modifying talking Thomas trains

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modifying talking Thomas trains - kmott - 07-25-2018

hey Y'all,
Im wondering if anyone has had any experience with modifying the talking trains to make them go faster? I have a talking James that is now in pieces cause I wanted to swap out the motor. its much more complex then a standard train, with a lot more parts and i killed it! now that i am learning a bit more about all of this, I think perhaps there is a resistor limiting the power that goes to the motor? given that these guys run on 3 AAA batteries... i am guessing that the board that makes the 'talking' needs more than 1.5V so they use ~4.5V and then limit the juice that goes to the motor.

anyone have any experience with these?

Thanks!

RE: modifying talking Thomas trains - Nigels - 07-25-2018

That probably makes sense, either that or they use the resistor to increase the impedence of the motor circuit so that not all the juice goes to the motor. A resistor can be used to limit current as well. I've never seen one of these trains dismantled so I don't know the wiring used or things like the value of the resistor, components on the sound board etc...

RE: modifying talking Thomas trains - kmott - 07-25-2018

Thanks Nigel. You lost me there... but thankfully I have the interwebs. I opened one up and it looks like they put resistors on there, the part I don’t get is there is a capacitor too??? I know these type of motors are usually rated for 3-6 volts so I’m not worried about giving them too much juice. I was hoping that there would be just the resistors and I could swap them out so the motor gets another volt or so, but the capacitor confuses me

[Image: 093952_E0-56_E9-4_A09-9109-237848_ACCB64.jpg]

RE: modifying talking Thomas trains - kmott - 07-25-2018

Yeah, I’m trying to remember everything from physics class many many years ago

RE: modifying talking Thomas trains - Super - 07-26-2018

I believe Mr Ripley will have the most experience with these complicated talking trains at least the Talk & Action ones. The questions you ask may be related. He does have at least one Thread dedicated to the TnA's. https://www.blueplastictracks.com/showthread.php?tid=2364

RE: modifying talking Thomas trains - ripley802 - 07-29-2018

As Super mentions I have had some extensive research and repairing on the TnA Talking trains. I believe the ones you are working with are a bit different but I have had them apart a time or two as well.

The thread Super mentions specifically post 37 from Tramp has a bit more info on the components.
https://www.blueplastictracks.com/showthread.php?tid=2364&pid=27991#pid27991

I will say they seem to run fine with out the extra resistors and capacitor. I have not had one die or anything from removing those and running. It should indeed give you the 4.5v.

Hope this helps, if you have any specific questions about putting it back together, please post some pics and I will chime in to try and help.

RE: modifying talking Thomas trains - Super - 07-29-2018

Thanks Ripley Smile

RE: modifying talking Thomas trains - kmott - 08-03-2018

ok, so I have learned something new. and interesting.
I started with

~4.5V (3 x AAA) going to the motor, then there are the resistors and capacitor. I didn't bother looking them up cause... well what do I know anyway?
here is what is interesting/strange: I removed the resistor AND capacitor, put it all back together AND THE SPEED DIDN'T CHANGE... I swear. I thought for sure that the removal of these would cause it to speed up. I just wasn't sure what that would do to the voice part or if it would be too fast.
So then I thought what the heck and swapped out the motor. something about that caused issues with the voice part... so now I have the part. I may try to add the capacitor and resistors back on and see what happens. this is like a big jigsaw puzzle. I suppose I could actually go learn more about circuits and understand better whats going on... but what fun is that?!?!?
if youre interested. this is what it looks like inside.
TTFN

BTW, is there any way to determine the RPM or speed of the motors that are in these guys from the factory? I never know if the new motor is faster than the original.

RE: modifying talking Thomas trains - kmott - 08-03-2018

(07-29-2018, 12:46 PM)ripley802 Wrote: As Super mentions I have had some extensive research and repairing on the TnA Talking trains. I believe the ones you are working with are a bit different but I have had them apart a time or two as well.

The thread Super mentions specifically post 37 from Tramp has a bit more info on the components.
https://www.blueplastictracks.com/showthread.php?tid=2364&pid=27991#pid27991

I will say they seem to run fine with out the extra resistors and capacitor. I have not had one die or anything from removing those and running. It should indeed give you the 4.5v.

Hope this helps, if you have any specific questions about putting it back together, please post some pics and I will chime in to try and help.

BTW, thanks for calling this out. looks like the T&A trains and the regular talking ones are wired the same.

RE: modifying talking Thomas trains - ripley802 - 08-03-2018

I believe the voltage to the motor is being stepped down (dropped) at the circuit board. I had used a volt meter and from the battery you get 4.5 then once it gets to the motor I believe it was more at the 1.5 range. The TnA have sections of track that make them speed up which I think the capacitor is handeling.