Services: Radio Control Modifications

The state of the art in radio control changes quickly! As RC gear shrinks in size and gains features the idea of adding RC to the monorail gets easier and better. Deltang is the class act in micro RC for now, and David T (owner) is very helpful with application tips and support.

The latest Deltang radios are small but can provide all the power our motors need (both original and upgraded motors) along with plenty of auxiliary outputs to control lights and sound. The Deltang transmitters we use have inertia control where we can set a speed and watch the monorail slowly accelerate to that speed, automatically!

We add a voltage booster since the Deltang receivers are designed for a minimum of 3 V and shut off the motor when the voltage drops below that. Since the monorail runs on 2 x AA it would not work with NiMH cells and barely (and not for long) with alkalines. ***The voltage booster can run the original motor and some faster motors, up to more than 1 A.

This is one of our most recent conversions, with WhisperJet and enhanced audio. The owner says it was transformed from a toy to a real scale model!

and the associated transmitter

Here is a conversion in process without WhisperJet or enhanced audio, a lot fewer wires!

We have seen one power switch that quit working and found that this part is marginal so we now add an electronic power switch to handle the increased current of the faster motor.

We usually install a Rx61 receiver to leave room for updates. We connect the sound and lights to auxiliary channels, program the receiver to turn those on/off, and wire the system together. We also replace the headlights with white LEDs and program the roof beacon to flash like a strobe.

The price for the base conversion is on the "prices" page.

So what does this get you over and above the Disneyland remote control version? First, variable speed, our radios are fully proportional with continuously variable speed in forward and reverse, Disney's is full speed forward or full speed reverse (full speed is kind of a misnomer, the DL monorail is slow). Our modification also independently controls the lights (white LED headlights and red flashing roof beacon). We can also install a WhisperJet drive system: faster;quieter; and smoother.

Sound option 1* As of July 2020 we have a supply issue and may not be able to do this...We can install a new audio board, amplifier, and improved speaker to provide better sound and more of it. With up to 10 individual audio clips and several minutes of good quality sound it is a remarkable improvement! The sound clips can be played in sequence or random. The sound clips can be anything you want, including "...por favor...".

*** The DisneyLand monorail with remote: Disney's remote is infrared and only offers FWD and REV (and play sound), ours offers full speed control and control of lights and sound. Disney's remote will shut down with a high powered motor, ours will power just about any motor you would care to use. Disney's remote is limited to one monorail at a time, ours is 2.4 GHz radio and works with a large number of transmitters/receivers to allow control of multiple monorails.

This link is to the old method when RC equipment was much larger than it is today. I have been doing this for a long time!