By David Maynard

Author  Bio I like my engines to have sound and toward that end I am adding soundboards to my engines as time and budget permit. My first sound equipped engine has a Sierra sound system in it and since I liked that system that is what I am installing in all my engines. However I have come across a shortfall of this system that I would like to help you with.

I like my engines to have sound and toward that end I am adding soundboards to my engines as time and budget permit. My first sound equipped engine has a Sierra sound system in it and since I liked that system that is what I am installing in all my engines. However I have come across a shortfall of this system.

The batteries they use are sealed lead acid batteries, and just like a car battery if they are allowed to completely discharge they don't tend to work again. Since I am not going to keep charging my batteries throughout the winter that means in the spring they will all be flat. So I have upgraded the lead acid batteries to NiMh (nickel metal hydride) batteries, and all new installations are the NiMh batteries. Since rechargeable batteries are 1.2 volts each, 5 of them gives me the 6 volts that the Sierra uses.

Unfortunately I have found that I still am facing batteries that aren't fully charged. This is either because the Sierra doesn't have the power to fully charge a NiMh battery or they discharge while sitting between runs. I tend to believe it's the Sierra not fully charging the battery.

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So to solve this situation I went out and bought a "smart" battery charger. I found one on sale at a hobby shop that specializes in RC cars and airplanes. Since I did install a charging jack in all my sound equipped engines its just a simple matter of plugging the locomotive into the charger and letting the batteries charge. And since it's a "smart" charger it will not overcharge the batteries.

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The charging jack on the Sierra plans is to be installed between the on/off switch and the battery. I do not see why the same can't be done on all battery equipment. I used a simple 1/8-inch headphone (mono) jack I picked up at Radio Shack. I wire this so the tip is positive and the sleeve is negative on all my equipment. And on the charger I used a 1/8 mono plug wired the same way.

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Now when I take an engine out to play I make sure the sound system switch is off. Then I plug the charger into it, then plug the charger into the wall, and press the charge button. Then I go clean the sticks and such off the track and clean the track. Then I trim back the overhanging weeds, and get the rest of the train cars and by the time I am ready to run so is my engine. So now the days of the sound going off and on are (hopefully) over.

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I have found that it takes less then an hour, and sometimes as short as 20 minutes to get the batteries back up to full charge since the Sierra does charge the batteries while the train is running. And usually after the batteries have been charged this way a few times it takes even less time. And since NiMh doesn't have the need to be fully discharged before recharging, I don't have to worry about harming the batteries.

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