BC396XT battery drain

[nascanner]

As of late, I've noticed my BC396XT seems to drain rechargeable batteries pretty quickly. What used to last all day won't go for more than a few hours nowadays. I mean the scanner. Don't know if it's the newer Powerex 2700 mah batteries, a malfunctioning MH-C9000 WizardOne charger or the scanner itself. What is considered to be acceptable/normal battery life? Any similar situations or ideas where to even start with this? I'm still talkin' about the scanner.

 

[DannB]

10 Hrs. Run time

As of late, I've noticed my BC396XT seems to drain rechargeable batteries pretty quickly. What used to last all day won't go for more than a few hours nowadays. I mean the scanner. Don't know if it's the newer Powerex 2700 mah batteries, a malfunctioning MH-C9000 WizardOne charger or the scanner itself. What is considered to be acceptable/normal battery life? Any similar situations or ideas where to even start with this? I'm still talkin' about the scanner.

Im using the same batteries you are and I get on average 10hrs . Also i use the unit(396xt) to charge the batteries..I never seem to have a problem..

 

[Markscan]

I also use those batteries, and a MAHA charger. I generally get between 12 and 15 hours of moderate listening.

 

[RickLeb]

The MAHA charger can do more than just charge batteries. Do a refresh and analyze to determine if all your batteries are up to snuff. Just one week cell can shorten the scanning time.

 

[Dewey]

I have had the exact same thing happen using the PowerEx 2700s and the MH-C9000. It always happened after I would put the batteries through the "Break-In" cycle after the batteries were about a year old. I went through about 50-75 PowerEx batteries this way prematurely killing them at one year young! Thinking the capacity was too high, I changed to the Imedion 2100s. One year break-in cycle, same thing. I then started Googling "Maha C9000 cooks batteries" and discovered many posts on the Candlepower Forum where members were cooking their batteries. Seems that the first model Maha C9000s (Firmware code 0FAB02 on the bottom) was the problem. A lot of those first models seemed to have a firmware problem in detecting the full charge, and this was the same C9000 that I had. I ordered a new C9000 in January, and it has the latest firmware code 0J0JA, but I won't know if the problem has been solved for sure until my current batteries gat a little age. I have put all of my batteries through a break in cycle without any negative results, but again, they are all under one year old.

Dewey

 

[nascanner]

Response thanks

Thanks for the baseline and to Dewey for the info on the charger. I flipped mine over, it's a 0J0FA. The batteries were purchased in October and got the initial break in cycle. I've even gone so far as to use them in the same sets of three. There's probably around 30 cycles on each set so it sounds like it's time to Refresh/Analyze.

 

[wmbio]

I had the same problem with the Powerex 2700...Purchased 32 batteries 2 years ago, threw them all in the garbage before Christmas. I was lucky to see 1000mah capacity after a year or two of service. They die very quick I noticed and It did not matter how they were charged or refreshed.
My 2 cents worth.
Enjoy