BCD436HP/BCD536HP: Must have (dead) batteries installed to record?

I usually always have spare batteries handy but I'm on a trip and the original Uniden batteries decided to give out on me so now I only have one functioning set...

Anyway, I removed my drained set of batteries to charge them externally and then tried to use the radio as normal (normal for me it record everything - Func/Replay). The radio wouldn't let me enable recording because I had removed the batteries. To make it work as usual, I had to insert my DEAD batteries... wow - that makes (no) sense....

I ran into a similar problem. With the latest firmware that bypassed the RTC problem, I was unable to use the Replay feature. I don't use this feature very much, but did come in handy.

The batteries are needed so the scanner has power to write to the SD Card in case of loss of the external power. Even "dead" cells (which aren't completely dead) will save the card.

This amuses me. Think about the PC world, where they suggest you don't do critical updates while on battery power. Why assume that external power is less reliable than (potentially borderline) batteries?

I guess you've never bumped or pulled a USB cable out of the socket. The mains are not the only source of external power failure, but the batteries failing instantly is much more rare. By failing, I'm talking about dropping from say 1.0V to 0.0V (short of you removing them).

So, glad you're amused, but it's purely logical and statistical.

kh11 said:

This amuses me. Think about the PC world, where they suggest you don't do critical updates while on battery power. Why assume that external power is less reliable than (potentially borderline) batteries?

Click to expand...

(I) consider the source and just ignore it.

The card isn't at risk unless a write is interrupted at the exact time that power is lost. That's a long shot by any measure.

Since a write takes place anytime it's receiving, I would say the odds are pretty good. Now, the odds of corruption may be less likely, but the interruption during write is pretty high.