Uniden 396XT Battery Charging

LubeckTech · Jan 23, 2015

I have a couple of questions about NIMH batteries in this scanned for those of you who have used one.

First what kind of listening time do you get from freshly charged batteries and what capacity batteries are you using?

Next how well does this scanner charge the batteries while being listened to? I would think this would depend on the battery capacity, how discharged the batteries are when the charging cycle is started and how much traffic was being received at what volume.

As a general rule most portable devices have problems charging their batteries while being used unless they were specifically designed to do so.

UPMan · Jan 23, 2015

First is closely related. The higher the capacity, the more run time you get. There are a number of variables (backlight usage, volume setting, amount of radio traffic), but the supplied batteries can last 6-10 hours when fully charged.

Next, it charges at the same rate whether on or off, and regardless of the battery capacity or initial charge level. (Approx. 230 mA, IIRC).

LubeckTech · Jan 23, 2015

The reason I ask is I work for a Motorola/Kenwood 2 Way dealer and we don't generally do much with scanners except for the BCD 396/996 models which some of our customers use for monitoring purposes. Currently we have an older customer who recieved a BCD436HP and is not happy with it. Basically it is too complicated for him but he needs P25 decode capabilities. We programmed it for him and have it set up simply enough to get him able to use it. At the moment he is unhappy because the scanner can't operate while it's battery is charging and wants to trade it for a BCD396XT which we have. Outside of using an external battery charger, 2 sets of batteries and swapping batteries (this scanned won't operate without batteries installed like the 396) is there a way for him to listen to his 436HP while charging the batteries.

marksmith · Jan 23, 2015

Not in the 436HP. One way is a second set of batteries and a charger.

BCD536HP/HP2/996XT/PSR800/396XT/996T

scannerbuff999 · Jan 23, 2015

what is the best charger i can get at w-mart i have gift card one that tell you what the mil-amps are scanner radio are complicated today because the system are complicated today

sparklehorse · Jan 23, 2015

scannerbuff999 said:
what is the best charger i can get at w-mart i have gift card one that tell you what the mil-amps are scanner radio are complicated today because the system are complicated today

I don't know if they carry them at Walmart, but one of the best chargers you can get for NiMH batteries is the La Crosse BC1000:

Amazon.com: La Crosse Technology BC1000 Alpha Power Battery Charger: Electronics

That and a couple sets of Eneloops and you'll be set for AA and/or AAA batteries for at least a few years.

G

marcotor · Jan 23, 2015

LubeckTech said:
2 sets of batteries and swapping batteries (this scanned won't operate without batteries installed like the 396) is there a way for him to listen to his 436HP while charging the batteries.

Not sure if you meant this, but I am listening to my 436hp connected to external power without batteries installed, and looking at it's batteries currently charging in an external charger.

LubeckTech · Jan 23, 2015

marcotor said:
Not sure if you meant this, but I am listening to my 436hp connected to external power without batteries installed, and looking at it's batteries currently charging in an external charger.

What are you using for an external power source??

I didn't work with this customer personally but the tech who did said the scanner won't work without batteries and reply #4 to this thread seems to indicate this as well. I believe our tech was trying to use the scanner without batteries and using the usb cable on a computer's USB port. I would not expect a computer to supply enough current to power the scanner. Are you using a usb Wall Wart??

ginky4 · Jan 24, 2015

I am using Duracell NiMH's and I am getting 10-12 hours of listening time on my BCD396XT before I need to recharge them. I use the AC adapter for the radio to recharge the batteries. I noticed in Freescan that you can change the charge times for the batteries. Mine by default is set to 14.

It looks like you can change the charge times from 1-16. Not sure what changing this setting would do. My last set of Duracell batteries were only lasting about 4 hours before the low battery beep would start. I decided to replace those with a new fresh set of batteries. That low battery beep would last for over an hour before the scanner would die.

I wonder if there is a way to adjust the low battery beep warning time. I would like it to start beeping when I have about 30 minutes of run time left.

UPMan · Jan 24, 2015

Changing the charge time would change how long the scanner would charge the batteries before turning off charge current (but does not affect the charge rate).

marksmith · Jan 24, 2015

So with the 396, or the HP1 or HP2 for that matter, the charge time setting should be based on the battery ratings of the batteries you are charging. IE: 2300 = 5 hours

BCD536HP/HP2/996XT/PSR800/396XT/996T

ginky4 · Jan 24, 2015

Ok, well that clears the charging issue up for me. I will leave mine at 14. So changing the setting to 1 would essentially turn off the internal charging feature of the scanner after 1 hour. Very interesting.

Is there anyway to adjust the low battery warning beep time? Mine was beeping for over an hour before the batteries would die. I would like to change that to 30 minutes. Not sure if that can be done.

UPMan · Jan 24, 2015

2300 = 5 hours

14 hours, nominal. No way to change the low-beep duration. Depends entirely on battery chemistry and discharge curve.

marksmith · Jan 24, 2015

For a set of 2300's it appears that the charging time on a 396 is 5 hours. (3 cells)

On the HP2 the recommended time (4 cells) is 14 hours.

On neither case is the radio itself checking the condition of the batteries.

Does this mean the 396 is putting more beans to the batteries?

BCD536HP/HP2/996XT/PSR800/396XT/996T

marcotor · Jan 24, 2015

LubeckTech said:
What are you using for an external power source??

Depends on where I am, and what the batteries are doing. I use my 436 constantly, so when in the car, it's plugged into the vehicle USB. At the time I posted, it was plugged into a Mac, but I have not had any issues powering it without the batteries with a variety of sources, including wal-warts, many MacOS/Windows/Linux computers (desktop and laptop), 2 dollar usb cig lighter adapters, and the USB connections in my personal (and about 10 different rental) vehicles.

UPMan · Jan 24, 2015

396XT will also take 14 hours to fully recharge 2300 mAH batteries. Where are you getting the 5 hour number from?

mciupa · Jan 24, 2015

I think out of the box, the scanner is defaulted to five hours. It is an easy change in the settings menu, or software if you prefer.

Personally, I prefer twelve hours, easy to remember.

marksmith · Jan 24, 2015

UPMan said:
396XT will also take 14 hours to fully recharge 2300 mAH batteries. Where are you getting the 5 hour number from?

I see someone already answered this, but yes, the 396xt comes defaulted to 5 hours out of the box. I have 2 of them and they were both that way and came with 2300 batteries. I never bothered to change the time as the charging has been fine for the past year. If you are telling me that they are not fully charging in 5 hours and that they can be more fully charged (ie lasting longer) or the 5 hours is stressing the batteries somehow, then I'm in. Will set both for a higher number. Just figured that was the norm since they were defaulted to 5 hours.

mciupa · Jan 24, 2015

I just let them trickle charge over night. Unplugging the AC plug is the second thing I do after I wake up.

I won't tell you what the first thing is, but I'm 58 so it's not hard to figure out. :lol:

marksmith · Feb 18, 2015

Thanks to Radio Shack closeout on a second one of these great little radios I can leave the other one on 13 hours and trickle charge. Strange though. They charged to appx the same point in 5 hours over the past year.

BCD536HP/HP2/996XT/PSR800/396XT/996T

Uniden 396XT Battery Charging

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