Proto 2/ BCR2 problem

I would start by carefully checking all the wires & connectors for the BCR.  One might be making intermittent contact as a result of the handling

Sounds like the charging circuit on the PS/2 board may not be up to charging the BCR.  Did you consider sticking a battery back in it and seeing if that works?

gunrunnerjohn posted:

Sounds like the charging circuit on the PS/2 board may not be up to charging the BCR.  Did you consider sticking a battery back in it and seeing if that works?

Good suggestion GRJ but I dumped the battery that was in there so I'll have to get a new one.  Will it be necessary for me to order it from MTH or can I get a good substitute on the Open Market?

Any fresh 9 volt alkaline battery will work for test purposes.

Wait a minute:  he opened by saying it is a 3-volt board.  Don't use a 8.2 or a 9-volt battery.   I would guess the charging circuit can be checked by plaing the loco on the track with the BCR,  Turn on power and place AC voltmeter on BCR terminals.  If n o reading, then charging circuit or wires & connectors are bad.

RJR posted:

Wait a minute:  he opened by saying it is a 3-volt board.  Don't use a 8.2 or a 9-volt battery.   I would guess the charging circuit can be checked by plaing the loco on the track with the BCR,  Turn on power and place AC voltmeter on BCR terminals.  If n o reading, then charging circuit or wires & connectors are bad.

I wouldn't be using a a 8.2 or 9 volt battery but rather a 2.4 volt AA battery pack that goes with this engine.  I would guess that would be OK wouldn't it?

RJR posted:

Wait a minute:  he opened by saying it is a 3-volt board.  Don't use a 8.2 or a 9-volt battery. 

OOPS!  Sorry, I'll delete that suggestion!  Got the wrong thread!

This might be a stupid question but I'll ask it anyway.  Will any 2.4 volt NIMH or NICAD triple A or double A battery pack work in this engine, for example Wal Mart or Amazon or must it be a battery pack from MTH?  Sorry, but I'm electronically challenged.

Yes.  The problem will be finding one with the proper plug. 

I also have a PS2 256 and had something similar happen. The battery ran down and wouldn't take a charge. I put a BCR2 in it and it still wouldn't run. Checking the battery I found one of its two cells had shorted so I tried to get a new battery. This isn't the usual PS2 blue shrink wrapped battery. This one is smaller and comes in a lime green shrink wrap. I assume MTH used these in their HO engines. Of course MTH was out of stock of these and I couldn't find anyone that had one. Found an identical telephone battery on Amazon, however the plug was wrong. Cut the old MTH battery plug off, soldered it the new battery leads. Charged it up and the engine has been running fine since. I have no idea why the BCR2 didn't work. That particular BCR is now in another engine and working fine.

Ken

Actually, MTH went to the green NiMh batteries, and they have several sizes, the AA and the AAA packs.  The small size is used in  O-gauge as well.

Before buying a battery, I'd run the test I described under my wait a minute post above.

RJR posted:

Before buying a battery, I'd run the test I described under my wait a minute post above.

Too late RJR 'cause I already ordered a new battery from MTH.  Oh well, if it doesn't work I'll have an extra battery on hand if needed.

If you have a voltmeter, I'd still run the test.  If charging circuit is bad, battery will eventually go dead and need external recharging.  I seem to recall that GGG says he can fix charging circuits.

I have a volt meter but when you say place the volt meter on the BCR’s  terminals where do place them.  The BCR 2 has no terminals per se just two prongs that fit into the engine’s connector.  So where do you put the voltmeter’s leads?

Across the battery connector, but be careful not to short them.  Ideally, having something like a 200 ohm resistor as a load across the battery port and measuring the voltage would be ideal.  The charging circuit should be able to generate charging voltage across a 200 ohm load.

Will your prongs make contact in the socket?

gunrunnerjohn posted:

Across the battery connector, but be careful not to short them.  Ideally, having something like a 200 ohm resistor as a load across the battery port and measuring the voltage would be ideal.  The charging circuit should be able to generate charging voltage across a 200 ohm load.

Sorry GRJ what you are saying is all Greek to me when referencing a 200 ohm resistor and when you say across the battery connector do you mean just placing the volt meter leads across the battery port?  I think under the circumstances I'd rather repair an old balky lionel E-unit.  

RJR posted:

Will your prongs make contact in the socket?

If you mean do the prongs fit securely inside the engine's wiring socket the answer is yes.  If that's not what you mean you'll have to explain it to me.  Sorry, but I'm almost totally blind here. 

I'm reluctant to explain further as doing something wrong here could make a bad situation worse.

gunrunnerjohn posted:

I'm reluctant to explain further as doing something wrong here could make a bad situation worse.

O.K. GRJ thanks for your willingness to help.  I appreciate your effort and patience.

RJR

A new Triple A battery pack is in and as of right now its working the way it should.  Since I couldn't figure out how to run your test I'll just have to go with this method of testing it.   I guess I'll just have to see how long it will work on this new battery.

If it goes dead, don't chuck it.  Confer with GGG about getting the charging circuit repaired.

Does MTH ship battery packs charged?   A charged PS2 battery holds hundreds of times more energy than a charged BCR.  What concerns me is there is a problem with your PS2 charging circuit and you're slowly depleting whatever charge was in the battery when you received it.  So maybe you get, say, a hundred successful direction changes and a few dozen shutdown cycles and then you're back to the square one.