I turned off my base charger the the day I got it and couldn't be happier .
Leaving it on 24-7 seems like a bad idea. Especially in this day of "questionable" Lionel support.
Some good rechargable batteries from Energizer ,and an external charger ,and away you go. Save the remote and base to run the trains.
It's only an extra 10 seconds out of my life to r&r the batteries.