Cab 2 Battery Charging

That does kinda' remove a lot of the convenience of the charging station.  Also, at least with my #993 charging base, it appears that the charge terminates with the solid green lights.  When the remote is actually charging, the batteries do get warm.  However, if I leave the CAB2 in the #993 overnight, the green lights are on in the morning and the CAB2 is at room temperature, no evidence of any high battery temperature.  That's how charging is supposed to work!

It's hard to tell with the #990 command base as the internal electronics keeps the remote warm even when the charge terminates, so those will actually be warm even after an overnight charge.  I actually have the charger in my #990 command base turned off and just use the #993 to charge the remotes.

gunrunnerjohn posted:

That does kinda' remove a lot of the convenience of the charging station.  Also, at least with my #993 charging base, it appears that the charge terminates with the solid green lights.  When the remote is actually charging, the batteries do get warm.  However, if I leave the CAB2 in the #993 overnight, the green lights are on in the morning and the CAB2 is at room temperature, no evidence of any high battery temperature.  That's how charging is supposed to work!

It's hard to tell with the #990 command base as the internal electronics keeps the remote warm even when the charge terminates, so those will actually be warm even after an overnight charge.  I actually have the charger in my #990 command base turned off and just use the #993 to charge the remotes.

Thanks for your feedback, as always.  Yes, I agree, your  description is how it should work.  Don't know why Lionel has the instruction to turn-off the charger ?  I'll check and see if I notice any temperature difference   I haven't installed the Legacy base on the layout yet since I was waiting to install the Wifi LCS module.  I tried and failed the "Network" WPS setup.  The Access Point setup works.  I saw your thread  on this.  Does Legacy need to be on the same network as DCS wifi in order to have full Legacy control from DCS ?

Well, the LCS is on a different device as a rule than the DCS WiFi, so there shouldn't be a conflict.  OTOH, I did finally get the LCS WiFi connected to my main network, I got yet another router from Verizon, their latest model.  I don't know what was stopping the LCS from connecting to my three other routers!  They are obviously very picky about some aspect of the connection cycle as other devices connected with no issues to all of the other routers I tested.

As I've stated I'm new to Legacy and have been reading past posts regarding Cab 2 battery charging and heat.  I've had my 990 for a couple of years sitting in it's box.   Version 1.5 user manual along with Version 1.3 modules and a black module were in the box.   I upgraded to 1.6.  Apparently Lionel has a fix to improve the battery charger but I haven't discovered what the fix is or whether my base incorporates the fix.  Solutions range from stay with the fix incorporated 990 base, use the 994 charging base, use lithium batteries, use alkaline batteries, switch to a different rechargeable technology and/or vendor.  Since this is 2017,  has a consensus formed over time on recommended battery management ?

You'll never get a consensus on this topic.

I personally had my bases (all of them) upgraded by Lionel to the new charging circuit and I charge in the charging base and not the command base.  I'm using Tenergy low self-discharge lithium batteries and they've worked fine with the charger.

gunrunnerjohn posted:

You'll never get a consensus on this topic.

I personally had my bases (all of them) upgraded by Lionel to the new charging circuit and I charge in the charging base and not the command base.  I'm using Tenergy low self-discharge lithium batteries and they've worked fine with the charger.

Gunrunnerjohn, I've been trying to run down your Tenergy battery.  I think you are using the 994 charger.  Are you using the Tenergy 1.2 V NiMH recharables in lieu of the lithium stated above ?  I couldn't find the rechargeable Tenergy lithium 1.2 v battery.

Yep, I said Lithium, but they're NiMh batteries, slip of the mind.   They've worked well for me, and yes, I have the #994 charging base to charge them.  The #990 will work, I just don't like that it gets things a lot warmer when it's charging them.  Even sitting my DCS controller in the #990 cradle while running gets it pretty warm, so the battery charging action that warms the batteries is a 1-2 punch.  I'm sure it doesn't hurt them terribly, but it certainly doesn't enhance their life either.

gunrunnerjohn posted:

Yep, I said Lithium, but they're NiMh batteries, slip of the mind.   They've worked well for me, and yes, I have the #994 charging base to charge them.  The #990 will work, I just don't like that it gets things a lot warmer when it's charging them.  Even sitting my DCS controller in the #990 cradle while running gets it pretty warm, so the battery charging action that warms the batteries is a 1-2 punch.  I'm sure it doesn't hurt them terribly, but it certainly doesn't enhance their life either.

Thanks for the battery advice !!   As you stated the battery charging heat load just adds to the overall 990 thermal dissipation.  Using the 994 charging cradle is a smart  move.  Elevated temperature accelerates certain electronic failure modes.  In addition, the higher temperature increases the thermal cycling induced stress which even further degrades electronic reliability.