Handheld HC-2 Not Charging

[rsmproductions]

I've discovered that my HC-2 is not charging.  Thankfully I still have a club members unit and charging cable so I could determine that it was the USB cable or plug.  It's actually the handheld unit itself.  Does anyone know where I can get it fixed?  I can't seem to figure out how to post the picture, so have added it as an attachment

Thank you,
Richard

[William Brillinger]

Are you getting an error or no message at all?

If it's an error, you probably need new batteries.
If there is no message at all, the plug may be damaged.

Either way, I suggest you contact Ring Engineering directly.

- Bill

[rsmproductions]

There is no error message at all.  I'll contact Ring and see what they say.

Richard

[rsmproductions]

Did the toothpick for an hour suggestion but still no luck getting the unit charged.  I've opened up the back and noticed 3 rechargeable 2400 Mah batteries. Tested each one and all were dead.  I've ordered some Tenergy 2500 Mah on Amazon that arrives tomorrow and hopefully that will solve the problem.  I have 4 steam engines 2 of which I'm changing out RCS America stuff and two first time installs.

Richard

[rsmproductions]

I ordered Tenergy replacement batteries and actually installed them prior to getting a warning email from Ring Engineering warning that user repair is not recommended due the delicate insides...Oooops!!  The unit fired up just fine but the new batteries still would not charge when plugged in.  So my assumption is that it's the charge jack on the unit itself.  So, I've reinstalled the original batteries and put everything back together so I can send it off for repair. Oy...I'm just ready to get my four steam engines converted.

Richard

[G8B4Life]

I was going to confirm that you were using a purely charging setup (and not just any USB cable plugged into any USB A port) and only just got around to looking at the attached picture.  That will learn me. The USB socket on the HC can clearly be seen at an angle to the pcb and partially separated from it. Has it sustained a significant twisting action at some time?

If it is broken as like it looks like then yes going back to Ring is the answer. Note, Ring will say what you quoted about going back to him for simple battery changes too. It beggars belief that after 4 revisions this consumer device still has such a design that a consumer can not easily change the batteries.

- Tim

[snowdog]

You might consider taking advantage of peeps selling off their older HC's when they upgrade to the HC3. I found it's nice to have an extra around...

[trainman605]

My HC-2 went dead after a year without charging and would not take a charge. Called Ring and they were pretty sure it was the batteries. They sent me a return authorization to send it in, I did and got it back in a couple of weeks. I will say here they were very nice to deal with and helpful. They also said they would checkout my HC-2 and if it needed any other repairs they would also do that while it was getting the batteries replaced. Works great. trainman