Annoying Charging Problem

The simple path here is to make sure the tether is 100% OK, and then see if you still are having issues.

Nick,  That is not the tether.  In this case the board is in the engine.  So once the direction change was executed and the engine was moving power is all internal to the engine.  The tether just brings in battery power and volume control.  Sound, coupler, rear light go into the tender.

If this was on DCS you could test and run the engine without the tender attached.  No sounds, but all the engine features should work.

Your best bet is to take it to your LHS and let him figure it out.  If he can't you can send to me.  It he says your boards are bad and he wants to replace them, than send to me.

I actually have the harness you need, but shipping is the excess on this repair.

I would still defer that you were running this fine just having battery not charge.  You now have more erratic operation with a deteriorated tether.  So it sounds like a PS repair and new tether.   G

GGG, it sounds like your right on the money for not being here in person. I will give it to my LHS first and if they think that it is a complete board replacement then I will most likely send it to you.

Not quite sure what you're trying to illustrate there, is the red stuff on the contacts what you're showing us?

Update, Guess what, IT'S NOT FIXED!!! New information, I have swapped the power supply board with a GOOD power supply board. I have also purchased a Mth battery charger which I have used to charge the battery lately. Here's what I have found out lately

Charging battery in engine for the amount of time in the manual, the battery lasts for 3 days. Using charger, it lasts 6 days. I dug out my meter and on day 4 of 6, the battery read 2.5(something) , on day 5, it read 2.5 (something) and on day 6 IN THE MORNING, it read 1.9??? These are in volts dc. I read the charge before and after each run and IT IS SOMEWHAT CHARGING!!!!!

Now here are some questions, 1, should I swap the processor board or not? 2 What would make the battery go down so rapidly in one night when it had been somewhat consistent? and 3, what else could it be? Thanks,

Nickstrains

Nick, pull the battery out and let it sit.  Does it go down as fast?  If you have a milliammeter, check drain after loco is shut down for a few minjtes.

Nick,

I had a situation just like this a number of years ago. A brand new engine with a new battery would charge up fine and 2 days later the battery would be just about dead.

The problem was a 5 volt PS2 board that never shut down completely, even after track power was turned off, and continued to drain the battery. The dealer swapped the engine for another one, which I still have and ran just the other day.

Does this engine have a charge port installed?  If so I would plug in a molex  2 pin plug with long wire leads and attach those leads to your meter.

Start the engine up on a test track and measure the voltage.  Turn off track power and watch meter to see if the battery voltage continues to drop over time.

Or the easier test is place BCR in the engine and do the test.  If it charges up to 5V, the charging circuit is fine.  If after you remove track power the Voltage goes to zero over time, the processor board is not turning off the battery.

This is a state that can happen when just a test file is in the board.  So one thing I would do before swapping the processor is reload the sound file.

But ultimately, the processor board does control how the battery circuit is operated.  So a processor failure can cause battery charge/discharge issues.  Most of the time, I see it short the battery circuit out and burns up the power supply.  But maybe there are other failures.  Only an operator would know over time his battery is draining.  I can say I have never seen this complaint before.   G