DCS Remote Dead

I was searching for an old post with this issue and can't find it. I believe the fix was to connect the remote to the TIU and a computer. That one had a software crash if I remember correctly.

Battery not touching the remotes' connections was an old problem. Easy to test for with a voltmeter and some probes.

You are stating that there's a blank screen, right? Not a screen and no action from there?

What was the exact thing that happened right before you changed the batteries?

Just trying to be helpful here. I'm pretty sure you know all this.

The failures of the WIFIs shouldn't be compared to this issue. They had a poorly mounted connection port. Mine was fine.

I have several remotes, and none failed like this. One is of the first ones made.

I don't believe it's a common failure. A loose transceiver board inside or a broken thumbwheel would be more common.

Software bugs I've had plenty of!

I've had remotes not power up before but that was because of loose batteries. A couple of extra layers of foam tape applied inside the battery cover solved those problems.

Remote was dead, not powering up.

Third set of batteries I saw faint rendering of the startup screen but no power up.

Not sure what is going on, but 4th set of fresh batteries seemed to have done the trick.  I have had problems the last few years with relatively new batteries (energizer and Duracell, not off brands) leaking or failing prematurely.  But it is working now, just as I was getting ready to take it apart.  Very weird.  Batteries work in other applications.    These batteries are not at all old, but I suspect (WAG) that there has been a change in the composition of alkaline batteries that makes them faster to discharge (although this package was less than 6 months old) and more likely to leak.  (Unrelatedly I have had to learn to take batteries out of other non train remotes because I have been seeing new batteries leak with much greater frequency.  They ruined a fireplace remote recently.)  The DCS remote is likely sensitive to voltage being off the mark and likely simply doesn’t power up.  Only thing that makes sense to me although I don’t repair or understand electronics at a granular enough level to know for certain.

More likely than not- the batteries probably are not making contact to the terminal in the battery bay. The positive end has the protruding nub or post that has to fit between the molded ribs the battery tray to reach the positive contact. Those ribs and that feature prevent the mistake of putting batteries in reverse polarity.

Over time- batteries being mass produced have let tolerances slide and so overall battery length and KEY details about the + post end have been getting sloppy and thus batteries do not fit and make contact in many devices with battery trays.

Menards remotes had a similar problem with many brands of batteries

Respectfully, that was not it. The batteries fit tightly against the contacts and the polarity was correct.  This is far from my first time at the rodeo with batteries and battery boxes.  The cover was also installed because I noticed the foam rubber block designed to keep the batteries firmly seated, so it wasn't that either.  It is either bad batteries or there is a random break in the connection to the battery box that "fixed" itself when I reinstalled batteries.

@Ray Lombardo posted:

Respectfully, that was not it. The batteries fit tightly against the contacts and the polarity was correct.  This is far from my first time at the rodeo with batteries and battery boxes.  The cover was also installed because I noticed the foam rubber block designed to keep the batteries firmly seated, so it wasn't that either.  It is either bad batteries or there is a random break in the connection to the battery box that "fixed" itself when I reinstalled batteries.

Ray , I quit using Duracell Alkalines a long time ago after seeing issues with leakage.

I now use Energizer RECHARGEABLES .       Even though voltage on full charge is a little lower than the alkalines they still work very well.    I keep four on charge while I have the other four in use in the remote.

Hope you now have continued luck with your remote.

@Dallas Joseph posted:

Ray , I quit using Duracell Alkalines a long time ago after seeing issues with leakage.

I now use Energizer RECHARGEABLES .       Even though voltage on full charge is a little lower than the alkalines they still work very well.    I keep four on charge while I have the other four in use in the remote.

Hope you now have continued luck with your remote.

I gave up on all alkaline batteries when it comes to expensive (and sometimes irreplaceable) equipment and remotes. I've seen every brand leak at some point or another but Duracells are the worst.  Very rarely do NiMH rechargeable batteries leak but for the best results, I use energizer lithium batteries. They don't leak when they die and a very long shelf life so you can leave them in remotes and not worry. They are however expensive and not rechargeable.

@H1000 posted:

I gave up on all alkaline batteries when it comes to expensive (and sometimes irreplaceable) equipment and remotes. I've seen every brand leak at some point or another but Duracells are the worst.  Very rarely do NiMH rechargeable batteries leak but for the best results, I use energizer lithium batteries. They don't leak when they die and a very long shelf life so you can leave them in remotes and not worry. They are however expensive and not rechargeable.

My experience with Lithium batteries is they discharge quite rapidly in some applications.  My sense is that the higher voltage causes leakage if it's a soft switch and not a hard contact switch.  I know that I put the Energizer Lithium batteries in my Verizon remotes and they didn't last nearly as long as the Energizer Alkaline batteries.  They also discharged pretty quickly in my Lionel CAB1L.  I didn't buy any AAA size, so I never tried them in the DCS remotes, I had no reason to believe the results would be different.

The Lithium batteries are great for stuff like flashlights, long shelf life, and no issues with possible switch leakage causing premature discharge.

@Dallas Joseph posted:

Ray , I quit using Duracell Alkalines a long time ago after seeing issues with leakage.

I now use Energizer RECHARGEABLES .       Even though voltage on full charge is a little lower than the alkalines they still work very well.    I keep four on charge while I have the other four in use in the remote.

Hope you now have continued luck with your remote.

I will pick some up.  Thank you or the recommendation.