Electric setups for Geese

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brandon
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue May 04, 2021 5:03 pm

Electric setups for Geese

Post by brandon »

I'll soon be getting my first personal locomotive, which will be a goose. I was wondering what electrical setups others have used on theirs and perhaps why. I'd be interested in learning what battery size, motor, runtime, and how many cars/load people are doing.

I have determined I can fit two 12v 75ah SLA batteries, 50lb each, in the truck bed of the goose. It's a little comical that the batteries weigh more than the goose itself which is 85lbs. My goose has a single powered rear axle, although I'm not sure the motor size but I'll upgrade it if needed. I also picked the goose because I can easily remove the batteries and load the goose into my car for transport by myself, as well as a gondola. I don't imagine the current motor is 400watts or higher. Even if it was 400, I would expect over 5 hours of runtime as 400watts/24v=16.6 amp hours used per hour, and 75/16.6 = 4.5 hours, and half the track is downhill :) So I think 6-8 hours is probably the minimum runtime I would see, which exceeds the 3-4 hours I've ever done with our club locomotive. I could possibly do 55ah, but for an extra $40, I thought the less I deep cycle the batteries, the longer they will last.

I will mostly be running 1 car behind pulling myself and my son, but I'll be helping out our club at times and I would like to pull 2-3 cars of younger kids, so up to 300lbs of load. We do have up to 3% grade, but turns are all over 50' radius. I also figured if I need more traction/friction I'll sit on the goose so there'd be about 250-300lb's on the axle instead of about 100-125lb if I'm in the gondola. I still need to run the traction numbers, so I'll probably start another thread about questions on axle load vs traction for those questions.

Some other related questions I have for the goose is if anyone has noticed downsides to having too much weight on an unsprung, solid rear axle. Considering the entire rear wheels, frame, body, batteries, and really everything but the front truck is solid and acting as 'one pieces' there could be some downsides. Is having too much weight on the rear axle problematic for anyone? In automobiles without a good suspension, you lose some traction effort with a solid axle setup. A solid axle also means bearings have a higher internal impact at bumps in the track. Track couplers, frogs, and any inconsistency in the track will have a much higher moment of impact as the entire frame, batteries, body, and weight have to tilt or bounce as the rear axle moves along the rails. I'm not sure if this leads to early wheel wearing or even extra wearing on an aluminum track. Then there's the 'ride' if sitting on the goose, but I think some extra seat padding could help with that.

Now for 55ah vs 75ah battery setup the difference isn't huge as there's only 20-30lbs difference (but technically it's a 30% load increase), but I see some people sitting on their goose which can be well over a 100% load increase, so it got me thinking. Has anyone blown bearings out on a goose? Has anyone put a suspension on their rear axle? Where do most people sit? And what battery, motor, runtime and # of cars/load do people haul with their goose? Lotta questions, and I have a curious mind. :)
rkcarguy
Posts: 1730
Joined: Tue Aug 22, 2017 10:33 am
Location: Wa State

Re: Electric setups for Geese

Post by rkcarguy »

I really like having some give (suspension) on everything, even if it's just some urethane bump stops installed somewhere.
Have any pictures? Other than knowing what "Geese" are, I haven't seen one in scale before nor do I know how the frame is put together.
Fastadam
Posts: 20
Joined: Tue Oct 09, 2018 8:34 pm
Location: Tustin, Ca.

Re: Electric setups for Geese

Post by Fastadam »

I built a goose with the plans available on discover live steam. When my son was smaller( not long ago) we both rode on top of the goose. Now we use 1 or 2 of the club bench cars. When you ride on top you feel every joint or bump in the track. It's not horrible but you do feel it. We have had 3-4 adults and a few kids without having any traction issues. The original bicycle motor controller left a bit to be desired. The startup was abrupt and would spin the wheels. It was scary going down a hill since it would keep gaining speed. We replaced the controller with a syren 50. It works great. The regenerative braking keeps even a few loaded cars under control on a downhill section of track. We have a 450watt bicycle motor that will move it along at 8mph and yet we have still towed a disabled gasoline powered loco and a half dozen cars back to the steaming bays with no hesitation. The only slightly negative thing I can say about the goose is that the front end is a little light. We have had the front truck jump off on a switch a few times. A brick of lead under the front or under the hood would certainly help. I can't give you accurate run times since we never seem to run it for long periods of time, however I have never had a noticeable voltage drop with the running we have done.
Glenn Brooks
Posts: 2930
Joined: Mon Nov 10, 2014 1:39 pm
Location: Woodinville, Washington

Re: Electric setups for Geese

Post by Glenn Brooks »

Brandon, don’t have any experience with the goose, but as a general rule, battery weight helps improve traction, and reduce wheel slippage. So mores the better... tractive effort is entirely dependent on weightmon drivers. Battery weight helps with this a lot.

Also weight distribution is important. Place the batteries as close to center as possible and load up the front end with a bit of weight. Shouldn’t hurt the solid rear axle loading question you asked.

And, You do want to run the two batteries in series as a 24v system. Also, take a look at golf kart batteries or industrial 12v forklift batteries. You can achieve up to 200 amp hour batteries, with 100 ah or 150ah batteries being common, which will deliver you substantially more power and longevity between charges than the typical 75 amp automotive setup. Research electric vehicle conversion sites on the internet or search for 24-48 v 2kw motors a little bit and you can find some interesting background info on battery packs.

Have fun!

Glenn
Moderator - Grand Scale Forum

Motive power : 1902 A.S.Campbell 4-4-0 American - 12 5/8" gauge, 1955 Ottaway 4-4-0 American 12" gauge

Ahaha, Retirement: the good life - drifting endlessly on a Sea of projects....
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