looks like. It splits open with no wire because it's meant to be a AAA TO AA battery adapter (you put a AAA battery in there to act as a AA battery. But what I used it for was to solder wire to the two ends shown and then you have your final peice. 

So what this is meant to do obviously it's charge my protected battery whenever I want. Just connect the modified lithium battery to the modified dummy AA battery like so: 

Then insert it to the lithium battery charger of your choice. 


And that's about it! Man this was long and exhausting. If I missed something in my rush just ask and I hope this posting is received well cause it was a doozy to write and photo it. Enjoy this new way to play with your TM2.

[Super]

Fantastic Tutorial Mitz, thanks for putting this altogether and sharing it with us. I must admit that I had to go over it all a couple of times to get the gist of it all but it eventually sank in. I had no idea there were things like those yellow dummy/place holder battery's. I may want a few of those 👍

Thank you Super. I hope this reaches enough people and they get inspired to make a better version of what I've done or just show off their finished versions too. Idk, I'm new to this being on a forum thing.

I also made an insertion after the second video explaining the reason for masking tape on my m4 and another insertion specifying the battery I want people to cut the wire from (even though there's a picture showing it).

I'll get better at this hopefully.

[Super]

Your ideas made my mind wander into using them in other electrical projects

Question: Are the Revolution trains run with 3volts?

Thanks super

To answer your question about voltage, with this project, Yes. Actually it's 3.6V because of the nominal voltage of the lithium battery. It's extremely important NOT to throw in another normal battery instead of the dummy battery with this mod. Whether you use lithium or the original supplied battery.  You'll kill your m4 likely the moment you push the reverse button on the mascon since normal batteries can't reverse voltage flow.

[Super]

Thanks Mitz, anxious to see other modifications in your collections. 😃

Cool, there's still a few more that I have to remember. Definitely I modified the AEG LOOP set to work with TM1 trains. (It already works by default for TM2 trains). TM1 train activator notch isn't low enough to catch the trigger for the loop mech and also the track with the lever isn't wide enough for the TM1 trains to even sit properly on.


Oh I also modified the Criss-Cross Junction set to work with, you guessed it, TM1 trains. Ironically the box seems to infer that it should work with TM1 trains because of the included track adapter, but the problem is the height of the stopping bar doesn't go high enough to lift the TM1 trains because of the aforementioned activator notch not being as low as the TM2 trains.


But since these two things only require basic observations to know how to fix that, I'm not sure if that is what you mean by more mods. Would that count as worth making a guide for?

[Super]

Kewl!