Pro 106 battery icon??

When I plug the adapter into my Pro 106 the battery icon flashes. I thought that meant it was charging? I only use the black (non charging) battery holder. Is the battery icon supposed to flash when it is on AC power and you are not using the yellow charging holder? Or, does it flash to show it is on AC power? If I remove the batteries completely it still flashes, so does the flashing icon mean charge? Or, that it is on AC power? There have been so many warnings from others around hear about charging batteries in the radio, I had to ask what the Icon means.

What is the voltage and current rating of the power adapter you are using?

along these lines of this whats the differences in the battery types b/c i set it to like the NiCd and it didnt hold a charge worth a crap so i was wondering what the different types was... i bought some energizer rechargeable batteries btw

Be Advised, Never Charge Your Batteries In Your Radio. You Could Burn The Batteries And Your Radio Up. Buy A External Charger To Charge Your Batteries, And You Could Save Your High Dollar Radio.

nzo012 said:

When I plug the adapter into my Pro 106 the battery icon flashes. I thought that meant it was charging? I only use the black (non charging) battery holder. Is the battery icon supposed to flash when it is on AC power and you are not using the yellow charging holder? Or, does it flash to show it is on AC power? If I remove the batteries completely it still flashes, so does the flashing icon mean charge? Or, that it is on AC power? There have been so many warnings from others around hear about charging batteries in the radio, I had to ask what the Icon means.

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The flashing icon usually means your batteries are getting close to discharge though it can also mean needs charging. With the black battery holder, the betteries will never see the charge voltage (a good thing). Why Doug (user KC5EIB) asked what AC adapter you're using is because the flashing icon means your voltage from the adapter is too low.

Here is the what setting the the scanner battery type means and it doesn't have anything to do with charging the batteries correctly. It only has to do with icon flashing, charging needed if level is low and shutdown, no actual control:

Easier to Read Pro-106/197/PSR500/600 Digital Scanner Manual

As was said, you will never get a proper charge in these units and you need to recharge in a smart external charger. Put your rechargeable batteries in the black carrier which prevents recharging in the radio. Isn't worth playing "You bet your Radio" on the scanner's non-intelligent charging.

I am using a 500Mah supply set to 9V. The battery icon flashes whether the batteries are in the radio or not. The second I plug the AC adapter in it runs fine, but the battery icon flashes off and on at the top. If I unplug the adapter and just run off batteries no icon flashing.

First, the batteries make no difference when the adapter is plugged in as they are disconnected from powering the radio. So, since the radio is saying you have a low voltage being applied (the flashing icon) probably means the adapter itself is not putting out it's stated value (9 volts) or it's current rating is much less than it's stated 500 ma so the radio drags the voltage down.

The only way you can really test this is to actually put a volt meter on the adapter both with and without a load on it to see what it measures. A simpler method may be to just try a different adapter. In addition, if the radio works OK with your existing adapter, you can sure live with a flashing Bat. icon. Certainly wouldn't hurt anything.

Accoring to the user manual on page 19, the battery icon flashes for two reasons - (1) when the battery power is low, and (2) when the internal battery charge circuit is active.

In the original poster's case, the battery icon is flashing because the internal battery charge circuit is active. The user manual says "Your scanner provides an indication when the the internal battery charge circuit is active. The battery icon briefly flashes approximately once every second". It also says, "The battery charge indicator does not provide positive indication that the batteries are actually being charged. Batteries will not charge unless the yellow battery holder is used".

What the user manual doesn't say is that there is actually a way to turn the internal battery charge circuit on and off while the scanner is plugged into the wall. To do this, go to ....

PGM - GLOB - Battery Info - Select

You will have three options to control the internal battery control circuit:

Done - Do nothing and return to previous menu item.
Stop - Stop the internal battery charging circuit.
Reset - Reset the internal battery charging clock and continue charging.
Charg - If the internal battery charging circuit is already off, you will have this option to turn it back on.

Revised to add - These options will not be available if the scanner is not plugged into the wall and is running on battery power.

nzo012 said:

When I plug the adapter into my Pro 106 the battery icon flashes. I thought that meant it was charging? I only use the black (non charging) battery holder. Is the battery icon supposed to flash when it is on AC power and you are not using the yellow charging holder? Or, does it flash to show it is on AC power? If I remove the batteries completely it still flashes, so does the flashing icon mean charge? Or, that it is on AC power? There have been so many warnings from others around hear about charging batteries in the radio, I had to ask what the Icon means.

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Mine does the same.. Its no big deal, i guess thats how it is

Batteries should really never be charged inside the radio. I always charge mine in a dedicated charger. The yellow battery holder is for rechargeable batteries only and the black holder is for alkaline cells only. Charging the batteries while in the radio when the radio is turned on extends the needed charging period and should be avoided at all costs. You should follow the advise in the manual and in the online easier to read manual mentioned in an earlier post. The battery icon indicates the batteries are nearing their needed charging or replacement period.

N1BHH said:

Batteries should really never be charged inside the radio. I always charge mine in a dedicated charger. The yellow battery holder is for rechargeable batteries only and the black holder is for alkaline cells only.

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The black holder can be used for any battery type, as no charging takes place in that holder.

Charging the batteries while in the radio when the radio is turned on extends the needed charging period and should be avoided at all costs.

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Having batteries in the yellow holder while the scanner is attached to external power and turned OFF is what "extends" the charging period (indefinitely).

The battery icon indicates the batteries are nearing their needed charging or replacement period.

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A flashing battery icon, depending on the frequency, also indicates that scanner's charge circuit is active.

judas12 said:

Mine does the same.. Its no big deal, i guess thats how it is

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Mine does NOT flash with the AC adapter (or while on alkaline batteries only). I am using the GRE AC adapter (the one I got from ScannerMaster made for the PSR500), and I have the black battery holder with alkaline batteries. Under the Global Menu I have the Battery category set to "Alkaline" and the Lo Batt Alert shows "30". My radio came with it set to 30. I don't know if it is a "big deal" or not if it is flashing, but you might want to investigate it further. Is your Battery category set to Alkaline?

Kayi4cle - Your battery icon isn't flashing when you are using the AC adapter because your battery type has been set to alkaline. The internal battery charging circuit is only enabled if the battery type setting is set to Ni-Cd or Ni-MH. The battery icon will flash every second when the internal battery charging circuit is active.

Thanks TexTAC. That's exactly the point I was trying to make. The original poster questioned his flashing battery icon because he was using the black holder and alkaline batteries. He should set his Global setting to Alkaline batteries. Don Starr pointed out that a flashing icon indicates an active charging circuit. You wouldn't want that with the black holder and alkaline batteries! I hope the OP makes the change in his Global settings and lets us know that all is now well!

I do believe you are right, I plugged the radio into the adapter today and the icon didn't flash. Then I read your post about setting the battery to alkaline. I haven't got to the radio yet to see what it's set at, but I remembered that I loaded a new batch of talk groups into it this morning and that usually resets the battery setting to alkaline. I did have it on NiMh when it flashed with the black holder in use. So, my bet is that the programming this morning with the software reset the batt to alkaline and that's why it didn't flash today. I'll confirm that setting and report back.

Thanks to everyone for the help!!

kayi4cle said:

Thanks TexTAC. That's exactly the point I was trying to make. The original poster questioned his flashing battery icon because he was using the black holder and alkaline batteries. He should set his Global setting to Alkaline batteries. Don Starr pointed out that a flashing icon indicates an active charging circuit. You wouldn't want that with the black holder and alkaline batteries! I hope the OP makes the change in his Global settings and lets us know that all is now well!

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One point to clear up on this post. It doesn't matter what type of battery is in the black battery carrier and whether or not the battery setting is set to alkaline or one of the rechargeables. The black battery holder removes the charging connection to the batteries so an active charging circuit still won't allow the charge voltage to get to the battery. For safety sake, I always put either rechargeables or alkalines in the black one. and don't worry about the the battery global setting. No chance for accidental charging that way, no matter what.

Always charge your rechargeables in an external smart charger.

RickS31 said:

One point to clear up on this post. It doesn't matter what type of battery is in the black battery carrier and whether or not the battery setting is set to alkaline or one of the rechargeables. The black battery holder removes the charging connection to the batteries so an active charging circuit still won't allow the charge voltage to get to the battery. For safety sake, I always put either rechargeables or alkalines in the black one. and don't worry about the the battery global setting. No chance for accidental charging that way, no matter what.

Always charge your rechargeables in an external smart charger.

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You're right RickS531, and you always have good points to make! However, even if it did no harm for the charging circuit to be active, I was thinking what's the point in having it set incorrectly for alkalines. That's why I recommended changing it. Maybe I'm too detail oriented - but I know that I wouldn't want that annoying flashing icon going off on my radio unnecessarily - LOL!! But I very much appreciate your post. :wink:

I hear you. There actually is a good side benefit to changing the setting in that it changes the trigger levels for the flashing icon (batteries nearing discharge) and radio shutdown on low battery. Different for rechageables vs. alkalines. And yes, the flashing battery icon can get distracting. Thanks.

I didn't bother to read this entire thread, but I disagree. I have 3 Pro-106's. One of which is on about 12 hours a day and is plugged in to the RS 9V wallcharger the entire time. I only occasionally charge my Energizer rechargables in the external charger to "top them off". I have had no problems whatsoever doing it this way for almost a year. The battery area will get a little warm but thats normal with charging batteries. I can not imagine any possibility of blowing your scanner up. Someone please explain to me why this is so, because it sounds like some crazy old wives tale.

Some claim the batteries overheat when charging them in the scanner and I believe at least one person has reported parts of the scanner melted. I have not had this problem and operate it much the way you do Gamefreak88, I guess to each his own...............