RS Pro 106 WARNING WARNING

F Y I : My RS PRO 106 had a MELT down with the yellow rechargeable battary holder. I picked up my scanner to take it with me using battery's & when i pu my scanner it was VERY HOT to the touch, took battery door off the back & took out the battery case for the recharable battery's & it was VERY HOT. got to looking at it & found the case hads a CRACK in the battery holder at the charging TAB'S. I let my scanner cool down & re pluged in the DC to see if it was staying cool & was ok. FYI, make sure there is NO CRACKS in the battery holder for recharable battery's.

This is why I NEVER charge batteries in a scanner. I use a La Crosse Technology BC-700. Only 40 bucks and money well spent.

Sorry you had this trouble, but there have been many warnings on this in these forums. Even the black holders, that are supposed to be safe when using external power to the radio, have caused similar issues. Please take these as your notice to never have batteries in your radio when they're plugged into external power sources.

W8RMH said:

This is why I NEVER charge batteries in a scanner. I use a La Crosse Technology BC-700. Only 40 bucks and money well spent.

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Ditto - only I use MAHA chargers. Both are very good.

Any time the issue comes up, I recommend external charging (in ANY scanner). Then there are the trolls who say I'm full of it, and say they charge all the time and have never had any issues.

Maybe yours will be the post on the issue they finally start to accept. Or maybe they will say you didn't have the issue as they claim with the others who have had similar events.

FWIW, not that it really matters, I think the exact cause was that you had a cell short. This usually (but not always) happens during charging. The result is a massive amount of heat as the cell self-discharges within itself. Of course, the fact the charger is adding to the available current doesn't help, either. While internal shorts can happen in any charger, the difference with a dedicated charger is that the cell is not surrounded by plastic susceptible to melting that holds the heat in to a degree. And even if it would, you are only out $40 or so, not $200-$500 or more.

Oh, and those cracks may have been a result of the event, not the cause.

Thanks for all reply's, This is a first for me in many years I have had a scanner. This is my lesson learned the hard way. Thanks goodness my Pro 106 is OK, I cot it just in time. But boy the battery's & holder were VERY HOT I could not get over how HOT they were. Now i'll just use the black battery holder & reg battery's & use them only when I go some where. Have a good day.

I use both adapters - I simply don't charge in the scanner by not connecting external power.

Voyager said:

I use MAHA chargers.

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+1 for MAHA chargers!

I have the MH-C801D. If need be, in fast mode, it can fully recharge 8 "AA" batteries in just 1-hour. It also has a conditioning mode, that rejuvenates batteries for better performance.

Universal Radio carries seven different MAHA chargers:

Amateur Radio Accessories

MH-C801D shown below:

retiredmich said:

... Now i'll just use the black battery holder & reg battery's & use them only when I go some where. Have a good day.

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And you could still have a problem. If there is a power surge when the A/C adapter is used the scanner could be damaged. It happened to me and others.
Your best bet is to buy an extra set of batteries and a charger and just change them every day or when they are discharged.

Or carry a spare set in another holder. That's one thing about the GRE models - you can change the set of batteries in a flash. (one lump out - one lump in)

we need more info

he said the battery pack was broken and that was the overheat problem
i am on board with the external charging.
i only use battery power for my 396t.
you can use rechargeables in the black holder they just won't get recharged in the radio.
so get an external.

Sorry to hear about that. At least you caught it in time.

wtp said:

he said the battery pack was broken and that was the overheat problem

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Most likely it was a result of the overheating, not the cause.

I've used some that have cracks for years. They separate right at the corner seems.