Loco Remote Mini B Manuals

Loco Remote Mini B setup - www.locoremote.co.uk The Mini B is suitable for 3V to 6V motors only. Any type of battery can power it with a suitable voltage including NiMH, NiCd, Alkaline, Li-ion and Lipo. The absolute maximum battery voltage for the Mini B is 6V. The diagram below shows all the models in the series. To identify how to connect to your loco, hold the Mini B with all of the connectors pointing towards you with the metal USB connector on the top. The word USB is written on the board just to its right. The USB connector is used to program the module during manufacture. Please do not connect anything to it or try to power your module this way. It won’t work! Connecting the battery Two battery connection cables are included. One will plug into the white rectangular battery connector on the module. Make sure the positive (red) lead is on the left and the negative (black) lead on the right. Connecting the other way round will destroy both the battery and Loco Remote module. If you are using a 3.7V (1s) Lipo of the type I recommend (a 600mAh or 1200mAh Lipo with a mini charger – search for “Syma X5C battery” on eBay), the other supplied cable will connect to your battery. The cables can either be joined directly together, in which case the Lipo battery must be disconnected when not in use, or a power on/off switch can be inserted between them. If you choose to use Lipos, any 3.7V (1s) Lipo will work with the Mini B. If you choose one with a different connector style from the one I supply then you will need to source a mating cable that can be connected to the cable provided that plugs into the module. DO NOT USE other types of Lipo such as 7.4V (2s) or 11.1V (3s), as they will destroy it! The standard way to charge the Lipo battery is to remove it from the loco and use the mini charger supplied with the batteries. The LED is on while the battery is charging and goes off when completed. Having a spare charged battery also means the loco can quickly be up and running again after the initial battery runs down. Lipo batteries must be treated with care. If the battery terminals are shorted or connectors damaged then the battery will be destroyed and could catch fire! If the battery shows any sign of getting hot or physically swelling in size then it must be immediately disconnected, put in an open safe place, preferably in a Lipo safe bag and then disposed of appropriately. When trying a brand new Lipo battery for the first time connect it to the Loco Remote outside your loco and allow it to discharge until the Loco Remote turns off the power to ensure the battery has no manufacturing defects. It is strongly advised that you remove the Lipo battery from your loco when not in use and store it in a Lipo safe bag - search eBay for these. If you are using either 3 or 4 x 1.2V NiMH (AA or AAA size) or 3.7V 18650 Li-ion batteries instead then you will need to get a suitable cable to connect these. You should also change the Shutdown on low battery setting from On to Off in www.locoremote.co.uk/v1/settings with these battery types when you first connect to the Wi-Fi interface of the Loco Remote (see below). Connecting the motor A DuPont header connection cable is included. This plugs into the motor connector. Remove the header from the other end if necessary and solder the cable to your motor lugs. If the loco goes the “wrong” way in forwards/reverse you can swap the polarity of the cable. Connecting the LED lights Two similar cables are included for versions with the LED lights control to connect to the LEDs. The Loco Remote is not able to supply enough current for other types of lights such as filament bulbs. The board can supply up to 150mA at 3.3V, which is enough for up to 8 LEDs on at once. Pulling out and then plugging in the jumper at the back of the board can change the current limiting resistor. Set it at 100 ohms for just red LEDs or 50 ohms for just clear white. For a combination or to vary the brightness set it at 0 ohms and use external resistors in series with your LEDs. See the separate downloadable lights guide for more examples.