MTH PS 1 with BCR Question

Yes, It can scramble a PS-1 chip like a low battery. Wait at least 30 or more seconds before running to charge the BCR.

Very few PS1 engines were prone to the scramble problem

I had one on the list and deliberately tried to scramble it with a BCR,I could not do it. Not saying it is impossible though. The reason is that the BCR discharges differently than the battery and does not develop memory effect.

Dale H

Dale H,

   I tried to explain this to somebody one time, you do a lot better with the explaination than I was able too.  My P1 engines are all gone from my layout now,

but I was like you and replaced the battery with the BCR and after that there was no problem at all, could not even make it happen.

PCRR/Dave

my lhs charges me 42.00 to install a bcr battery.

WOW, your LHS really nailed you. It takes less than 5 minutes to install a BCR, that is pretty good wages for your LHS.

You can also roll your own BCR clone for around $11 for 9V model and about $5 for the 3V model.

May have included the cost of the BCR?

I have had to reset engine that scrambled due to operation before  the BCR charged.

This is not a memory effect issue, which is not the cause anyway.

If you have an engine with a BCR that has set for several weeks and is discharged, when you power up the BCR starts to charge.  If you hit the direction button while the BCR is only at the 4-6V range in charge it would be just the same as a Battery that has discharged to that state.  The conditions are set for a scramble as the data is transferred.

As long as you develop muscle memory and remember not to try to run the engine for the 45sec recommend you should be fine.

As Charlie stated, this issue was confined to small group of early model engines.  I have not really had any problems with the 1997 and up engines as QSI and MTH modified the boards.  When there is issues with later engines, it usually has been a bad ROM chip or hardware fault.  G

10 volts for 1 minute and a BCR is good to go.

To check, turn off track voltage after 1 minute. If sounds continue after the headlight goes out, the BCR is fully charged.

If sound stops when the headlight goes out, wait about 30 seconds. Then turn on 10 volts again.

Waiting for 30 seconds allows the PS-1 system to come on in RESET and not in FORWARD or REVERSE.

Really

LHS might have overcharged

But,

ThePS1 -  GP9 had the battery completely encircled in the wiring. think you could change that out in 5 minutes?

Well, if they had charged based on the difficulty of the installation, that would be one thing.  But to charge for the difficult installation for every installation is probably a bit greedy.

I recently put a BCR into my PS 2.0 Rail King Allegheny no. 1600, an early PS 2.0 model that requires BCR rather than BCR 2.  It works very well with nice clear sound volume but after about 20-30 minutes of operation the sounds begin to become garbled.  I shut the engine off momentarily and then restart and the sounds are fine until the operating session gets lengthy again.

Are you sure it's the BCR?  That doesn't sound like a symptom I'd expect.  Try a temporary test with a 9V alkaline battery and see if it does the same thing.

Am I the only one that has been having problems with the BCR?

The electronics engineer over here says they cause problems with the recharging boards.

I have had 4 die on me so far & have been advised to remove them all & replace with batteries again.

James 

To address the issue raised by Portland Rose....

I have about 13 engines with BCRs, and highly recommend them. A couple of these engines when operated at 7 - 8 volts behave as Portland Rose describes - great sound for a while, and then a degradation. I attribute - I am not an electronics guy  - this to the inability of the charging circuit to keep the BCR charged at such a low track voltage. If I place the engine in neutral and provide 10 - 12 volts for a minute or so, everything is good to go. A complete shutdown is not necessary.

Mine gets garbled while the Allegheny is pulling 44 cars so the throttle is well past the halfway point when it can happen.  But the ordinary course is for the sound to be real nice until after 20-30 minutes of operation when it becomes distorted.

Rail King Allegheny with BCR 

Did you try a battery?

John,

Will try a battery.  If it does not do the same thing with a battery then we may say it is probably the BCR.  But, let's assume it does the same thing - what do you think, in that event, would cause sound distortion after 25-30 minutes of continuous operation that can be cured simply by throttling down the locomotive and restarting it?  The locomotive has been operated in conventional mode but tonight I will try it with DCS.

Don't really have a clue, I start by narrowing down the possibilities.  Since the BCR is suspect, first step is to eliminate it. 

It could be components overheating or the like, hard to say.

guys-the 41.00 my lhs charged me includes the battery-myb lhs has a repair guy who comes in once in a while on sat.only-the guy that owns the store does not do repairs or maintenance on trains.i being held by the short hairs-i do not try to do it myself.

I have a MTH F3 chessie engine with PS1. When i bought this in 2005.I had to get a chip replaced and got a bcr put in cost me 58.00. I have run this engine alot not a mins problem with sounds or nothing.     

The Allegheny, no. 1600, would not operate in DCS.  It was not in the system and when I attempted to add it, I got "ENGINE ERROR" message on the remote. Tried changing out the BCR with a new 9 volt.  No luck.  Eventually, it just quit running.  No sounds.  The wheels want to try to turn.  I have two loops of track.  The outer loop is Legacy, the inner loop DCS.  It ran really slow on the inner loop, not as fast as it did on the outer loop yesterday when I was running it.  I put a proto sound Allegheny, no. 1604, on the inner loop (also with BCR) and it took right off and sounded great.  I am thinking there may be some other problem that needs repair.

I'm thinking you're right about the other repair.  I couldn't see this being the BCR, at least if the BCR isn't defective.

Based on what the engine is doing, age and number of cars being pulled.  May be the motor/s going bad.  An ASC tech can test the board out of the engine.

Can you try a conventional Feature reset and see if sounds come back.  G 

Hi Portland Rose,

      I have BCR'S in all of my MTH engines and have never had any trouble at all. And I have a lot of them. Possible also that the connection on the BCR may have worked it's way lose. I have put a lot of these BCR's in Engines for me and other people too and you would be surprised what can happen and what could happen. Check your connections on the outside, (the plug), and the wiring on the inside. sometimes the wiring can get pinched and rub the wrong way at different times. Hope this helps. Jimmyjim.

But what would cause DCS to display ENGINE ERROR when I try to add a PS 2 Allegheny to the system??

Try a "reset engine", and failing that, perhaps the "recover engine" might help.

Thanks for the advice, John.  Since I have a snow day tomorrow, I will try to give that a shot.