Rechargeable batteries in TMCC Railsounds

You could put a rechargeable battery in there but railsounds does not have a charging circuit for charging the battery. You would have to remove your locomotive shell and remove that battery quite often for recharging.

Of course, the locos run just fine without batteries.

I know it doesn't have a recharging circuit.  And I'm going to have to remove the shell to replace the none rechargeable batteries.  I was wondering if they would die much faster than normal batteries.  I know they run fine without the batteries, but I like having all the sounds

I assume you are running conventional? Batteries are really not needed in command mode (except for a few troublesome engines that have pickup roller issues)

 

I thought at one time the company that makes the BCR's for MTH engines was marketing something to replace the battery in TMCC engines. May be worth checking out and seeing if it ever made it to market

For the price they want for the BCR and the charging circuit to go with it, I'd rather go with a standard 9V and take the shell off.  And yes, I run conventional.  I'm just wondering if someone has used off the shelf rechargeable 9Vs on their engines, and how long they last compared to standard batteries.

The rechargeable will probably last as long? How often do you have to replace the batteries? The timer circuit on the Power board could be bad and not turning off the battery when your engine shuts down, this will drain the battery.

 

Bill 

The rechargeable ones should last many years.  Also, they don't tend to leak like the primary cells do when they go flat.  Obviously, they're pretty expensive at around $40 or so.

I've had the Big Boy for just over a year and it's had a battery in it most of that.  I haven't run it much, so I don't know how long a regular battery would last.  I have a GG-1 (which Bill helped me fix) that now needs a battery, so I was wondering if it's worth it to get a rechargeable.  As for price, a rechargeable 9V is only $10-12 USD.  Not sure where you saw the $40 one John.

All batteries discharge slowly over time, regardless if you use them or not. Rechargeable NiCad or NiMH batteries will discharge faster than non rechargeable alkaline batteries.

You're missing the point here.

 

As noted, rechargeable batteries of any flavor will self-discharge far faster than primary batteries like the standard alkaline batteries.

 

The $40 battery is one that will be suitable for this task.  It consists of the $24.95 BCR (Battery Component Replacement) and the optional charger that you connect to track power.  The Lionel RailSounds boards don't charge the batteries like the MTH stuff does, as it is designed for primary batteries.

 

look at the second one down,

 

BCR for Lionel

 

I know it is 40 bucks but there is nothing else to buy. run a wire to the pick-roller and you are done.

 

I have installed some in my steam engines just to see how they work and they are great.  no more worrying about batteries.

My experience with low cost rechargeable batteries is that they just quit (in my portable radio) without warning.  Better rechargeable batteries in cameras slowly loose there charge allowing you to be ready.

The BCR is built using super-caps, no batteries in sight.  They should last for many...many... years.

 

How does the Lionel BC charging board not run unwanted current into the Railsounds boards?

All this just so you can hear the sounds when you turn off the track power?  If you are running in command mode, you can trigger the shutdown sounds via the <Aux1> <5> on the remote.  You do not need to shut down the power to the track to hear the shutdown sounds.  Why use batteries when using the remote gives you the sounds?

 

I would only use a battery if I was running in conventional mode.  Then it makes sense.  You would want to keep the sounds going when you press the direction button.

 

How does the battery not run unwanted current into the boards?  Same question.  It's just voltage out there charging the supercaps.  The RS boards will only consume power if they require it, adding the charging circuit doesn't change that.

Weaver pulled the battery from the Little Joe when they fixed it last month ... it was dated in my handwriting with black marker "01/07" and was working fine.

 

It's a Duracell.

Well said Flash!

Yes, but when they leak, they make a much larger mess than rechargeable batteries.

I have used Duracells in a few TMCC engines for a few years now without mishap, and none have ever gone dead. For the cost of a couple of bucks each they are the way to go IMO.

I am surprised that some have had issues with these batteries ever going dead.

I always check the battery date when I have one apart, and replace it if its stale.

 

Rod

Duracell is the only brand battery I use if it's something important.  But if you all are getting 5+ years from a standard battery, then I won't worry about going rechargeable.  Thanks.

I too have never had a battery expire in any of my locomotives. I too fit Duracell batteries as they have never let me down.

Buying them in packs of ten normally attracts a healthy discount, so the cost is hardly significant anymore. ( The last pack that I purchased was €22.99 for ten, as against €5.99 each at the local DIY store.)

Even though I run under command control almost exclusively, I always fit batteries into my locomotives. Like others, I fully expect to be replacing mine based on their age rather than because they are exhausted.

"Rechargeable NiCad or NiMH batteries will discharge faster than non rechargeable alkaline batteries."

 

No, they don't.  

 

The AED's on the walls in out labs have NiCads.  These have a 5 year shelf life.  We know because the AED monitors the battery and beeps when it needs replacement.  We've replaced the battery on one unit twice and we've had it for 10 years, aka the 5 year life span is pretty close.  

 

I know that the quality of the battery in the AED is much higher than the typical "9 volt" you find at Radio Shack but the choice of NiCads for these devices was based on extremely long shelf life.

 

The biggest issue with the NiCads in this case is that the load on the battery will never fully discharge it and the units are susceptible to memory issues if you only do a partial drain before recharging.  You could pull the batteries when they can't run sound board and then finish discharging them through a load like a car back up light (I used to do this with camcorder batteries) but this may be getting to be too much trouble.  How many 9 volts are you going through?

"When not under load or charge, a Ni–Cd battery will self-discharge approximately 10% per month at 20°C, ranging up to 20% per month at higher temperatures. It is possible to perform a trickle charge at current levels just high enough to offset this discharge rate; to keep a battery fully charged." As a photographer I know this pain well

It's possible that the AED's have a hard wire to a trickle charger built in. Also newer rechargeable batteries like the Sanyo Eneloops do not discharge at this rate, in fact they only lose about 10% after a year

AAMOF, all the emergency lights I've ever seen had a trickle charger for keeping the batteries topped off.

AED's are in self contained pouches.  No charger of any kind.  They are in little "bags" that can be easily ripped off the wall fro transport.  You take the AED to the person that's down, not drag the person to the AED. 

 

The low power alarm only goes off AFTER the units reserve charge is no longer capable of providing five full adult shocks.

Looks like AED's use lithium manganese-dioxide batteries , they make a 9 volt, but they do not seem to be rechargeable

 

 

The nicads I buy definatly dself discharge. I recharge then every couple months.
The newer ni md batterys are not as bad but the li polyimer batterys also self dichare fairly fast.
The memoty thing is mostly solved in the ni md batterys and even the nicads are not as bad but you do have to dicharge them almost fully every so often.  Don

That makes more sense Chris, I couldn't see rechargeable batteries lasting that long.

 

One of my last consulting gigs before retirement was for a lithium battery manufacturer that was building batteries for aircraft.  One of the key elements was shelf life, and the only way to achieve that was to charge them periodically.  These were the "best of the breed" battery chemistry where price is not the primary consideration.  One of the 32AH batteries sells for $10,000, so if they can't make them hold a charge, hard to imagine cheap ones would.

 

Newer lighter weight units probably have LiIon.  Original one was before LiIon was in wide use and the battery pack has NiCad warnings on disposal/recycling.  They aren't rechargeable.  The old unit needed replacement and we replaced it.  Sent old battery back to Phillips.  No idea what they did with it.  RMA label was part of the replacement kit.  Unit is still in active use.