Battery charger to BCR hurt anything?

There is nothing to be gained.  Nothing would be accomplished.  A BCR, which is a supercapacitor, is at maximum charge in less than a minute, and will self-discharge far faster than a battery.

 

I have installed supercapacitors in some 1o of my locos, since the batteries are 8-10 years old.  On most, I have completely bypassed the charging port, but left the harness in in case in the future I or a future owner would want to revert to battery.

 

I don't know why you say "unfortunately," since the BCR does as advertised.

Robert,

I believe the intent of the question is, would charging hurt a BCR.

I don't believe that it would, however, I can't say for sure.

The maximum voltage output, no load, of an MTH charger's output for a 3-volt system (2.4 volts), is 3.3 volts.  A BCR designed for the 3-volt system is rated to withstand more than that.  So it most probably (note I am waffling) would not harm the BCR.  But again, why do it?

 

Put loco on track, turn on power.  Wait a minute.  Now you've achieved the same result.

I agree with RJR, there is no point.  I don't see how it would hurt it, but it's not going to accomplish anything.

Why "unfortunately" ?

Is the OP suggesting that he does not remember which ones have a BCR and which ones have a battery?

 

I always mark my locos on the bottom when installing a BCR.

Exactly my thought...Roy.  I forgot (unfortunately for me) to mark the engine if it had a BCR or not and was wondering if I used the MTH charger and was "charging" the BCR (instead of the battery) would it damage the BCR.  Barry understood me, too.  I just maybe didn't say it correctly. 

 

Thanks everyone!!

I'm new to BCR's but I think if there is a battery the info screen on remote will show battery OK and if there is a BCR installed the remote will show battery "HI". John or Barry, correct me if this is not true

As you wish...it's not necessarily the case

Barry,

   Maybe I am getting old, what in the world would be the engineering reason to charge a BCR with a battery charger, I see not reason for anyone to ever do it.

PCRR/Dave

Dave,

what in the world would be the engineering reason to charge a BCR with a battery charger, I see not reason for anyone to ever do it.

I absolutely agree. However, the OP's question was about would he hurt anything by charging a BCR since he forgot to document into which engines he had put them. 

Barry,

   I get that part OK however all he needs to due, to identify which is which is let the engines sit for day, and try starting them up on the tracks, the ones that do not start upright away are the engines with the BCR's they will take 15-30 sec to initiate.  I still see no need to try charging a BCR.

PCRR/Dave 

I think he wants to make sure his batteries are charged. They could be "dead".

So, will he incur damage to a BCR should he put one on a charger by accident?

 I'd have to guess no unless the charger is rated higher than the BCR's rating.

So Id want say no to using quick chargers using a higher voltage in short controlled bursts, and auto shutoff for the charges end . Not without testing the chargers peak output anyhow. But a normal charger it should be fine. 

My reasoning is also that I've never heard of them limiting run times in anyway, and I think the plugs just disconnects the board so it doesn't "take off" out of the blue or wake us at 3am, while on a shelf just charging. Static is a sneaky, mischievous, traveling, devil, few items escape a little meddling magic their whole lives.

 

 

 While we don't do it often ourselves, somewhere there are lab rooms with things running non stop "till the wheels fall off". Having seen many places like that in other industries, Id travel and pay to see one, full of our trains, for an hour or two 

...um, and no tour guide. Not a good idea, I'd ask way too many questions 

 

 Between a dead loco, dying locos, and 15-30 charges, weeding them out sounds allot easier than my first thoughts.

Adriatic, on a 3-volt board unit, plugging in a charger does not disconnect the board.  If you look at the reverse of the charging port, you'll see both red wires (to board and to battery) are soldered to the same post & both black wires are soldered to the same post.

 

Pine Creek:  If as you say a BCR is discharged in a day, the test is easy.  CAREFULLY apply a voltmeter to the pins in the charge port.  A battery will read 2.3-2.7.  A BCR or supercap will be much less.  THen put a piece of tape over the charge port on BCR- or supercap-equipped locos so you can't forget.  I said CAREFULLY because if you accidentally (or intentionally) short the pins, you can damage a battery real fast.

Just a thought:  BCR's are essentially battery replacements.  There are two ways to charge the battery internally and externally.  BCR's are designed to work with the engine internal charging system.  Likewise, BCR's should also be designed to handle connection to external engine charging without damage since this is a likely a common occurrence.   For any given engine the operator does not know if it contains a battery or a BCR.  The ultimate answer to the question at hand must come from the BCR manufacturer since it's a BCR design consideration. 

Steve, I think we're pretty much established it won't hurt the BCR, so that part is covered.

 

None of the MTH charging ports disconnect anything, they just charge in parallel.

Yes, the 5V disconnects the lead to the board while retaining contact to the battery.  That would be for the PS-2 5V engines that use the 8.4V (9 Volt look alike) battery.

 

If these are PS-2 3V engines, I would not worry about it.  If 5V engines it would be best to confirm which have batteries and which have BCR before powering engines if you believe the batteries are drained.   G

The 5V harness I have from putting a 3V board in just has the charging jack, battery connector, and board connector in parallel.  You have to have three wires to the charging jack for it to disconnect the board, only two are wired to the charging jack.

 

 

I guess they have different versions.  Here is the 3 wire version.  This was the PS-2 upgrade charge kit harness, and I have seen others like it.  G

Interesting, the only one I had in my box was a two piece one.  The charging jack has one of the little Molex plugs on it and it plugs into the harness that goes from the battery to the board.