Battery replacement

In Lionel engines the battery is used to power the railsounds during short power drops during conventional operation- otherwise, under command control (TMCC/Legacy) the battery is generally not needed because there is constant track power.

That said, you you cannot "just use a BCR", because there is no charging circuit to take a BCR from empty at 0V out of the package to storing the rated 9V.  J&W Electronics makes and sells just such an add on charging circuit made for their BCR https://www.jandwelectronics.com/pricing

That said, @gunrunnerjohn developed his own specialized super capacitor and built in charging circuit as a single unit called the YLB- Your Last Battery Replacement https://hennings-trains.shopli...unds-batt-repla.html

And to be fair and list all competitors, Dallee also made one for Lionel 9V battery replacements.

https://www.dallee.com/9-Volt-...-systems-9vBRLT--598

Again, just need to reiterate this important lesson:

Lionel engines/tenders do not "need" a battery. You can install one or a capacitor to power the railsounds during power drops. Lionel does not provide charging of the battery (or capacitor). If installing a super capacitor replacement, one with a specialized track charging circuit is required for the capacitor to actually work.

MTH engines (specifically PS1 and PS2) "need" a working battery or super capacitor system to work properly. They have a built in charging system and specifically must use a proper rechargeable battery or super capacitor replacement. If using a regular 9V non rechargeable battery for anything beyond even a short test is not recommended because again, there is a charging circuit which could damage the battery or the circuit or both.

One of the competitors, who shall remain nameless, has a charging circuit that will kill a modern RailSounds-Lite board, it was apparently developed and tested with the old RailSounds 4/5 boards.  There are additional considerations to powering a battery from track power and replacing the RS-Lite battery.

Thank you so much.  Since it’s TMCC I’ll just leave the battery out. When I bought this back around 2004 I was using straight conventional. That would explain why a battery was installed.

@obxtrainman posted:

Thank you so much.  Since it’s TMCC I’ll just leave the battery out. When I bought this back around 2004 I was using straight conventional. That would explain why a battery was installed.

As a note, also protect the unused 9V battery connector from shorting against any metal. From the factory some had little plastic protectors that clipped into where the battery would be, or some are wrapped in a small plastic bag.

I have see an engine with Railsounds come into the shop and they tried to test it on the track with just such a loose and unprotected connector and it shorted to the Railsounds board blowing it sky high right in front of the customer.

For all the old TMCC engines that require a non-chargeable battery, I replaced them all with GRJ-designed BCR from Henning's Trains. In addition to the normal I-Type clips, it has a pigtail that is connected to the roller pickups.  A different style BCR, without the pigtail, is used for the older MTH engines.

@Vernon Barry posted:

As a note, also protect the unused 9V battery connector from shorting against any metal. From the factory some had little plastic protectors that clipped into where the battery would be, or some are wrapped in a small plastic bag.

I have see an engine with Railsounds come into the shop and they tried to test it on the track with just such a loose and unprotected connector and it shorted to the Railsounds board blowing it sky high right in front of the customer.

Absolutely. I was already looking at that. I might be able to find something on the net. If not I’ll wrap it with electrical tape. 👍