BCR / BCR-2 Question

The manual usually describes what battery in in the engine, and the round charging port is indicative of the 5V system.

Rough guide is 2003 and prior is a 9V style battery (BCR), 2004 and up is the twin AA or AAA style (BCR 2). There is some overlap. Best bet is to check the locomotive's instructions on MTH's website and look under battery. 

This is the charge port on a 3V engine. Someone mentioned the 5V is round. If MTH was consistent, maybe this helps 

Thanks, guys.  Great information.

I got this straight fromKristen at MTH when I acquired about the transition point from 5 volt PS2 to 3 volt PS2.

"Thank you for contacting MTH Electric Trains. We appreciate your interest in our products. I am afraid I cannot give you an exact date or catalog where we switched from the 5-volt ProtoSound 2.0 to the 3-volt system. For the Premier engines (steam and diesel) in was primarily in the 2004 volume 1 catalog; the majority of the engines offered in that catalog or after have the 3-volt system. For the RailKing engines the switch over was about one catalog later - the 2004 volume 2 catalog. If you have engines that were released around this time we can check on a specific models.

Please let me know if you have any questions."

Rectangular charge port, 3V board, round charge port, 5V board.  Also, some early 5V stuff came with no charging port.

And a few 3V from 2004 also had no charging port. My K-4 is one of them. It came with 2 rechargeable AA batteries.

If 2000- 2003 production 5 volt use BCR. If 2005 to end of PS-2 3 volt most likely 3 volt use BCR2.  If 2004 production and no battery charging port you really need to look inside. Hope it helps.

Forest

Forest posted:

And a few 3V from 2004 also had no charging port. My K-4 is one of them. It came with 2 rechargeable AA batteries.

It should have a charging port under the water hatch at the back of the tender along with the sound volume adjustment. 

I agree Joe, sometimes they hide the controls and port, like the F3's with them behind the back door.

No need to frown. I will have to look again. I just had the shell off to put new batteries in it but didn't notice the charging port. Since you mentioned it I will have a look again Thursday night when I'm down at the club. Or if it gets the better part of me go down tomorrow and look.

On a related front... is there any way to tell (without opening up the loco) if it has a BCR installed?  I installed quite a few a little over a year ago.  I thought I took good notes on which ones I installed... sadly, I "thought."  Now I'd like to order the rest that I need but I really don't want to open engines if I can avoid it... I'm fearful EVERY time of wrecking the electronics by squishing a wire or putting a screw through a wire or taking off a screw I don't need to... ETC ETC ETC! 

Put it on the tracks in conventional mode after being powered off for at least an hour.  Crank up power to around 10-12 volts.  If the audio immediately comes on full volume, it probably doesn't have a BCR.  If the volume is low for a number of seconds and then pops up to full volume, it most likely does have a BCR.  You see the same behavior with PS/3 charging it's supercaps.

Thanks, @gunrunnerjohn - I'll give that a try!

@Brad Trout posted:

On a related front... is there any way to tell (without opening up the loco) if it has a BCR installed?  I installed quite a few a little over a year ago.  I thought I took good notes on which ones I installed... sadly, I "thought."  Now I'd like to order the rest that I need but I really don't want to open engines if I can avoid it... I'm fearful EVERY time of wrecking the electronics by squishing a wire or putting a screw through a wire or taking off a screw I don't need to... ETC ETC ETC! 

Depending on how you installed the BCR (if you are like me), I left the charging port on the bottom of the Tender/engine.  You can test the voltage output to to see if a BCR is present or not.  I use a small tether adapter run from the charging port, hooked to my meter with insulated alligator clips and test will the engine is powered up on a test track. For the older 5v boards with round plugs, the BCR volts will get pretty close 10 and the 3v board with the square plug will get to around 4.5.  The batteries will stay right at 8.4 and 2.4 respectively.

I have changed all of my MTH PS1 and PS2 Engines to BCR 1 and 2.  Most of the drawings on MTH's web site show you what type of battery each engine has, if they do.  Locosound has no battery.  I found it best to pull the shell off regardless and then make a little sticker for the bottom of the engine when you replace them.  See photo.  Then you will never have to check again.  I got this idea from my LHS and it has served me well because it reminds me how to recharge when you power up and you don't have to worry about a dead battery damaging the electronics.

Seems like an industrious individual could make a few 💰making stickers that could be put on engines noting the BCR upgrade and date.
Or, a person could use a label maker.

@1drummer posted:

Seems like an industrious individual could make a few 💰making stickers that could be put on engines noting the BCR upgrade and date.
Or, a person could use a label maker.

I used to do this when helping out at the LHS.  When I would change out the battery to a BCR, I always put a label on it indicating it was a BCR and date of replacement.  I used to do the same with upgrades to DCS, LC remotes, and Legacy systems.

So then my MTH Railking R-17 Redbird Subway Set 30-2392-1 which was listed in catalog BG 2003 Vol 2 should be 5 volt?

That would require the original BCR?

I never got around to buying a BCR yet.

Thanks for the info.

Yet another thread regarding PS2 and BCR stuff that I was unaware of.  So many details to keep track of...

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

Rectangular charge port, 3V board, round charge port, 5V board.  Also, some early 5V stuff came with no charging port.

I'm glad you said some early stuff came without a charging port.

I know I have an early (2001) PS-2 5v, but can not locate the charging port. The manual doesn't say anything about a charging port either.

Just received my BCR, and I'm awaiting the replacement speaker. It had the Star 5v speaker with the de-laminating magnet, so I'm hoping my sound board isn't toast.

I worked for a major phone company in a central office.  Each outlet port, Distribution Bus and 110volt power outlet had a small strip label as to where it goes.  I follow this when I install BCR or BCR-2's.  I place a small label on the bottom of the locomotive stating "BCR installed".  That way there is identification of a BCR inside that engine.

As a second idea - every passenger car I install LED lighting in has a small label "LED".

Bruce

I just write "BCR" with a magic marker (black or silver) on the bottom of my engines. No need for a label with a lengthy explanation; I know what a BCR is.

I also write an "S" on the loco and on the box, when I wire the motors in series.