Up to this time, most operations either hang a generator on each car or hook up a head end power to light their passenger cars.Here in Campo, our night operations will be limited to 2-3 times a month for a few hours. We are considering a battery and a solar panel to drive the new LED type of lights found in an RV - maybe every other light standard in the car. We usually get alot of sunshine at Campo during the week.Does any have any experience with this idea?Thanks - Jim

I've been expiramenting along the same lines at SCRM. I hooked a solar trickle charger to a marine battery in the battery box of our NKP caboose. It's maintaining the battery fine, but I don't think the solar charger has enough oomph to recharge a battery after extensive use. I've got a replacement alternator for the car (the original is long gone) which just needs to be mounted. That should give me enough current to recharge the battery during operation, with the solar charger for maintenance. Our B&O car is next on my list once I get the NKP car done. The advantage of the hacks is they have 12VDC systems just like a car, so it's easy to find stuff that can be adapted.I've also been trying to figure out a good, cheap way to keep the batteries in our CN coaches charged up. These are harder because the coaches have a 72VDC lighting system that was stepped down from the 3000VDC overhead. The obvious initial idea was to use the traction motors on the cars, but our electrical gurus say that won't work (the explanation of why was way over my head). Several people have suggested tapping the auxiliary generator on our locos for 72VDC power. Some say the aux can handle the extra load, others say it can't. I'm not crazy about this idea because I'd like each car to be self-contained. The fewer things between cars that somebody can forget to disconnect, the better.

What kind of use is the caboose getting - every night? How long? Info like that would be helpful.For our use, we are thinking maybe twice a month for a few hours.