cab 2 not still not charging

I got both the #990 and #993 fixed.  It did take a couple of trips for the #990, but it's working now.  I actually don't use the #990 to charge anyway, it gets the remote batteries way too warm for my liking, so I've disabled that charger.  The good news is the #993 charger doesn't do that, so I just charge both CAB2's in the #993.

I'll second the temperture issue. Its "too much of a good thing", the normal heat created by the charging of the batteries, coupled with the normal heat created by the base itself results in excessive heat altogether.

Save your self the annoyance and turn off the charger and recharge the batteries in another external battery charger.

I never even tried mine, just put the batteries in the charger with my other rechargable  aa's. I'd put a little piece of electrical tape over the charging contacts for good measure also.

Legacy makes a great train control, but a not so great battery charger.

I sent mine back and it seems to be charging well now.  If it stops then I will turn off the charging circuit and utilize an external charger.  The issue with that is usually you have to charge batteries in pairs and the CAB 2 has 3 batteries.  This leaves 1 battery not used but fully charged.  

stupid question.

as cheep as batteries are now a days, what is all the fuss about rechargeable ones?

I have an 8 cell charger that does the trick, does either AA or AAA.  I can't seem to find it right now, I think my grandson carried it off again!  That is the way to charge the batteries.

the fuss is the fact that we all paid a lot of money for something that does not work.

thanks for the replies.

romiller

Does it do everything but charge?  

Yep it sucks that it doesn't charge, and I think Lionel laid an egg with the charger but it does its primary function well and that's run trains. 

You paid a lot of money for a train controller. That just happens to not charge batteries well at all.  

Send it back and get them to fix it to your satisfaction. 

I'll bet the batteries are bad. When they sit a long time sometimes they go into a high resistance mode and the charger will error out and the batteries won't charge. This can be a problem with rechargeable batteries of all brands. One of my remotes did this after a long time with no use. I put the batteries in my own charger and had the same error. I now take the batteries out of the remote and use them in all my devices to keep them active. This seems to work better. Try some new ones in the remote or try to charge them in another charger. If you can't charge them ask for replacements.

Ron 

I have the same problem. Think of sending it back, but I just got a new engine and don't want to have any downtime now.

When I sent mine in it was only at Lionel for a day.  It was a very fast turn around time.  

Personally I'd be happy if the nixed the charger, cut the price by $25, and move on.  They'd save a ton of money on shipping these things back and forth to Ohio.

The recharging cycle of NiMH batteries is a lot

more complex that just applying a voltage and

letting current flow into the batteries. Current

goes into the battery until the battery is fully charged

then the current drops off and the battery charger

should be turned off at that time. The Lionel charger does

not do that. The Lionel charger was designed by an outside

company for another purpose and not for NiMH batteries. That

charger will never work correctly.

The batteries Lionel sends with the Legacy, GP, are not very good.

Get rid of the GP batteries, turn off the charger and use Energizer

batteries and charger. That charger is not cheap,about $35 with batteries,

but it will charge only 3 batteries and then it turns off.

Turn off the charger off and use alkaline batteries. You can always buy them on sale somewhere and they last quite awhile in the remote Depending on how much you run your trains. 

I'm not sure why you'd resort to throw-away batteries when you can use the rechargables and just charge them externally.  Don't you like our little planet?   It's also cheaper in the long run.

 Well in all fairness, with the amount I run my trains currently, batteries in my TMCC remote could last a year, with  Legacy its a few weeks tops.

Had mine repaired last month with a one day turnaround also.

So far so good, I haven't had any problems recharging the batteries.

I'll still bet the batteries are bad and the charger is fine. The original poster sent it back for repair and it came back fully charged so Lionel probably fixed it. I've used all the good brands of batteries and all of them has had one or so that's gone bad. If ONE goes bad the charger will error out. If you charge them in a good after market charger it will error one also. Replace it with another good battery of the same size and manufacturer and the charger will work again. I've had to do this several times over the years with nickel metal hydride batteries.

Ron

Why not? Rechargeable's are expensive and they don't last that long. I have a separate charger but stopped using it. It may be cheaper in the long run but the hassle is not worth the difference. Go online and you can buy alkaline batteries in 60 packs and even larger packs for about half the price of store bought. I'll never run out.