help me sort this out

Plays perfectly fine on my iPad... But it's probably just a flaw in the system... Did you try watching it on YouTube?

looks like there are 2 choices for getting more power/pull from an engine. Either swap out the motor or change the battery 'hook up'

First Question (BTW, thanks for the info guys and if there is already a thread that I couldnt find, I wont be offended if you just refer me to the thread, no need to reinvent the wheel)... I dont know what battery combo provides the most power. I have one of the Shinkansen trains with the 2 speeds and it uses a C battery, and I have a Diesel that also uses a C, but it sounds like these can be modified with more battery power? Whats the breakdown is 2X AA better than C and all are better than one AA? Side note, seems like every train has a different power set up, some are C, some are one A, some have the battery in the 2nd car, some dont.

Second question is about swapping out the engine/motor. I'm all for a little easier even if the motor costs alittle more. It sounds like I can just buy a motor and swap them out (w the help of a soldering iron). Is that accurate? any brands/ types recommended? i saw this lot on ebay, would these work?

Thanks,
Kevin

[Super]

I am not familiar with the brand you show as I have only used the Tamiya Power Dash brand as recommended by Ucwepn. I have always bought from Tokyo-Hobby as they combine shipping but there are many sellers on Ebay to choose from. I think you may find a few US sellers that have them if you are located in the States. Tokyo stocks quite a few of the Tamiya motors. Tokyo-Hobby Ebay page

Well, you could try them, it is recommended to run a battery dry with the motor alone running On one AA/AAA battery. If the motor burns out or dies, the rest of the motors are probably useless.

you guys are awesome. I cant wait to try. my son is only 28 months. maybe he will grow into it more

If it were just for him, he would be better off playing with the wooden trains/tracks. He will learn to love them.

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also, whats the significance of running the motor w batter before installing? just to see if it fries the engine?

@"kmott" running a battery through without the motor running anything is a break in process like what you do with a car.

you guys are awesome. I cant wait to try. my son is only 28 months. maybe he will grow into it more

If it were just for him, he would be better off playing with the wooden trains/tracks. He will learn to love them.

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also, whats the significance of running the motor w batter before installing? just to see if it fries the engine?

I've not known a battery fry a motor before, these motors are generally designed for 3v's anyway but I'm sure the insulation can withstand way more than that. You don't have to run the motors dry, but it can help improve the performance and longevity of the high performance motors, personally I never bother! The idea is that you run them before installing them so that the motors get a chance to bed in, it gives the motor commutator chance to get a patina and gives motor brushes chance to form a mating surface which gives a better contact whilst the motor is running (meaning it runs better at faster speeds) I don't bother as I always assume the motors will bed in as we use them, and as I'm not into racing the performance difference between a bedded in motor and an un bedded in motor is minimal, and longevity wise? Well I've not had an uprated motor fail yet, but if one does I'll just replace the motor!

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Second question is about swapping out the engine/motor. I'm all for a little easier even if the motor costs alittle more. It sounds like I can just buy a motor and swap them out (w the help of a soldering iron). Is that accurate? any brands/ types recommended? i saw this lot on ebay, would these work?

Thanks,
Kevin

I don't know the brands but I think ucwepn has used a Doyusha motor before, these motors are pretty universal and seem to be used in lots of things, I'm sure they would fit but don't know how they would perform? Probably awesomely quick if the numbers are referring to the rpm! 50,000! - I don't know how long your batteries would last though!

And yes, if you have a screwdriver and soldering iron and a little bit of solder the motor will be simple to change!

Apart from changing out the motor for one that runs at a higher RPM, the other thing you can do is to run the regular motor at a higher voltage. It's particularly easy to adapt a 'C'-size battery compartment to hold either two 'AA' or three 'AAA' size batteries using an ultra-cheap battery box to hold them in. A small amount of grinding away of the housing using a Dremel-type tool and a suitable bit is all that's needed to make it fit. You'll find links to videos showing this procedure if you search around a bit. Here's one.

Or you can do both. Correct me if I'm wrong but I think Ucwepn's Spencer that he refers to above has both an uprated motor and 3v of juice?

HI Chrisjo, any particular battery box you recommend? I just looked on ebay and they are like a buck a piece. It might make sense to just convert from one batter to 3V.

Kevin

...any particular battery box you recommend? I just looked on ebay and they are like a buck a piece. It might make sense to just convert from one batter to 3V.

These are what I bought. both of them fit snugly into the tenders of Gordon, Henry and James, and no doubt others, by removing the plastic ribs each side of the positive terminal in the tender as Ucwepn has shown, and in the case of the 2xAAA box by sanding/filing a little plastic off each end of the box itself (just down to the metal).

The 3xAAA box terminals make good contact with the terminals inside the tenders without any wiring, while the 2xAAA ones need to have their wires connected to the terminals, either by permanent soldering or more temporarily just by a combination of poking, threading and twisting.
2 x AAA box
3 x AAA box
Since I bought these I've found the 2 x AAA boxes available for only a few pennies more in a local hardware store.

I had to wire gordon up for 4.5V and the battery pack still wasn't working. Got him to go once and then I had to change batteries and he hasn't moved (under his own power) since.