Loss of power

[cheshire]

I will preface this with the fact that electronics is not my specialist area!! I have an IP Engineering battery powered loco, as supplied by them but with a 2100mah nimh? battery. This ran fine for several years. However last week I charged it up and it managed half a lap of the track before slowing to a crawl and stopping. So I tried recharging it. Same again. So is there a way to check if its the battery thats died, the charger thats died, a short circuit in the wiring, or a different problem? The light on the charger that shows its charging comes on and doesn't go out even after many hours (it used to only take an hour to charge). Its the second charger I have had - the first stopped working and I have used an old one from an old RC car. I guess this is the lesson - don't assume the cheap Ebay option is the best one, i guess its false economy. Any help gratefully appreciated as I don't want the cost of a charger and a battery if I don't need one (the car needs 4 new tyres - ouch!!) Thanks.

 

[bobg]

I advise - shop around on-line for your car tyres, there are some better deals to be had than from the High Street direct, though often with the same companies, and sometimes 'door step fitted'. Hopefully you will save enough to replace both should that be necessary

 

[yb281]

Do you know anyone who might have a suitable charger that you could borrow? If you can, then at least you should be able to find out if it's your charger that's gone U/S or whether the battery pack needs replacing.

edit - It would also be a good idea to make absolutely certain that the loco's wiring is still in good nick and you haven't got a short either in the charging circuit or to the motor.

 

[trammayo]

How long is several years? I don't know the life-expectancy of your battery but they don't seem to last many years in general terms. Just a thought.

 

[Neil Robinson]

I agree with the above.
Whilst you are replacing the batteries, as you will probably need to do, you may wish to look at the front buffer beam.
To my eyes it looks upside down and is definitely the other way up to the rear one. Then again there may be a good reason for this, such as personal preference.

 

[JRinTawa]

I'm not very experienced here so these are only thought's not advice, but it does sound like batteries to be too. Does you charger has a discharge function so you can do several cycles to possibly salvage batteries that have been overly run down? Perhaps as a check on the loco wiring pop in some fresh standard alkaline AA's / AAA's (which ever it uses), if you get a good run then you've confirmed it is the batteries; if you drain the alkaline's quickly then I'd look at the wiring. Also did you run the loco not long after charging the batteries? If they had sat in the loco for a while (day) after charging that could again imply maybe a switch problem allowing a trickle being drawn from the battery and flattening it over night?
Nice photo by the way

 

[stockers]

'Several' years sounds about the expected life for rechargeables. My drill batteries, both NiCad and NiMh, (which get some use), start to looss duration after about 3 years. Also, they then wont hold a full charge for more than a day or two.

 

[cheshire]

The battery is about 3 years but with light use. The photo is from when I had just made the kit, the buffer beam was turned a few days later after I realised my mistake!!

 

[MRail]

Agree with the age related comments.
I've had a couple of (DIY) battery packs develop just one dead cell, giving this kind of symptom.

Buffer beam looked kind of "designer" attractive in the pic!