Legacy 990 no silver dot

I think you probably need a charging upgrade on the base. I think mine has a dot on both the cab and the base. The v1 was automatically recalled for the updates. It's not clear if the charging upgrade came along during the silver dot period or if it came along later, when the issue whatever it is, was uncovered.

If it's charging properly, I'd just use it.  Since you can upgrade, clearly the firmware upgrade was applied.

They didn't put the silver dot on the ones that were went in for the service, only the ones that were fixed at the factory before going on the market.

As John said if its taking the updates, its patched and working fine

What was the "charging upgrade"? was there an issue with the base units not charging properly. It seems like all of 6 of mine will never stop charging the battery

Yes; on some units the charger indicator lights would flash red in unison when the remote was placed on the base for charging, indicating a failure. Lionel offered a no-charge repair, but it required the unit to be shipped back to the factory.

-John

The typical indicator of the error was both red lights flashing at the same time continuously

Well all of mine have done that and once I put new batteries in the remotes the issue went away. Either those Lionel batteries are junk or the charger charges them to the point where they get ruined or both. I just dont store mine on the charger base anymore

Thanks for the info, have a base that does that.

Send it to Lionel, they should put the new charging circuit into it.

 Maybe the charging upgrade is more tolerant of junk batteries...wild guess. 

I don't know but I can tell you that of all 6 chargers 3 990's and 3 993's all of them never turn the charger off. If i pick up the remote after it has been on the base for a week the battery cover is smoking hot so I only charge them every once in a while

I sent both my Units (990 & 993) on the 3rd of this Month, will receive them both back TODAY, the 14th. NOT BAD, a 11 day turn around for the Battery Circuit Upgrade. Wish I had done it sooner, but didn't want to give them up. GOOD JOB LIONEL!!!

KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!!!

FREDSTRAINS

Odd the 990's have always been hot, but 993's are known to charge a lot cooler and been better chargers.

The bases from at least the last 2 runs already should have new charger in them, but as some have said, the chargers work best in the "Off" position

I use my #993 charger for my remotes, and they are always cool when I take them out, even if I leave them there for several days "charging".  If they're overcharging, either the charger is not working correctly, or the batteries are defective or the wrong type.  The #990 does get the remote pretty warm if I use it's charger, so it's turned off and the contacts taped.  FWIW, even if I just set the remote in the #990 without charging while it's on, it gets fairly warm, so it's clearly the heat from the electronics in the #990 that's part of the problem.

Mine turn off, but I usually don't use the 990 for charging. I did just charge a battery set of a friend in the 990 that just came back from Lionel and it ended up flashing the two red leds. I am guessing that it has as much to do with the state of the batteries as it has to do with the charging circuit. Which, tends to strengthen my guess that the improved charging circuit was done to be able to charge more variations of batteries.

Got a Chance to TEST out both Units Today! They both work like CHAMPS.  KUDO'S to Lionel; AGAIN!!

FREDSTRAINS

I want to thank everyone for their replies. I did send the unit back to Lionel for repair. It took about a week and they fixed the charging circuit. For the speed of the fix I want to thank the Lionel Repair service.

Guns,

    I just got a new 990 legacy unit, will my new unit have this heat problem also or have they eliminated the problem in the new 990.

PCRR/Dave

Not really a problem, mostly an annoyance and probably less harmful to the batteries than the luck of the draw on the quality of the manufacture of the batteries.

The CAB2 just gets warmer than I'd like charging in the #990 command base.  I suspect it's the same, no reason to think there was any change in that characteristic.

I charge in the #993 base for that reason.

I go along with GUNRUNNERJOHN for the same reason. I use the 993 to charge the Batteries, that way you don't have to keep the Electronics "ALIVE" or on in the 990 while you charge!!