Whadjacallit - Powerpack, Stay Alive, Current Keeper...

OK, since last time, I've whacked a few more of these super capacitor based thingamebobs into my HOn3½ QR locos - the 2400 class this time.  These have the same chassis and mech as the 1550's and 2100 classes as well.  So my previous knowledge, or lack thereof, is of use.

After doing a 2100 for a mate from the club using my patented and pending box kite method, see my last blog post, 

See, it looks like a box kite - I reckon so any way.

The box kite installs into the mechs' tower.

I was about to add one of these stay alives into a 2400 class of mine when it hit me - like a low hanging beam under a Queenslander, boom! Sometimes you can't see it even when it is inches from your face - beams about to hit you and locations to install things...

Of all things, I was so engrossed in the centre of the loco where the decoder was, the motor etc, that I didn't look at the farrrr end.  Yep, the front end.  In the loco shell, just above the coupler box and in front of the drivers cab, there is this space - looks small.  But it's not small, it's juuuust right.  Just right for an ESU single cell Powerpack, or Stay Alive, or Current Keeper, or whatever you want to call these little battery type gizzmos.

So that's where this last one has been shoe horned. Lots less hassle and work :-)   I did of course attach a small three pin set of plugs to the Stay Alive and Decoder so that it is not permanently connected to the decoder - just in case of future work on the decoder.

I only needed a tiny bit of double sided tape to hold the stay alive in place and then to keep the wires tidy, I used a small drop of Glue that is set with a bit of UV light.

A small drop on the cab base holds the three wires in place (above). And then another small drop half way to the decoder (see below) keeps it tidy and makes putting the shell back on a bit easier.

So that's eleven QR's in the fleet done - one more and I have a carton done.

Oh, and I reckon if you wanted MORE, I hear Tim the Toolman in the background, you could squeeze a home made stay alive in there with one cell in the front, two in the area where I did the box kite and depending on the decoder used, one next to the decoder...  4 cells works nicely, but just make sure for big programming jobs to disconnect your homemade jobbie from the decoder while programming - stops possible damage since there is no ESU circuit in place (comes with their own brand stay alives).

Now this loco will smoothly charge over points and dirty spots here and there :-)