Battery powered locos survey - Final results

I created a simple and short online survey using Google Forms to inform a discussion I was having on the G Scale Central forum about battery powered locos and charging. 

Over the period of a week at the start of May 2022, 197 responses were received. Here is a summary of the results

As you can see, the majority of respondents have between two and five battery locos (45.2%) and a further 22.8% have between six and ten locos. 14.2% have just one loco, 4.6% have twenty or more locos and the remainder (15.2%) have between 11 and 20 locos. There seem to be a lot of battery powered locos out there!

The majority (55.8%) use NiMh battery packs but li-on (and LiPo) are becoming popular (47.6%). I was surprised that some (17.8%) are still using NiCd packs. A goodly proportion (18.3%) use non rechargeable batteries and 9.6% use lead acid - but this includes some respondents who have 5" gauge ride-on locos.

While the majority (35.1%) use two chargers, almost the same number (36%) use only one. 5.6% use three chargers, 7% use four, 2.5% use five and 2% use more than five. 3% have one per loco. Looking more closely at these six respondents - one of them has only one loco, two have 2-5 locos (hence 2-5 chargers), one has 6-10 locos and two people have over 20 locos (and therefore over 20 chargers...). These multiple charger users represent only 1% of the battery user fraternity responding to the the survey.

Six people (4%) have no chargers (presumably because they use non rechargeable cells) and one person has two locos with built-in chargers and uses a single charger for his (or her) remaining two locos.

The majority (46.7%) charge their locos when they know they are going to use them, while 32.5% charge them after each running session. Forty-seven people (23.9%) wait until their packs have run down before charging them and a further twelve people (6.1%) follow a schedule for charging their locos. Ten people say they use non rechargeables and so don't need a charger and five other individuals have their own systems for charging. One says he can't remember when he last charged his loco(s) as he hasn't run it for a while.

Nearly half of us (49.2%) have never needed to recharge our locos during a running session and a further 32% say this rarely happens. 15.2% say this happens occasionally with the remainder (3.6%) saying it happens often. Two of these individuals use non rechargeable batteries and so, presumably have to replace spent cells during running sessions. Three of those who often need to recharge their locos use NiMh packs, one uses li-ion and the other uses NiCd. One of the NiMh users says he struggles to keep his packs charged up during the winter months and so finds they need replacement the following year. Maybe he is not using Low Self Discharge (LSD) cells and so they don't hold their charge when not in use. Maybe the other users either have very small locos with limited capacity packs or they aren't topping up their packs before use. It is reassuring, however, that the vast majority of battery loco users never or rarely need to recharge their locos during running sessions.

Further to the above question, I was interested in whether this happened when the locos were fully charged before the session. As you can see, 55.8% say that it never happens, 21.8% say it rarely happens, 20.3% say it happens occasionally and four poor individuals say it happens frequently. I investigated these four and found that two have all their locos equipped with NiCd batteries. As we know, NiCd cells have memory problems and so don't always fully recharge. Another has two to five locos and uses non-rechargeables and li-ion with one charger and the other has 20+ locos, uses a mix of non rechargeables, NiMh and li-ion with five chargers.

So why do the respondents use battery powered locos?

It seems that the majority of us (55.3%) run battery locos because they don't need a lot of preparation - the majority of these (70%) also have live steam locos but 12.5% run trains using DC track power. The next most popular reason is that it obviates the need for track cleaning (28.4%), while 20.8% tried other forms of power and decided battery suited their needs better. 16.8% wanted a battery loco to rescue live steam locos. Five people mentioned that is was something that kids or grandkids could use and eight said that battery power better suited diesel or i/c outline locos.

As you can see, the vast majority of respondents (70.1%) use battery locos alongside their live steam locos, though 19.3% run them with their track powered fleet (in a couple of cases to clean or clear the track prior to running their track powered locos). I was interested to see that fourteen people also use clockwork locos and four have live diesel or petrol. For 18.8%, their sole means of power on their railways are battery locos.

Additional comments

Many thanks to all those who contributed. Based on feedback and my own curiosity, I have compiled a more generalised follow-up survey which aims to fill some of the gaps missed by this one (eg what control systems do people use) and also to explore some of the issues further - eg why do people use more than one charger?

Below are the comments which people added at the end of the survey. I have removed those who responded with "No" I have nothing further to all - and corrected a few typos for clarity (and because I used to be a teacher)!

If you want to contribute to the follow-up survey, it can be found here - https://forms.gle/P6DCJbb7r7c3CQoP9

• I am probably a 'special' case?
• My garden railway covers a lengths of 50m and this way I can follow my trains with the remote as needed
• My battery ‘loco’ is actually a railbus, though it can trail a light wagon.
• I have problems keeping batteries alive during the winter non running season. I often find they don't last so long the following year. It's very frustrating
• Three quarters of my battery locos are diesel outline, so battery is the best option.
• Battery rc can be retrofitted to (most) commercial locos giving the same performance as track power, often simplifying electrical sectioning, isolating and reverse loop wiring. Many of the DCC type sound functions can also be replicated if the rc set is chosen appropriately.
• Loco is a 5inch diesel using 2 batteries
• All my battery-power locos are also r/c.
• I get just as much (usually more!) pleasure out of running battery engines than live steam
• I use RailPro with my battery systems
• Several of my locos and railcars have been converted to switchable two rail / battery power.
• You don't ask about the controller.
• I can build battery locos, but not live steamers, I don't have the tools or skills needed.
• I have a spare battery set so that there is no delay when battery needs recharging.
• All diesel profiles
• Any one who thinks DCC is better than RC is clearly just an Internet Troll
• I have moved towards kit built and scratch built battery powered locos from LGB/Bachman track powered. I still run my track powered locos, but I need to use a battery powered one to haul a track cleaning wagon round if I wish to run track powered. I would now say I use battery powered the most, then live steam and track powered the least
• I recharge at shows when I am running all weekend
• Wish you luck with your decision
• Use Railpro with my batteries
• Have been using battery power and radio control for over 40 years, with no significant problems.
• Using Lipo and smart charging has been a steep learning curve, I lost one kit built loco and Deltang RX to a fire whilst on board charging, fortunately it was in a clear area in a garage.
• I also wanted a diesel sound, so added a sound card
• Arthritic hands mean that I am increasingly not able to lift heavy live-steamers.
• They work better with sound.
• Please share the results. Thanks.
• A lot less hassle and maintenance of the electrical power connections between rails especially on a large layout.
• Drive the Loco, not the track.
• After many years I've found battery/radio control the best combination for me.
• I use battery cars
• LiPo’s give you a lot of power, but you need to follow the charging/storage voltage rules
• All of my battery-powered locos are also RC and sound equipped, much to the delight of visitors. However, I have no electronic skills, so I must rely on help or paid service for repairs.
• Battery locos are just a part of my stock not exclusive.
• Also have NiMh batteries for R/c in live steam locos.
• Migrating from DC track power (Crest 10 amp RC Train Engineer) to battery/RC. I run anything from an 0-4-0 16mm scale to 2-8-2 15 mm scale, mostly all metal construction. I have 2 chargers as some battery packs are over 14.4v. Battery packs are mostly AA cell size, between 10 and 14 cells. All locos run with sound on and smoke where fitted. Some are using ESU DCC combined ESC and sound cards for operation. My line being mainly in full or part shade and with sporadic usage made track cleaning on a regular basis pretty much mandatory. I even regularly used a track cleaning truck during a running session.
• I have in the past used live steam on a circuit of track. Now my line is end to end which would not suit live steam and I am perfectly content with just one small battery loco.
• I have 45mm and 5" gauge locos. If you discount the 5" take off 2 chargers and the petrol/ lead acid and reduce locos to 5 and I do not use electric to rescue 45mm steamers.
• Battery power is always useful if you have children who would like to run trains but are too young to operate steamies.
• Rechargeable battery electric and LocoRemote WiFi control is the simplest method inside and out.
• I previously ran track power (DC) only. Recently, I converted all of my locos to battery power using R/C airplane electronics and airsoft batteries, which not only eliminates the need to clean the track, but also allows me to use reverse loops with no special wiring.