PSR-800 battery alert

[W4KRR]

I have had my PSR-800 for quite a few months now. I have yet to hear an audible low battery alert, even though I have that option enabled. The display just shuts off without any audible warning. I sometimes am looking right at the display when it shuts off.

I have also noticed that the battery icon always seems to show about 1/4 full when the radio finally shuts off. Is this normal? I would think it would get down a bit lower before it finally shuts off. And, I have tried a variety of different batteries, all with the same result.

What am I missing here?

[jackj]

Do you have to option of telling the radio what kind of battery you are using? My wife's camera can be programed to set the low battery alert for either regular alkaline or NiMh rechargeable cells.

[Jakemcgraw]

Originally Posted by W4KRR

I have had my PSR-800 for quite a few months now. I have yet to hear an audible low battery alert, even though I have that option enabled. The display just shuts off without any audible warning. I sometimes am looking right at the display when it shuts off.

I have also noticed that the battery icon always seems to show about 1/4 full when the radio finally shuts off. Is this normal? I would think it would get down a bit lower before it finally shuts off. And, I have tried a variety of different batteries, all with the same result.

What am I missing here?

I had this same basic issue with its brother handheld the pro-18...seems they both are fussy about batteries...Do keep the switch inside battery compartment set to ni-mh if your using rechargeable batteries. I had sanyo eneloops 2000 mah that were approx 2 yrs old, moderatly used, the low battery indicator would never beep the low alert tone,,it would just shut down , same as you said about yours...This continued over 2 weeks, so i bought 2 new sets of sanyo eneloops. Once they had their initial couple charges, to reach full capacity, My low battery alert tone has worked every time now. Strange as it may sound the 800 and 18 only seem to like new or almost new rechargeable batteries, in order for the battery low alert to function.

[W4KRR]

The battery compartment switch is set to Nmh; and, I have used several different brands and capacities of cells. It behaves the same on all of them, no audible alert before shutdown.

I think I will try alkaline batteries and see how it acts using them, that's about all I haven't tried.

[Jakemcgraw]

I know you said you tried several different kinds of batteries,,But were they brand new ?.......Mine would not work even with trying alkalines, until i bought new sanyo rechargeables. That was the first my low battery tone worked, and has since now....Until i done that i thought mine was defective. I had posted about this in the radio shack section under pro-18, That i read a review on the web about the psr-800 and how finicky it was about batteries.

[W4KRR]

Originally Posted by Jakemcgraw

I know you said you tried several different kinds of batteries,,But were they brand new ?.......Mine would not work even with trying alkalines, until i bought new sanyo rechargeables. That was the first my low battery tone worked, and has since now....Until i done that i thought mine was defective. I had posted about this in the radio shack section under pro-18, That i read a review on the web about the psr-800 and how finicky it was about batteries.

Yes, they were all new, or close to it. And, I do have Sanyo 2700mah batteries (Nmh) as well as some other brands. They last a good long while, but still no audible alarm.

BTW, how much of your battery icon shows black when the radio dies? Mine is at about 1/4.

[Jakemcgraw]

Hi, Ken...I have roughly 1/16" inch of black,,and mine was exactly as you described yours, sometimes it would stay solid over 5 or 6 hrs, and drop all at once, it was eratic at times. Just to mention, i had several almost new batteries myself, that still wouldn't do it. I knew my batteries were not worn out, i was still getting 8 hrs or more continuous run time . But finally i purchased 2 brand new sets, and after the first 2 charge cycles on the new batteries, my Low tone sound worked for the first time, along with being consistant on the battery indicator icon.

[jackj]

I have been considering buying a PSR-800 so I've been following this thread with interest. Thank you all for your input.

I would be very interested in the reason for the strange behaviour regarding the battery 'fuel gauge' and alert tone. They should work on voltage and, if the cells are all good, the discharge curve should be the same for new vs old cells. It would be helpful to know at what battery voltage the radio shuts down and the threshold voltage for the alert tone. I suppose that the shut down voltage could be close to 4 volts and the alarm voltage could be around 0.1 volts higher. A spike in current drain such as unsquelched, high volume audio could drag the voltage below the cut off point if the two points are too close together.

If anyone has the needed test equipment and time, I would be very interested in the answer. My theorems might just be hog-wash.

[TEDMC]

Under Settings,set Sounds to On. Alerts to Both. Beep Volume to 15. Alert Volume to 15. I had the same problem. Trial and Error by 3 of us got it working with those settings. Good Luck!!!

[mike_s104]

Originally Posted by Jakemcgraw

Hi, Ken...I have roughly 1/16" inch of black,,and mine was exactly as you described yours, sometimes it would stay solid over 5 or 6 hrs, and drop all at once, it was eratic at times. Just to mention, i had several almost new batteries myself, that still wouldn't do it. I knew my batteries were not worn out, i was still getting 8 hrs or more continuous run time . But finally i purchased 2 brand new sets, and after the first 2 charge cycles on the new batteries, my Low tone sound worked for the first time, along with being consistant on the battery indicator icon.

What brand of batteries are you using to get 8 hours of use?

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk

[Jakemcgraw]

Originally Posted by mike_s104

What brand of batteries are you using to get 8 hours of use?

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk

Sanyo eneloops 2000 mah...My run time increased to almost 10 hrs, (with the lcd light on # 4 setting and kepad light off),, since i just recently purchased 2 new sets, Along with the audible battery alert now functions as i mentioned previously.

[W4KRR]

Originally Posted by TEDMC

Under Settings,set Sounds to On. Alerts to Both. Beep Volume to 15. Alert Volume to 15. I had the same problem. Trial and Error by 3 of us got it working with those settings. Good Luck!!!

Sounds on; Alerts both; Beep Volume 15; Alert Volume MAX.

No beeping. At least I have the battery icon!

[TEDMC]

Set Alert Volume to 15 not MAX, that's the problem. All the other settings are correct. Let me know how you make out, Ted

[mike_s104]

Originally Posted by Jakemcgraw

Sanyo eneloops 2000 mah...My run time increased to almost 10 hrs, (with the lcd light on # 4 setting and kepad light off),, since i just recently purchased 2 new sets, Along with the audible battery alert now functions as i mentioned previously.

Good grief. Are you scanning any busy trunked sites? I have some older Eneloops and I barely get a few hours out of them or others I have.

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk

[Jakemcgraw]

Originally Posted by mike_s104

Good grief. Are you scanning any busy trunked sites? I have some older Eneloops and I barely get a few hours out of them or others I have.

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk

Mostly i listen to a p25 system we have, ours in on the 400"s mhz range, and some conventional frequencies. We dont have any 800 mhz here. Ive read a review an outfit did on the web, about the psr-800 testing it, i forget who it was without looking it up, but anyhow they tested battery run time also with about 5 or 6 major battery brands. They had their lcd light on, set to low setting and keypad off. The best battery life was the New sanyo eneloop, (the black case ones) that are 2500 mah, and run time was 12 hrs !...Ive ebay searched them, and they run average of $ 20. for a pack of 4 aa's....Id like em, but not willing to spend that much.

[mike_s104]

Originally Posted by Jakemcgraw

Mostly i listen to a p25 system we have, ours in on the 400"s mhz range, and some conventional frequencies. We dont have any 800 mhz here. Ive read a review an outfit did on the web, about the psr-800 testing it, i forget who it was without looking it up, but anyhow they tested battery run time also with about 5 or 6 major battery brands. They had their lcd light on, set to low setting and keypad off. The best battery life was the New sanyo eneloop, (the black case ones) that are 2500 mah, and run time was 12 hrs !...Ive ebay searched them, and they run average of $ 20. for a pack of 4 aa's....Id like em, but not willing to spend that much.

I might be willing to try them. I used to get a good 12g hours out of the same batteries on my 396T. I'm going to try 4 brand new Imedion 2400mAh and see what happens. Them seem to work great in everything else; not sure why I only get a few hours out of them in the PSR-800.

Thanks for the info.

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk

[Jakemcgraw]

Your welcome Mike......Seems most articles ive read, say about the same thing, the psr-800 is somewhat of a battery guzzler.

[mike_s104]

Originally Posted by Jakemcgraw

Your welcome Mike......Seems most articles ive read, say about the same thing, the psr-800 is somewhat of a battery guzzler.

Same thing I've read too. I was shocked at your times. I started getting into the habit of just using a power cable. I'm refreshing 4 older Eneloops 2000mAh and 4 Imedion 2400mAh in my PowerX C801D charger and 4 Imedion 2400mAh in my PowerX C9000 charger. I'll see what happens.

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk

[W4KRR]

Originally Posted by TEDMC

Set Alert Volume to 15 not MAX, that's the problem. All the other settings are correct. Let me know how you make out, Ted

Okay Ted, I set the Alert Volume to 15 instead of "MAX", and now the Low Battery Alert works! But wouldn't anyone assume that "MAX" would be greater than 15? The Alert Volume ranges from 0 to 32 and then MAX. Funny that 15 works fine and MAX produces nothing! But thanks for the help on this issue.

[TEDMC]

Glad I could help!!! It took 3 of us a lot of experimentation to come up with the fix. Kind of crazy that MAX disables the alert!!! Enjoy the Radio!!! Ted