Maxitrak Electric Locomotive Battery Recommendations

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Mike Walsh
Posts: 955
Joined: Sun May 06, 2007 10:14 pm
Location: St. Louis, MO

Maxitrak Electric Locomotive Battery Recommendations

Post by Mike Walsh »

Hello

For those of you out there with the Maxitrak Electric siderod diesel, what are you using for a battery?

Right now I have a massive battery - you would think it'd be for a 4-banger vehicle! I'd like to be able to make a body that's somewhat realistic, but the height of this battery is really limiting me from accomplishing that appearance. I initially got this battery as it fit the foot print, and stuck with it despite my struggles with the original controller that I had. But now that I have a new controller (spins the wheels with the same battery!), I think maybe I can dial back the needed battery capacity. I have yet to kill a battery in an outing, but also haven't gotten out much.

I would appreciate your input. Currently the height of my battery sits about 7" above the deck of the locomotive. I'd love to find something that gets down to maybe 4" or even 5", while maintaining the width/length.

Thanks in advance!

Mike
Mike Walsh
Posts: 955
Joined: Sun May 06, 2007 10:14 pm
Location: St. Louis, MO

Re: Maxitrak Electric Locomotive Battery Recommendations

Post by Mike Walsh »

For reference, my battery is a 12CRV55. I'm satisfied with the footprint as it fills up my battery tray.

I see that Ellis Battery offers a 12CRV33... Which will sit about 4" above the deck. This might give me the clearance that I want (or need). However, I will sacrifice 22 AH and about 13-15 lbs in battery weight. I can probably find a way to make up this weight as the battery is shorter so that would allow me a chance to fill the battery tray with additional weight.

I'm using a simple $15 12v controller that I got off of Amazon. Will do just fine for what I'm wanting to do.

Any further thoughts would be appreciated. I may consider keeping the 55AH battery and tossing it in the rider car to use as a "booster" battery for the big tracks (St. Croix, etc).
jscarmozza
Posts: 599
Joined: Mon Mar 03, 2014 5:09 pm

Re: Maxitrak Electric Locomotive Battery Recommendations

Post by jscarmozza »

Mike, that's the same size battery that's in my Congress. I think the engine is a British style so it looks a little out of place here in the States. I Have a 5 lb lead weight in addition to the battery in mine to get more weight on the wheels for better traction, for a small engine it runs and pulls great. I still have the old potentiometer on the back of the engine to control the speed, it's a little uncomfortable for me to operate so I'm going to have to upgrade the controller one of these days. As far as the battery size goes, you should be a able to find small wheelchair batteries to get a lower profile. John
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