Playmobil battery charger

[-bbbb]

I have 2 of these devices and both say NiCad on the Black Socket thingy.

I think my US version is similar. That's why I'm curious about the wording in the documentation:

It seems to be contrary to the wording on the plug (notice the 2nd instance of the word 'only'):

 

[dunnyrail]

I think my US version is similar. That's why I'm curious about the wording in the documentation:
View attachment 283933
It seems to be contrary to the wording on the plug (notice the use of the word 'only'):
View attachment 283934

Oh for some reason that pic not viewable. So for interest here is a pic of my plugs, note UK 3 pin variety.

 

[-bbbb]

Oh for some reason that pic not viewable. So for interest here is a pic View attachment 283937of my plugs, note UK 3 pin variety.

Maybe try reloading the page to view the images, I wasn't able to view your image at first but was able(and am able) to view mine. Your plug and Gerards plug have more inclusive wording. Mine says "charge only NiCd type rechargeable batteries" .... but the output of the charger seems to be identical to yours.

 

[Greg Elmassian]

is there a light on the charger that changes state when the battery is fully charged?

With that low current, it is probably only detecting battery voltage, which is similar for nicad and nimih.... so for this slow charge, it works ok...

Greg

 

[-bbbb]

There is an indication when the battery is fully charged:


Apparently only children are permitted to use this charger... And only after they are instructed by whoever reads the documentation:

 

[Paul M]

Apparently only children are permitted to use this charger... And only after they are instructed by whoever reads the documentation:

Isn't that same rules for programming the telly ?

 

[playmofire]

Washing liquid ads now always warn you "to keep away from children", a warning I tried to follow closely even when I was a teacher.

 

[Steve Manners]

Hello,

I am a Dutchman and new here and i am enjoying very much all the posts with urls of track movies etc. !
My question to this forum is the following:
I am trying to run a battery RC playmobil train for my grandchildren on my 120m LGB garden track, so i bought myself a second hand 4010 RC train with its own battery holder and i bought in a separate buy a 4396 RC Train battery charger.
The train runs well on the battery pack with in it 4 rechargable batteries,
but the 4010 battery charger is not functioning with this battery pack, no light shines when things are connected.
While looking for the reason of this malfunctioning i found out that inside the blue battery holder of the charger there are 3 electric contacts while my battery holder has only 2 electric contacts. See picture.
Do i possibly have the wrong combination of battery pack holder and battery charger?

Gerard

Hi, I AM A BIT LATE FOLLOWING THIS UP SO I DON'T KNOW IF IT WILL BE ANY USE TO YOU. I have a lot of Playmobil RC trains and found the old battery units and chargers were very unreliable. I bought some of the grey replaceable battery boxes from Playmobil UK at a sensible price, about £6.50 each I think. I then came across a Youtube video by Geonorm which showed a standard 4 cell AA battery holder with a self adhesive plastic hook fitted which would be a very cheap substitute. He wound a rubber band around it to make sure it stayed in properly. The white plastic hook would probably need painting black to blend in. A guy is selling what looks like a version of this on Ebay UK for £35! I estimate the cost of the parts at about £1.50. He does a big spiel about what Playmobil made battery holders cost. He offered me one at £27, I declined. Most of the problems I have found with Playmobil RC trains are from corroded terminals, check and clean these before you start replacing anything. Steve M.

 

[Gerard]

Hi Steve,

Thanks for your reply.
In the mean time i have build two solutions for the battery problem in the Playmobil locos:

1 I build in a playmobil loco behind the removable wall behind the driver seats two separate 4xAA reloadable battery packs and connected them to the wires that run to the old battery , the motor and the lights. I made a switch in the removable wall for of/on power. Next to that i made a plug connector for the wire from the loader. In this case the voltage is 4X1.5=6V and the plug connector is a general tube shape type.

2 In a second loco i build in a single much smaller and flat Lipo battery of 3.6V together with a small circuit that controls the max Volt and max Amp. Note: in the battery itself there is also some safety arragnement. I mounted a switch and a load plug connector in the removable wall, but in this case i used a USB connector. This enhances the safety of the standard low voltage that is given by all USB loaders, so it is impossible to overload the battery. Having the three securities agianst overloading I am not worried anymore for fire hazards.

At first you would think the Lipo battery with 3.7V will result in a much lower loco velocity than the AA battery pack of 6V, but in practice this is not that big deal! Possibly because of the fact that the Lipo battery runs with a constant voltage of 3.7V even when the battery is not fully charged.
I am using both systems now and there are no problems so far.

Greatings
Gerard

 

[-bbbb]

Hi Steve,

Thanks for your reply.
In the mean time i have build two solutions for the battery problem in the Playmobil locos:

1 I build in a playmobil loco behind the removable wall behind the driver seats two separate 4xAA reloadable battery packs and connected them to the wires that run to the old battery , the motor and the lights. I made a switch in the removable wall for of/on power. Next to that i made a plug connector for the wire from the loader. In this case the voltage is 4X1.5=6V and the plug connector is a general tube shape type.

2 In a second loco i build in a single much smaller and flat Lipo battery of 3.6V together with a small circuit that controls the max Volt and max Amp. Note: in the battery itself there is also some safety arragnement. I mounted a switch and a load plug connector in the removable wall, but in this case i used a USB connector. This enhances the safety of the standard low voltage that is given by all USB loaders, so it is impossible to overload the battery. Having the three securities agianst overloading I am not worried anymore for fire hazards.

At first you would think the Lipo battery with 3.7V will result in a much lower loco velocity than the AA battery pack of 6V, but in practice this is not that big deal! Possibly because of the fact that the Lipo battery runs with a constant voltage of 3.7V even when the battery is not fully charged.
I am using both systems now and there are no problems so far.

Greatings
Gerard

Can you post pictures of those?

 

[Gerard]

Here are some pictures of both solutions. The USB connector that replaces the USB cable still has to be mounted.

 

[Gerard]

Note: in picture 4 you can see that the load circuit has three connections: nr1 black-red to the battery nr 2 black-red to load (=engine and lights) nr 3 direct current in dcin to the loader

 

[FatherMcD]

Note: in picture 4 you can see that the load circuit has three connections: nr1 black-red to the battery nr 2 black-red to load (=engine and lights) nr 3 direct current in dcin to the loader

Look like a good solution to change to power system on the loco, but, I just have to ask. What is the round item that seems recessed into the roof in picture 5?

 

[Gerard]

Its a window to be able to see the coloured lights on the loading circuit that indicate the status of the circuit.

 

[JimmyB]

I converted one of these to 2.4 gHz and Li-Ion batteries:

Playmobil 4010 2.4 ghz Conversion

Background The Playmobil PM Train (4010) is a battery powered (4 X AA) remote control locomotive, utilizing 27 mHz radio signal....

tumble-down-falls.blogspot.com

 

[Steve Manners]

Hi Steve,

Thanks for your reply.
In the mean time i have build two solutions for the battery problem in the Playmobil locos:

1 I build in a playmobil loco behind the removable wall behind the driver seats two separate 4xAA reloadable battery packs and connected them to the wires that run to the old battery , the motor and the lights. I made a switch in the removable wall for of/on power. Next to that i made a plug connector for the wire from the loader. In this case the voltage is 4X1.5=6V and the plug connector is a general tube shape type.

2 In a second loco i build in a single much smaller and flat Lipo battery of 3.6V together with a small circuit that controls the max Volt and max Amp. Note: in the battery itself there is also some safety arragnement. I mounted a switch and a load plug connector in the removable wall, but in this case i used a USB connector. This enhances the safety of the standard low voltage that is given by all USB loaders, so it is impossible to overload the battery. Having the three securities agianst overloading I am not worried anymore for fire hazards.

At first you would think the Lipo battery with 3.7V will result in a much lower loco velocity than the AA battery pack of 6V, but in practice this is not that big deal! Possibly because of the fact that the Lipo battery runs with a constant voltage of 3.7V even when the battery is not fully charged.
I am using both systems now and there are no problems so far.

Greatings
Gerard

Hi Gerard, I see from your email that you have made a lot of progress since you first started working with the Playmobil RC locos. The old battery pack systems are now not an issue for you, so well done. Best wishes Steve M.

 

[-bbbb]

Its a window to be able to see the coloured lights on the loading circuit that indicate the status of the circuit.

Next time you could run fiber optics from the lights to the dashboard.