DCS remote charging jack installed with photos

That is a great idea. I think I'll borrow it if you don't mind. Futaba makes a wall plug-in charger for their 14MHz Receiver battery pack P/N  L5JUW402 available at Tower for about 30.00. It only charges at the C/10 overnight rate but if its simple you want...

I think I'll use the AAA NiCd cells from Sanyo. Thanks for the idea.

Bob

charge rates confuse me..[is c/10 1/10th of my total amp hour capacity/] my battery pack would be 800 x 4 = 3200 ma or 3.2 ah. would a wall wart 6 volt regulated 50ma be safe to leave connected overnight?

C/10 for your 800 mA-Hr 1.2V battery is 80 mA.  4 stacked gives you 4.8V but still 800mA-Hr so C/10 remains 80 mA.  As instructions tell you for battery gadgets, best if cells behave the same so don't mix/match new/old, NiCd/NiMH, etc.

Gentlemen,

   If this up Grade works correctly, here is one engineering idea MTH should invest in.

Nice going Willy, you might want to present this to MTH, simply a great little engineering idea for the MTH hand held remote control.   If MTH turns down the idea, you might want to open your own small up grade business, I will purchase a new DCS hand held remote control, and pay you to up grade it right now.  Seems like MTH is a long way out on introducing a new rechargable hand held remote.

PCRR/Dave

thank you...this has been in operation now for over 60 days..2 to 5 hrs per day and most of the time w/back light on. works well.

How did that rechargeable idea work for Legacy Base?  The other alternative is to keep a spare set of AAA in the normal charger you use for your other batteries.  Just swap them in.  Don't get me wrong, it is cool idea for the tinkerer.  But if you use rechargeable for other household items, than you already have a generic charger for all sizes of batteries, and swapping them in when ever you need to is not a big deal.  You don't even have to remove a screw, with no down time for the remote.  G

Willygee,

    Sent you some private e-mail, please check it.

PCRR/Dave

I'm with GGG simply because you can't let someone else voice an opinion without flaming him with your caps. Get over it.

Sorry you have a different opinion skyhook.  I was not negative to Willy.  But keeping batteries on a charger when they don't need to be charged especially without a regulator is not good for the batteries, nor efficient.  Feel how hot they are after you leave them overnight.

I treat the remote like my cordless drill.  I have spare batteries and I run them until they are discharged.  Slap a new one in, and charge the discharged one.  My point was to Dave's comment about why manufactures don't do this.  Sometimes the benefit really isn't worth the cost.  But to each his own.  Like I said neat for the tinkerer. 

Frankly, I don't know why being an ASC has anything to do with my opinion on this. G

Because your acronym was easy to modify.

Good point, just noticed that.  WOW.  Some one woke up on the wrong side of the bed.

Guess he's on the black list now.  LOL!  G

SkyHookDepot,

    Bob please keep us informed as to the charging unit you choose that works,

I will be very interested in what you come up with.  I would definitely like to have

my hand held remote upgraded in this manner. 

PCRR/Dave

from amazon...AC/DC Peak Charger NiCd/NiMH

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B002GOWY8E

Good stuff!

I always thought the backlight was a power hog.

100 ma; yikes!

Thanks,

Rod

Willygee,

  Bill the new solutions battery charger that I talked to you about has many different charging ports, to recharge all kinds of different equipment, I do believe it will do the job required simply by plugging the new solutions charger directly into your upgraded DCS hand held remote. However I need to know exactly which charging port to use, for charging these particular batteries. Also the solutions unit will automatically shut down once it senses the batteries in the DCS hand held are fully charged. This new solutions charging unit recharges itself, simply by plugging the solutions charging unit into a 120 outlet, the solutions unit can be left plugged into the 120 outlet while in use, if desired. 

PCRR/Dave

Since the batteries in the remote are always connected to the remote electronics, I'd want any charging jack to disconnect them for the charging process.  No way I'd want the charger supplying the remote electronics unless it was specifically designed for the task.

gunrunner,

   John I agree, I want to set a charging station up that trickle charges over night.

I also want of be able to use the solutions charger to quickly charge the batteries when needed.

PCRR/Dave

The wiring in the pictures doesn't look that way.  Looks like a parallel set up.  G

If the remote is powered off, isn't the electronics disconnected??

Photo 2 shows 2 additional terminals that could be wired in if you wanted to disconnect the electronics as you connected the charger. I wired in parallel....but i can still use the remote while charging...

Since it's a "soft" button press to power it up, that would be a no.  It's the same with the Legacy CAB2, the electronics is always "in circuit" to some degree.

gunrunnerjohn,

   This is why I want to be able to use the soultions charger as part of my DCS hand held charging station, it automatically senses when the Batteries are charged and shuts off.  Also Bills set up works in a more complex manner, with the way he has things engineered on his original, he uses his charging station for many different things, as I want to due with the solutions charger.  I am going to contact solutions and see which charging port to use to charge these particular batteries Bill has engineered into the DCS upgrade.

This set up Bill engineered for the DCS hand held is definitely way cool.

PCRR/Dave

We'll look in your direction for the blue smoke.

gunrunnerjohn,

   Looks like there will be no blue smoke, the solutions charger has a USB 5V Port for charging this kind of recharable battery set up, and the solutions charger has advanced engineering to shut down as the batteries being charged become fully charged, this is looking better and better.  Now I will need to purchase and additional individual DCS hand held remote, who has them at a decent price right now.

PCRR/Dave

A little too soon to make such a positive statement.

gunrunnerjohn,

    Always think positive as you engineer, test and verify.

PCRR/Dave

Bill,

   Have acquired a new DCS hand held remote Control, will forward the New DCS hand held Remote Control to you along with the Solutions recharging unit so you can upgrade the DCS using whatever wiring & batteries you deem necessary to make this new DCS remote control rechargable on a permanent basis.  Drop me some private e-mail with your address and how much it will cost me for you to do the job.

Thanks a bunch

PCRR/Dave