396XT and Lithium batteries?

[tampatracker]

Does anyone have any knowledge or experience with using lithium batteries in the 396XT? I have a brand new 12 pack of them and am wondering if they are safe to use/charge in this unit? I realize that I would need to decrease the charge time in the settings menu to accommodate the difference in charge times inherant with lithium cells. Any input would be appreciated, TT.

 

[Thunderknight]

Are they Lithium-Ion or regular Lithium? The regular kind, like the Energizer ultimate Lithium can not be charged. They are single-use, like Alkalines.

If you want to use them and then toss them when they are depleted, I see no reason you can't use them in any device. I use them in my weather station because they work well in very low temperatures.

If they are rechargable Lithium-Ion, I believe they need a special charger that can monitor the cell temperature.

 

[tampatracker]

Yes to be more specific I meant the lithium-ion rechargeable type batteries. It seems to me that I also remember seeing something about them needing a special charger, but am wondering if with the 396XT's battery charge time set to say six hours if that would be safe?

 

[Viper43]

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8520/4.6.1.314 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/102)

Even with the nicads I use a seperate charger. Just because the scanner can charge batteries dosnt mean it is the best way to do it.
I found there's a lot of heat built up charging in the scanner, bad for both the scanner and batteries. And in the past some have had failures
Of the scanner due to charging with it so I just use a seperate charger. I have found the batteries last longer as well. I have 2 sets of batteries for
Each scanner- 64 batteries in all.

 

[kc2rgw]

Unless the Uniden guy says go ahead, I would not charge LiIon batteries using the internal charger, it was made for slow charging NiMh.

 

[MarkWestin]

If you like your BCD396XT, you won't put those Lithium Ion batteries in it. Each Lithium Ion Cell puts out 3.7 volts compared to 1.5 volts (Alkaline) or 1.2 Volts (NIMH or NICAD). Also if a charger of the wrong type is used, a Lithium Ion battery will catch on fire or explode as opposed to most other types which will just leak. I suggest searching (Google) for more information.

Mark

 

[davidmc36]

Loose 'AA' Lithium Ion cells are not available to purchase for the general public for a reason. I could not even find a retail/industrial source in town for such an item. A place that will make you any battery pack that you desire must submit a design for the charger before the manufacturer will even ship him the LI-Ion cells. Whatever it is that you have a 12 pack of, put a meter on them first.

 

[XTS3000]

I believe the Op is talking about the energizer Lithium AA's available at any retailer like walmart or walgreens. I've used them in the 396T an 396XT and they worked great. They lasted a decent amount of time, but was IMHO not worth the money vs rechargables or alkaline batteries.

Just don't try to charge these AA Lithium Energizers. Can't say what would happen is charged, but could possable damage the scanner.

 

[JnglMassiv]

Do NOT EVER try to recharge batteries other than nickle-metal hydride or nicads in your scanner. No alkaline, no 'heavy duty', no lithiums of any type. EVER. Don't even plug the charger in with forbidden batteries installed.

 

[LSEMT219]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_1_2 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7D11 Safari/528.16)

Do NOT EVER try to recharge batteries other than nickle-metal hydride or nicads in your scanner. No alkaline, no 'heavy duty', no lithiums of any type. EVER. Don't even plug the charger in with forbidden batteries installed.

As long as you have the switch in the battery compartment switched to alkaline you can plug it in.

 

[JnglMassiv]

As long as you have the switch in the battery compartment switched to alkaline you can plug it in.

Boy, I sure wouldn't. It's really asking for trouble and so avoidable.

In my opinion, of course. Do what you please.

 

[scanrfan]

Lithium Batteries

If you want to try and recharge the Lithium batteries, the best thing to do would be to get/use an external charger and use it to charge them. That way if something smokes the batteries, you don't smoke your radio as well. Better to loose a $30-$60 charger than a $500+ scanner!!

 

[jackj]

Lithium is dangerous stuff. Lithium batteries are safe to use because of the way they are packaged. Rupture the case and the lithium will come into contact with the moisture in the air, catch fire and burn very hotly. Lithium primary cells (non-rechargeable) should never be charged. Chargers designed to recharge lithium-ion rechargeable cells monitor a lot of different things, charge time, current, voltage, temperature. Recharging lithium-ion cells without proper monitoring of the cell is very dangerous. DON'T DO IT!

 

[exkalibur]

Charging ANY batteries in the scanner is a bad idea. It is designed for NiCd and NiMH. However, the scanner likes to overcharge those batteries.

Always ALWAYS use an external charger if you value your batteries.

But above all...do NOT charge Lithium ones in the thing whatever you do...If you do, you won't be able to monitor the fire dispatch...