How To Battery Power a G Scale Train Caboose The Easy Way! 3/6/21

[@thomasbrocious1697]

Great vid JTFG...you had me at putting the screws in a baggy to identify which caboose they belong to...LOL...OCD or whatever!!! All 10 of my caboose's are battery powered in a similar way but I use all Evan Designs products in mine. Thanks for all you do for the G scale train topics!!!!

[@TheeFishGuy]

Thanks for the kind words! I’m just trying to put stuff out there I would look for!

[@fearlessmtb]

Between you and Robby, I guess I gotta completely switch to battery power. Lol. That’s good to know. Thanks! All I have to do now, is convert my USAT passenger cars

[@NSReadingLineRailfan]

I hate to be that guy… but if you pull off that white cabinet on the side of the caboose on the inside there is already a 9V battery holder in there, it’s meant for a rechargeable 9V so it will charge while on track power and then you have power for when not on track power, or at least that’s how the USA Northeastern (center copula) cabooses are set up.

[@TheeFishGuy]

Incorrect. It does not light up the caboose. Only the flashing light. Also, I do not have track power to charge said battery. Also I wanted all of the lights on. The way the wiring in the caboose it done it will drain the battery very quickly. If you hit the entire thing and hard wire a 9V the lights will stay lit for a week. You will not get nearly the same performance using their wiring and a rechargeable battery. I’ve tried.

[@TheeFishGuy]

The carted cupola caboose will only have the marker lights dimly lit using that method. I want all the lights on!

[@NSReadingLineRailfan]

@@TheeFishGuy gotcha, I understand you don’t have track power but I was thinking you could put your 9V in the cabinet and remove the bulbs and still power your other LEDs in addition to the blinking light. It’s odd cause I can run my interior lights off the 9V in the cabinet on my Center copula caboose, maybe previous owner did something to make it work that way, not 100% sure. Thanks for the info

[@trainman707]

So every time the battery goes down, you have to open the caboose replace it

[@popples4973]

​@@trainman707 Yep, that kinda takes the coolness away.

[@DavesTrainsAndAutomobiles]

Awesome video.. I knew before the end of the video you were going to use the door lol.. great job😎👍

[@PrecisionClays]

Enjoyed the video. This inspiration will probably get me to convert my center cupola USA trains caboose. It does have detail inside. The battery on it is easily accessible via popping off the cupola. Too bad the extended vision one requires disassembly.

[@ron045]

Great tutorial. Thanks for sharing your skills/experience.

[@TheeFishGuy]

Thank you for the kind words! Not sure on the skills part though lol

[@OgaugeTrainsplusslotCars]

Thanks for sharing ♐ 👌

[@vincenttolve9756]

Excellent explanation. If I can understand it, anyone can. Thanks.

[@TheeFishGuy]

Thanks! I try to make things simple so even I can understand them lol

[@wolfgangpfeilergartenbahnd6530]

Great idea, great explanation.

[@johnharrar5374]

nice video.. get yourself a magnetic dish from Harbor Freight to contain your screws during disassembly/assembly.

[@TheeFishGuy]

I have four 🤪

[@modelcreationz]

Wow. 😂 I do almost the same thing... The difference with mine is that I make all my train from scratch

[@TheeFishGuy]

Fun! Do you have videos of your scratch built trains on KZbin?

[@modelcreationz]

@@TheeFishGuy all of the trains here on KZbin I made from scratch, however not all of them use batteries, I do have a catenary system that makes use of a "third rail" which is basically a wire that runs along the middle of the track since my track is not metal. So the top wire would be the 'red' and the rail wire 'black' lol. kzbin.info/www/bejne/goK8gGasZbFsorM here, if you look carefully you'll see the wire on the track

[@StormySkyRailProductions]

Great video

[@MikesChannel]

Nice Work how about a how too Kadee Couplers for that caboose

[@TheeFishGuy]

I can actually do that. I just got another one.

[@MikesChannel]

@@TheeFishGuy Sweet looking forward to it!!

[@tea1406]

I was wondering why you didn't use the already installed 9v battery holder its the gray box on the side wall.

[@TheeFishGuy]

In all fairness I’ve had to modify how I do this completely. Now I gut everything that’s stock and use all my own components. Using the batter case inside will drain the battery very quickly, leaving the main board that controls the electronics also drains the battery quickly. Now all that happens is the battery runs the LEDs I install directly and they’re switched on by the stock switch. I can run the caboose for a week straight till the battery dies.

[@tea1406]

Thanks for the feed back I'm try to get mine back up and running again just getting all the info I can

[@thomashottiger9746]

Dear Jonathan. I exactly followed your instructions and rebuilt my USA Trains Caboose to LED battery power. Everything so far works fine. However, it seems that I am having a battery draining even though the main switch beneath the car is set to "all lights off". After two days the 9V battery block is completely emptied although not in use. Clearly, there is a miminum power running through the circuit board on the bottom of the car, which is enough to light up a low power consumption LED at the end of the car without having to activate the main switch so "all lights on". Do you have any advice how I can get rid of this leakage current? Thx in advane, Tom.

[@TheeFishGuy]

@@thomashottiger9746 since this video I’ve discovered the same thing. I’ve also discovered that you have to remove the existing circuit boards. I should probably take this video down….

[@aaronharrison3801]

I wish whoever did a battery conversation of my aristo caboose had seen this video had to buy the light fitting the circuit board second hand and redo it all was so peed off luckily it all works and eBay do the led bulbs cheap enough I’ve got a load for converting all my Bulbs over on my layout as they will last longer than the normal bulbs and wont get as hot you do need to watch what colour white you get though 😐 brilliant white isn’t as authentic 😅

[@TheeFishGuy]

To me, as long as it’s lit up so I can see the end of my train, I’m happy.

[@aaronharrison3801]

@@TheeFishGuy yeah but the way you’ve done it you can put it back to stock if you go to sell it and kept all the parts You took off so the way you have done it is in my eyes the best way

[@Michael-yl2iq]

I have a NYC with 5 heavyweight Aristrocraft passenger cars. I am on track power, changing over to battery. Will I need to place a 9volt in each car?

[@TheeFishGuy]

I did that at first but then decided to put a rechargeable battery in the lead car and tethered all the cars together.

[@shadowofbrazil]

Hey man, I got a dash-9 that needs some work. Do you do work for others?

[@TheeFishGuy]

I do not.

[@shadowofbrazil]

@@TheeFishGuy dang all good.

[@TheeFishGuy]

@@shadowofbrazil I just don’t want the responsibility. If I drop your engine I’m screwed. If I drop mine I’m just pissed. Lol

[@shadowofbrazil]

@@TheeFishGuy thats understandable lol

[@icebearexprez9515]

um ??? anit that white box on the wall a 9v holder for the track power was lost to maintain the lights on.... ssssooooo y not use that for the power

[@TheeFishGuy]

No, it only lights the flashing light when track power isn’t present.

[@davidstorm8879]

queens English ITS SOLDER not soda