3d Printed Trains. Part 3 - LiPo Power

in #reprap8 years ago (edited)

Hi Steemit

I never used LiPo batteries in any of my projects before.

It requires a circuit to charge it in a certain way, the output is 3.7-4.2 Volt, and i always need 5 Volt, and that's another circuit, so no.

But few weeks ago i "discovered" the world of power banks, which solve both of those problems.

So i hooked one up to the train and here are the results.

Looks good, ignoring the crash...
Lets add some train.

Clearly its not lack of power but lack of traction.
GREAT :) just like old times trains.
And how did they get more traction in the old days ? (mostly) by making the locomotive very heavy.
so lets add some weight and see what happens.


YEP, works kinda :)

I was curious about the real power output so i measured that.

Not very accurate but a good comparison.
Units are Gram and with decimal point, so its 60-70 not 600.

The motor output (torque) is 800G/1cm
With wheel diameter of 3.4 cm it comes to
(800/(3.4/2))=470 grams
and if i measure around 90 grams of push its around 80% power loss.
What i don't know is how much lost to traction and how much is lost on the wheels driving mechanism, the next locomotive will be driven only directly from the axles to answer that.

Stay tuned for more :)

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That's awesome. 3D printing is starting to interest me.

Thank you, 3D printing is really cool, and no matter what your hobby is, a 3d printer would come in handy.

Upvote fellow 3D printer :D