Pro-106 Power Question

[Jimmy252]

Hi, i have a 106 and im wondering if what im doing will cause damage.

I use NiMH rechargeable batteries all the time with it, but once in a while, ill run the scanner all night and use the AC/DC adapter. I know there is an internal charging mechanism, but will using the AC/DC adapter for 10 straight hours of scanner use overload the NiMH batteries and blow them up or something? or does the scanner know when the batteries are full, and just use the DC power alone?

[Fubarscanner]

I own a Pro-106 scanner also. If you leave the charger on continuously, the batteries will definitely heat up and possibly burst depending on what the mah rating is. I use the 2700mah batteries and if I am going to use the radio for several hours while charging, I switch to a 6v charger instead of the 9v. That way, the batteries get a "trickle" charge, but enough to heat them up. The radio works fine on 6v by the way. Most wall warts put out WAY more than their rating and they rely on the amount of current draw to regulate the voltage. I measured 15v on my 9v charger! Another thing to do is just remove the batteries all together but in that case, I would still recommend using the 6v charger since there won't be as much current draw to load the charger down. There is some regulation built in to the scanner, but I would not trust it to leave it on all night while charging at 9v. Hope this helps you...

[ac7xc]

The Scanner does have a circuit that limits the amount of time that the charger works,
PGM -> Glob -> Charge Time -> SEL key
You can reduce it to 12-14 hours if your concerned about it.

[scottaschultz]

Doing this occasionally probably won't hurt, but here are a couple of snips from the users manual:

"Using the scanner while charging will increase charge time."

"If you use an external power source for regular operation, install alkaline batteries for emergencies. Rechargeable batteries will self discharge, even when not used, and could have no usable power."

Of course YMMV!

[Jimmy252]

Alright, thanks guys

[fmon]

Charging circuit is disabled when black battery holder is in scanner which is the same as no battery holder.

I can not understand using any charger not recommended by radio manufacture. Survival of charging circuit may be reduced when charging with 6 v s 9 volts as the charging circuit IS "trickle charge". However, the circuit has a common voltage of 0.65v on a base of one resistor and the collector on a second. This common voltage is set up through a voltage dropping resistor which requires 9 volts applied from the wall-wart. A 6v wall-wart applied would likely reduce the required 0.65 volts by 33% or to about 0.42 volts.