Anyone know a good source for new MTH green batteries or a good BCR? 🔋

AFAIK, BCRs are still available from the source.  https://www.jandwelectronics.com/

Also, from M.B. Klein - https://www.modeltrainstuff.co...-Replacement-3-Volt/

Track down @gunrunnerjohn

He's not hard to find.....🤣🤣

J and W are still around.  I picked up some BCRs from them this April York.

J & W are the way to go.....they even now have small labels you can attach to the bottom of the loco to remind you there is a BCR fitted inside.

They are sending me a sheet of labels for all of the PS1 & PS2 loco's I have fitted their BCR's to.....and I live in Australia. They are really good folk to deal with!!!

Peter......Buco Australia

New P/N 5-29-22

BMOD0002 P005 B02 Maxwell Technologies Korea Co., Ltd. | Capacitors | DigiKey

           $6.54 EA. Don’t know why people continue to pay 25-30 ea. for a BCR?

                                                            ( 3V - Units )

@SIRT posted:

New P/N 5-29-22

BMOD0002 P005 B02 Maxwell Technologies Korea Co., Ltd. | Capacitors | DigiKey

           $6.54 EA. Don’t know why people continue to pay 25-30 ea. for a BCR?

                                                            ( 3V - Units )

Great tip!  So how do you hook these up?  Do you cut the battery snap-on piece off in your engine and solder these to those wires in your engine?    For an extra $20, I might still go the full BCR route for the quick fit and not risk tapping into my engine's wires. I once pinched an engine wire re-assembling and I fried the board. Cost me $300.

Another option - go to ebay and search for "BCR Battery Replacement". He's a member of this forum.

@IRON HORSE posted:

Great tip!  So how do you hook these up?  Do you cut the battery snap-on piece off in your engine and solder these to those wires in your engine?    For an extra $20, I might still go the full BCR route for the quick fit and not risk tapping into my engine's wires. I once pinched an engine wire re-assembling and I fried the board. Cost me $300.

        Might not be for some operators?

1. Cut red & black wires attached to battery and strip wires
2. Cut BCR leads shorter (Hook joints optional)
3. Cut shrink tubing and place on each lead
4. Solder leads together. Plus to plus, negative to negative
5. Use a heat gun, iron or lighter and shrink the tubing over the connection joints
6. Silicone BCR into place where old battery was

Shrink tubing kit can be found on line or at your nearby Harbor Freight.

@SIRT posted:

        Might not be for some operators?

1. Cut red & black wires attached to battery and strip wires
2. Cut BCR leads shorter (Hook joints optional)
3. Cut shrink tubing and place on each lead
4. Solder leads together. Plus to plus, negative to negative
5. Use a heat gun, iron or lighter and shrink the tubing over the connection joints
6. Silicone BCR into place where old battery was

Shrink tubing kit can be found on line or at your nearby Harbor Freight.

That's how I thought it would be done.  Wouldn't another option be to use a male-to-female battery adapter and solder the BCR to that adapter outside of the engine and then just snap it into place like an actual BCR battery replacement? That way you aren't altering the wiring of your engine.  I realize it's an extra step but you're leaving the engine factory pristine and risking an error for all-thumbs electronic guys like me.

Supercaps for 3V boards are really easy, a connector, wire, and a 1,5F 5V supercap.

That's all that's in the 3V BCR...

When I have a locomotive with the 3V PS/2 boards on the bench and I need a new battery, I just cut the leads off the old battery and solder them to a supercap.

OTOH, the 9V form factor BCR for 5V PS/2 has more moving parts, four caps and Zener diodes.

@IRON HORSE posted:

Great tip!  So how do you hook these up?  Do you cut the battery snap-on piece off in your engine and solder these to those wires in your engine?    For an extra $20, I might still go the full BCR route for the quick fit and not risk tapping into my engine's wires. I once pinched an engine wire re-assembling and I fried the board. Cost me $300.

Regardless of how you choose to replace the battery, pinching wires is something to be careful about.

@SIRT posted:

...           $6.54 EA. Don’t know why people continue to pay 25-30 ea. for a BCR? ...

Unless one is buying from a scalper, BCRs are around $20 each, so one is paying about $13 more to have a plug-in item with no soldering.   The convenience is worth it to some people.

Thanks for all the input guys.  John is working on it for me!

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

OTOH, the 9V form factor BCR for 5V PS/2 has more moving parts, four caps and Zener diodes.

OK now that makes sense.  I noticed the 2 you made up for me have 4 caps instead of 2.    So the 2caps in the photo above applies only to a 3V board if I'm correct.

Correct, you need a 5V rated cap for 3V, but you need a 10V rated cap for 5V boards.  So, two caps in series.

Thanks John!