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With guidance and help from GunRunnerJohn, I have been able to make my own BCR's to replace the 9V batteries in my MTH PS1 loco's.

The cost of getting original BCR's from the US has become crazy, due to ever-increasing costs (AUS dollar to US dollar) and postage charges, and the extended time it takes to eventually get them to me here in Australia.

What I've done is to "convert" some of my junk "white" MTH batteries into BCR's, using two (2) super caps that are readily available here in Australia. (12 super caps with free postage is $62.57 AU - which equates to about $10.50 AU to make a BCR)

I carefully cut the top part of the battery case with a stiff box cutter or Stanley knife, and separate the top terminal section from the case, then I remove the old round batteries.

I then place two (2) super caps, end to end, (so they will fit inside the old battery case) and solder a positive (+) and negative (-) set of leads together, to configure the polarity "in series". I then solder a small length of black wire to the remaining negative (-) lead, and a small length of red wire to the other remaining positive (+) lead, and solder them to the base of  each corresponding terminal on the "lid" of the old battery.

A small piece of insulation tape is placed over the top end of the capacitor set, so it cannot possibly short against the underside of the battery terminals where the red and black wires are soldered on.

The terminal cap, along with the two super caps (attached by the wires) is then slid back inside the old battery shell, and the top is held in place with red insulation tape. I then label the new battery conversion as a BCR, so there is no confusion as to what it is.

Each BCR is then tested in my "mule" (old AS-616 Baldwin chassis - no body shell yet!!), and all I can say is.....THEY WORK A TREAT!!!!!

I check the voltage (multi-meter) after running the Baldwin around the layout for a couple of minutes (horn, bell, couplers, crew talk...everything working), and they are consistently up around 8.5V DC. I am one happy camper!!!

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Thank you once again GunrunnerJohn for all of your help and guidance....it has truly been appreciated!!!

Peter.....Buco Australia.

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@Buco - Good reuse of the old battery, and nice tape job and label - almost looks like a "real" BCR.  I'm always impressed by your persistence with regard to running MTH locos despite the geographical obstacles. 

@aussteve posted:

Great post Peter.   Now let's see how long it lasts.

Assuming that the connections are made correctly, is there any reason why they wouldn't work indefinitely?

@Mallard4468 posted:

Assuming that the connections are made correctly, is there any reason why they wouldn't work indefinitely?

Yes, this design with lack of zener diodes depends on the 4 super capacitors being perfectly matched and never going imbalanced.

Just like overcharging batteries, what can happen is one capacitor in the series string takes higher voltage and begins to exceed the breakdown rating- so it fails. Then the next capacitor exceeds it and then fails and so on.

It's not as bad a say that time I opened up a PS2 3V engine I bought at a show, and someone made their own supercap using only 1 2.7V rated supercap, and for reasons I'll never find out, also put a resistor in parallel across the capacitor. This had to be the worst misunderstanding of electrical components I've ever seen and the capacitor definitely failed, was ready to explode and one more time powering would have been the event. But that's why I inspect before testing- and this reinforced that.

Last edited by Vernon Barry

Yes, this design with lack of zener diodes depends on the 4 super capacitors being perfectly matched and never going imbalanced.

The 5V caps used are two 2.7V caps in series with no balancing components.  As long as you use capacitors from the same manufacturing lot, they should be well balanced.  Obviously, if you're using different types of caps, you could have a balancing problem.

It's not as bad a say that time I opened up a PS2 3V engine I bought at a show, and someone made their own supercap using only 1 2.7V rated supercap, and for reasons I'll never find out, also put a resistor in parallel across the capacitor. This had to be the worst misunderstanding of electrical components I've ever seen and the capacitor definitely failed, was ready to explode and one more time powering would have been the event. But that's why I inspect before testing- and this reinforced that.

Apples and oranges here.  I actually bench tested the technique used by Peter and checked the balance of the two caps.

FWIW, the resistor across each capacitor is another balancing method, though the Zener diode is a better way to do the job.  Of course, you need multiple caps to do this job, not to mention to have a reason to balance the charges.  The resistor adds to the load and subtracts running time for the capacitor stack, the Zener only conducts when one capacitor approaches it's maximum voltage rating.

@Mallard4468 posted:

Assuming that the connections are made correctly, is there any reason why they wouldn't work indefinitely?

The reference of "how long it lasts" was in regards to how long the post/thread would stay up and not be removed by OGR.   The post had been up for an hour already and I was shocked.  And still impressed at it laying 6+ hours.

And yes capacitors do have a limited life expectancy.  And if short cuts in cap mfg are taken like in the 90s and early 2000s there will be a significant failure rate.  (If you get the whole formula, it helps 😀)

However, current cap technology and methods should outlast us for sure.

Thanks guys, and especially Vernon and GunrunnerJohn, for your thoughts and comments. I am confident these BCR's will last as long as the ones I used to get from the States...and they have some years on them now.

To Mallard4468 and Mellow Hudson Mike....it has something to do with my German ancestry on my fathers mothers side of the family (my Grandmother). We just can't let anything go, and MUST find a way to fix things!!!!

Till next time...Peter (Buco Australia)

@Mallard4468 posted:

@Buco - Good reuse of the old battery, and nice tape job and label - almost looks like a "real" BCR.  I'm always impressed by your persistence with regard to running MTH locos despite the geographical obstacles.

Assuming that the connections are made correctly, is there any reason why they wouldn't work indefinitely?

In the past, forum sponsors who sell "official" BCR's have squawked and made the forum administrators remove the post.

Are you sure?  If you're not allowed to discuss how to make your own of anything because a sponsor sells the same thing there's a big problem.

We'd have an issue in many, many threads.  This hobby, to a great extent, is about assembling things from parts, whether purchased or made by hand.

However, I believe in this case that the original commercial source had patented it's design and this may be where the issue lies.  Copies of that design are not allowed unless licensed from the patent holder.

Mike

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