Car Installed P25 Scanners. Don't use the good ones!!!

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Roveer

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So I was researching scanners that I wanted to put in my car. It had to be a Uniden so I could use FTO to limit the amount of traffic to what I wanted to hear. I've got a 536HP at home and have been pretty satisfied with it. Someone suggested the 436HP because the programming would be interchangeable. I was pretty jazzed about the idea as it would be portable, and the latest model. These things have all turned out to be true.

Then I started asking questions about installing in my car. That's when the wheels came off the cart.

First problem with the 436HP is that you would have to turn it on and off each time you got in your car for the following reasons:

1. having it plugged into switched USB power will generate a serial/mass storage menu every time the power cycles and won't continue till you answer the question.

2. Removing power will eventually corrupt your SD card and send you back to your computer or worse, best buy for new SDHC cards.

Trying to install a 536HP in your car will result in #2 above.

So it's become painfully obvious to me that Uniden did not think this through very well. Especially with the 536HP considering they provide the car mounting bracket and 12V wiring harness. They neglected to include the part about corrupting your SD card by pulling power from the scanner without turning it off first. Even if it's in the manual some place. Is that really a satisfactory auto installation? Park the car, start shutting down your equipment? No!. Turn the key, close the door and go...

Now, will the new BCD996P2 Fair any better? No SD card right? How about the older BCD396XT No SD card there either? But what gotcha's lurk in those devices from keeping it simple?

I guess I have to ask the question since my perception of an auto installation is dramatically different than what Uniden envisioned.

Is it possible to set a scanner (you tell me what model) and install it in your car via a 12v switched circuit (that means power when car is running, no power when it's not), and have the scanner come on when the car is running, and go off when it's not. and not have to intervene or interact with the device. Just start the car and drive and it's on, just stop the car and it's off. Nothing more. The scanner would be set to either FTO mode or to scan a small portion of my P25 county system (a few TG's, the rest avoided), Plus a county analog fire dispatch.

Back when everything was analog this was much simpler to accomplish. Now, not so much.

What say you...

Thanks,

Roveer
 

kb3isq

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Why not leave it on? I do with my GRE 800 with no problems and it does not take much from the car battery.
 

ratboy

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One of the first things I did on my car is swap a fuse so the power outlets are on all the time. On most Chrysler products, that's all it takes and solves a lot of these kind of issues.
 

Roveer

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I don't want it making noise when I'm not in the car. I don't want to have to worry about how much power it might be taking from the battery. What if I leave my car for a month. I was planning on connecting it to a larger speaker. The thought crossed my mind about leaving it on, then putting a power determined relay to cut the speaker connection to silence it when the car was off, but really. I have to go that custom just to get a simple solution? Bumm'n me. These things should have been considered in the design and use of the product. I'm having to engineer solutions when it should have been considered for a premium product.

Roveer

(can ya tell I haven't had a cigarette since Sunday. Whoofa).
 

phask

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I've used 996xt and older 780 and NEVER had an issue - that was back when I had way too much gear and ham gear in the mobile. Those are really really bulletproof - just no ph2.

Heard there may be issues with the 992 when the vehicle starts (cranking low power) but have not tried mine yet.

Currently using HP1 , have a power wart hardwired with an on off switch, but still need to power the radio on and off. If just in and out for a few hours I leave it on. Also for quick trips, I don't bother with the power and use the batteries. Not perfect, but works for me.
 

pinballwiz86

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The design of these radios should have included some type of software that safely shuts down the scanner without corrupting the card in the presence of lack of 12v power.
 

ofd8001

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Guess I must be lucky.

I have had a 536 installed in my pickup truck for well over a year. The power wire is on an ignition sense circuit: key on, power to the scanner - key off, no power. (This was a circuit I added, using a relay with the relay being triggered by an ignition sense wire).

My truck is started numerous times each day and I have not experienced any SD card issues. I do use a 16GB card instead of the original. (I do have a spare SD card in the glove box, "just in case".)

The only hitch is this: If I change some settings, such as turning on a Favorites List, they are not "remembered" for the next session. But to get around this, I turn the scanner off via volume knob, then back on. That way those changes are committed to the SD card.

If someone wanted to leave their scanner on, but not "hear" anything from it when the vehicle is off, an amplified speaker could be used. Simply connect the amplified speaker power wire to a key switched circuit so it won't be active when the vehicle is off.
 

unpltd

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Close to Toronto ON.
Guess I must be lucky.

I have had a 536 installed in my pickup truck for well over a year. The power wire is on an ignition sense circuit: key on, power to the scanner - key off, no power. (This was a circuit I added, using a relay with the relay being triggered by an ignition sense wire).

My truck is started numerous times each day and I have not experienced any SD card issues. I do use a 16GB card instead of the original. (I do have a spare SD card in the glove box, "just in case".)

The only hitch is this: If I change some settings, such as turning on a Favorites List, they are not "remembered" for the next session. But to get around this, I turn the scanner off via volume knob, then back on. That way those changes are committed to the SD card.

If someone wanted to leave their scanner on, but not "hear" anything from it when the vehicle is off, an amplified speaker could be used. Simply connect the amplified speaker power wire to a key switched circuit so it won't be active when the vehicle is off.


+1 on this, I haven't had one problem with my 536 in my truck.
 

tbiggums

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So it's become painfully obvious to me that Uniden did not think this through very well. Especially with the 536HP considering they provide the car mounting bracket and 12V wiring harness. They neglected to include the part about corrupting your SD card by pulling power from the scanner without turning it off first. Even if it's in the manual some place. Is that really a satisfactory auto installation? Park the car, start shutting down your equipment? No!. Turn the key, close the door and go...

You're right, it is a pretty ridiculous setup. You'd think they'd give it an ignition sense wire if it requires a proper "shut down".

I'm like you. I expect my scanner or radios to power on with the vehicle automatically, and pretty much resume what they were doing when it shut off.

I use the PRO-197 now wired to ignition switched 12V, which works pretty well, but not perfect. Every once in a while it must not like the voltage sag while starting the vehicle, as it loses its working memory. Fortunately the contents of the V-Scanner folders survive this, so I can just reload the working memory from one of those. It only happens on maybe 1 out of 30 starts, so I can live with it.

I do need P25 Phase II capability, but the 536HP won't work for me. There's this stupid manual power on/off situation, the stupid internal clock battery situation, and it won't properly track P25 talkgroup patches. And it looks like the new Whistler mobile will have similar manual power on/off requirements, and it lacks the necessary keypad to safely change scanlists while driving.

Maybe that 996XTP2 will work? Oh wait, knowing Uniden, it probably won't track P25 talkgroup patches either.
 

Voyager

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The design of these radios should have included some type of software that safely shuts down the scanner without corrupting the card in the presence of lack of 12v power.

And exactly where would it get the power to do that in the lack of the presence of power? And why aren't they doing this with computers?
 

Voyager

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You're right, it is a pretty ridiculous setup. You'd think they'd give it an ignition sense wire if it requires a proper "shut down".

I posted a very simple mod to do just that on several other threads. I also posted that the same could be done in firmware along (no mods) with a simple update. Hopefully Uniden will add it when they are done getting caught up on the other issues.
 

chuck_e7

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Grayson, GA.
So I was researching scanners that I wanted to put in my car. It had to be a Uniden so I could use FTO to limit the amount of traffic to what I wanted to hear. I've got a 536HP at home and have been pretty satisfied with it. Someone suggested the 436HP because the programming would be interchangeable. I was pretty jazzed about the idea as it would be portable, and the latest model. These things have all turned out to be true.

Then I started asking questions about installing in my car. That's when the wheels came off the cart.

First problem with the 436HP is that you would have to turn it on and off each time you got in your car for the following reasons:

1. having it plugged into switched USB power will generate a serial/mass storage menu every time the power cycles and won't continue till you answer the question.

2. Removing power will eventually corrupt your SD card and send you back to your computer or worse, best buy for new SDHC cards.

Trying to install a 536HP in your car will result in #2 above.

So it's become painfully obvious to me that Uniden did not think this through very well. Especially with the 536HP considering they provide the car mounting bracket and 12V wiring harness. They neglected to include the part about corrupting your SD card by pulling power from the scanner without turning it off first. Even if it's in the manual some place. Is that really a satisfactory auto installation? Park the car, start shutting down your equipment? No!. Turn the key, close the door and go...

Now, will the new BCD996P2 Fair any better? No SD card right? How about the older BCD396XT No SD card there either? But what gotcha's lurk in those devices from keeping it simple?

I guess I have to ask the question since my perception of an auto installation is dramatically different than what Uniden envisioned.

Is it possible to set a scanner (you tell me what model) and install it in your car via a 12v switched circuit (that means power when car is running, no power when it's not), and have the scanner come on when the car is running, and go off when it's not. and not have to intervene or interact with the device. Just start the car and drive and it's on, just stop the car and it's off. Nothing more. The scanner would be set to either FTO mode or to scan a small portion of my P25 county system (a few TG's, the rest avoided), Plus a county analog fire dispatch.

Back when everything was analog this was much simpler to accomplish. Now, not so much.

What say you...

Thanks,

Roveer


Save yourself a lot of grief! Reach over and turn the radio off! I have Ham gear and have to hold the power button for at least 2 secs to power off. saves my radios!
 

mitbr

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Jun 22, 2007
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Being in Florida I never leave my scanner in the car. When in the car I use batteries on the 436.
For security and heat issues this is best practice in Florida.
 

CommLt

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San Diego County, California
I have used my HP-1, since they were released, into a switched cigarette lighter outlet and have never had a problem. You need to have no batteries in it. It sits on the dash sand works fine as my "control head".
 

WQPW689

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Palm Beach Co., FL
Being in Florida I never leave my scanner in the car. When in the car I use batteries on the 436.
For security and heat issues this is best practice in Florida.

Truer words were never spoken. Although I do use USB power when on GPS during long hauls up north.

I always thought I was paying too much for equipment not to shut them down before the ignition, but that's just me.
 

kb8rvp

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Michigan
I don't want it making noise when I'm not in the car. I don't want to have to worry about how much power it might be taking from the battery. What if I leave my car for a month. I was planning on connecting it to a larger speaker. The thought crossed my mind about leaving it on, then putting a power determined relay to cut the speaker connection to silence it when the car was off, but really. I have to go that custom just to get a simple solution? Bumm'n me. These things should have been considered in the design and use of the product. I'm having to engineer solutions when it should have been considered for a premium product.

Roveer

I have been using the BCD536HP in the car for over a year and it's the best scanner I have ever had in the car and have had no issues. I did post this info on another post:
I tried doing one of the firmware updates and started having issues with the scanner rebooting ever time I started the car and the analog reception wasn't as good so I went back to what worked best and that is the 1.01.05 firmware and never looked back. I will have to find that site again that you can find all of the Uniden firmware versions for download.

Mike
 

kb8rvp

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Jul 4, 2003
Messages
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Location
Michigan
I have been using the BCD536HP in the car for over a year and it's the best scanner I have ever had in the car and have had no issues. I did post this info on another post:
I tried doing one of the firmware updates and started having issues with the scanner rebooting ever time I started the car and the analog reception wasn't as good so I went back to what worked best and that is the 1.01.05 firmware and never looked back. I will have to find that site again that you can find all of the Uniden firmware versions for download.

Mike[/QUOTE]

Oh yeah I do turn my 536HP off whenever I head into a store or work but I do leave it on when I stop to get gas. I am able with this firmware to turn off the car and get gas and get back in and start the car and the scanner never reboots.

Mike
 

ResQguy

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Dec 19, 2002
Messages
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I permanently install hundreds of radios, quite a few of which are scanners. I have yet to encounter a corruption in an HP1, HP2, or 536HP in any ignition switched configuration. I will echo some others, where if I make a significant change to the settings it's a good idea to manually trigger a write cycle from the power switch so they are saved.
 

brennank

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Feb 3, 2013
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Location
Twin Cities MN
Especially with the 536HP considering they provide the car mounting bracket and 12V wiring harness. They neglected to include the part about corrupting your SD card by pulling power from the scanner without turning it off first.r

I have my 536HP installed in the car. It hasn't had a single issue because of random power off's and I have had the radio installed since I pre-ordered it. It won't remember all the changes you made during your session (some write during shutdown, while other write to the SD right away.)
My only gripe is the damn clock. If I do a bunch of short trips the internal battery never charges and it asks me to set the time every damn time I get in the car. Regardless, not a single issue from random shutdowns.
 
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