Converted to dcc approx. one year ago. Digitrax super chief Xtra. Got some Powerex batteries with correct charger. In that time 2 batteries have failed to be able to be charged. The charger blinks within 5 seconds, indicating battery has a charge. But when put in the 402d throttle it shows no charge. I even tried to drain it with a 7 volt bulb, but still shows it has a charge. So is this 2 bad batteries in a row or a faulty charger. Both batteries had less than 10 charging cycles on them before they failed.
Our club has a 10 position and a 4 position charger - with 14 batteries. We have had 4 battery failures in the past year and a 1/2. Two or Three of them were due to leaving the battery in the throttle and going home(then on vacation for 3 weeks). Charging them results in the same failure you are seeing. One I cannot explain. I have a 4 position charger at home with 4 batteries. In the past year, I have had no failures(but I put the batteries back in the charger all the time).
The advantage of the 9.6v batteries is that we do not lose radio communications after 2 hours or so like with other batteries. I feel that replacing these batteries once in a while is pretty normal. The recharge Ni-Cad batteries fail about as often, and only have an 8.4v charge. How long have you had these batteries?
BTW, we have installed a wireless router and now have iPhone/Android throttle support - No communication problems with the smart phones. I have one club member I will be assisting getting the Android 'Engine Driver' app loaded on his cell phone in the next week.
Jim
Modeling BNSF and Milwaukee Road in SW Wisconsin
I have eight Powerex 9V batteries and the four bay charger. I recently had two batteries fail and both were almost five years old. One died a slow death where I could coax it into taking a charge by making sure it was completely drained then it would charge OK. Otherwise the charger LED would blink continuously. This went on for about six months and then that battery died. (I write the In Service date on each battery) The other battery pretty much died suddenly.
Being the curious sort, I had to open the case to see what's inside and this revealed that, indeed, one of the cells had leaked and corroded the enclosure. Mind you, these were almost five years old.
For yours to go bad after only 10 cycles would seem to point to a defective battery. I would assume the charger is OK.
I bought the Tenergy brand just to try them out and the terminals popped off both batteries—one during the FIRST charge—and the other a week later!
Hope you have better luck. Can you get a refund? Ed
I have had the 4 place charger and 4 PowerEX batteries for several years. I have only had to replace one battery.
Dave
Lackawanna Route of the Phoebe Snow
jrbernier Our club has a 10 position and a 4 position charger - with 14 batteries. We have had 4 battery failures in the past year and a 1/2. Two or Three of them were due to leaving the battery in the throttle and going home(then on vacation for 3 weeks). Charging them results in the same failure you are seeing. One I cannot explain. I have a 4 position charger at home with 4 batteries. In the past year, I have had no failures(but I put the batteries back in the charger all the time). The advantage of the 9.6v batteries is that we do not lose radio communications after 2 hours or so like with other batteries. I feel that replacing these batteries once in a while is pretty normal. The recharge Ni-Cad batteries fail about as often, and only have an 8.4v charge. How long have you had these batteries? BTW, we have installed a wireless router and now have iPhone/Android throttle support - No communication problems with the smart phones. I have one club member I will be assisting getting the Android 'Engine Driver' app loaded on his cell phone in the next week. Jim
Jim, first battery was about one year old and had been recharged no more than 7-10 times. The second was the replacement for the first one and was just months old and charged just a few times at most. again, the issue is when placed in the charger it indicates it has a charge, but is dead when in the throttle. So is this just a coincidence (a bad battery replacing another prematurely bad battery) or could the charger be faulty? Thanks.
Just a thought. I do not leave mine in the charger or the throttle. I take them out as soon as they indicate charged and keep them in a container until needed. I know Digitrax says you can just turn them over, but I don't. I remove them.
Thanks Dave, I take mine out of the charger when done as well, usually overnight charge and then sometime the next day remove from charger, never more than the day after that. I also remove them from the throttle when done.
Now something to add. Just spoke with my neighbor who is a battery engineer/chemist working for Duracell (P/G). His toughts are just defective batteries. Says Chinese QC just isn't there. Suggested trying to find Japanese manufactured batteries. Also, he loaned me a charger and the battery does then same thing, so it's not the charger. Just another bad battery I guess.