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Made me appreciate RailPro even more

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Alan:
You made me curious. I just went down to the train room to check the HCs.

The last time either was turned on was Labor Day 2016. I know the date because I wrote a post on RPUG a few days later about how easy it was for my visiting friend to use RP.  https://rpug.pdc.ca/index.php/topic,271.msg1872.html#msg1872  The trains we ran are still sitting in the sidings where we left them. I have been working on fascia and control panels since October. http://www.lkorailroad.com/fascia-upper-deck-part-i/  The fascia work necessitated dropping all the module to panel wiring. I can't turn on the layout while the control wiring is dangling for fear of shorting.

One HC level meter indicates 1/3 charge. That is the seldom used, seldom charged HC. The second HC, the one I commonly use, shows just a sliver of charge on the indicator.

Both HCs turn on and show at least some charge after 9 months of being in the drawer!

G8B4Life:

--- Quote from: Alan on May 30, 2017, 03:43:40 PM ---Both HCs turn on and show at least some charge after 9 months of being in the drawer!

--- End quote ---

9 months! You sure you haven't crammed some Nuclear fuel rods in there Alan?

While looking for one of my past posts where I typed out the batteries that were installed in my HC, I ran across an old thread on charging and noted this from RE.
--- Quote ---If the HC is left off for a long period of time it looses about 10% of the charge per week.  Even from a full charge if left unused for about 2.5 months it will be dead.
--- End quote ---

Now, I did some quick calculations using various calculators on the net and for 2.5 months (75 days / 1800 hours) an "off" HC with a 2500mAH batteries would be drawing about 1mA, roughly 1.4mAH. Not bad. For 9 months (269 days / 6456 hours) that figure drops to roughly 0.4 mA.

Now, there are other external factors which would change those figures, and it assumes the 3 batteries are all in series (there is a post here that suggests two are in series and one isn't but I have no proof of it).

Alan, I'm sure you can add a lot to or correct the above but it seems the HC is quite power efficient in the "off" mode.

- Tim

Alan:
Something doesn't add up. The statement about 2.5 months it will be dead absolutely isn't true in my case. I can assure you I have never charged my HCs that frequently even back when I was building modules and doing a lot of testing. It usually took me more than a month to complete a single module. I had only a single HC back then. In all, it took me 17 months to build all the modules. That would have been 7 HC charge cycles or roughly a charge every 1-1/2 modules. That did not happen.

FWIW We know RP uses PIC in the LM. A 16 bit PIC in sleep mode draws 0.2 uA. That's 1/2000 of 0.4 mA. The HC of course is not a PIC but at least it demonstrates that minuscule micro processor sleep currents are common.

I'll charge one to 100% and let it set. We'll find out for sure.

William Brillinger:
The 2.5 month statement is consistent with Ring's usually conservative statements designed to keep the user out of trouble with the equipment.

G8B4Life:
Well, I never did say that the statement Ring made was true and correct but it is what he wrote so I did a calculation on the figure. I'm not versed much in all things electronics so to me 1mAH  doesn't sound like a huge current draw for something in sleep/standby/whatever mode. Thinking about it though the 9v batteries in my smoke alarms last many many months with the same or less capacity as the batteries in the HC so perhaps 1mAH is a huge number.

I do remember when I got my HC it was for all purposes dead (red flashing bar immediately on turning on). The only thing I don't know is how long the supplier had it before I got it; and how long RE had it before that. Too bad there's no date of manufacture on them, then I could check and see how long it had lasted.

I look forward to your results Alan. I only have one HC , there's no hope of me leaving it off for months!

- Tim

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