When leaving an (MTH) engine on the tracks to recharge the internal battery, does the loco need to be powered up (running) or can you just leave it (off) with the track power throttled up?
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The locomotive does not need to be moving, and you can shut the sound volume off if you care to, but track power must be applied.
Actually, the better solution for charging is to buy the MTH charger unit. It doesn't cost much and you just plug it into a wall outlet and then plug the correct connecting cord (there are two of them for the two different battery systems used) into the charging receptacle on the engine. You can do this charging anywhere you care to, on the layout or off.
MTH battery charger 50-1019 will charge both types of PS2 batteries. At the same time, if you wish.
also if you go the track charging options, turn off the smoke unit (if equiped)...since it need a few hours to be charged, the smoke unit will be burn out.
Many older MTH locomotives do not have a charger port. MTH does sell a kit to install one. You have to drill some holes, apart from that it's usually no big deal to install. There are two different kits, one for Proto-1 and early Proto-2 with the 9-volt battery, and another one for the later locomotives with 3-volt Proto-2 systems. You can also use the MTH Proto-1 kit to put a charger port in old engines using QSI OEM systems. I'm going to put one in my 3rd Rail Cab Forward when I get around to it.
