SDS100/SDS200: Broken battery door clip due to large battery tightness

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n5gqb

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I wanted to also show y'all of where my clip broke. It's still just barely hanging together. It didn't break at the hinge pin.
53ab59bbf48c43e74d3b184c6dff2873.jpg
 

rcool101

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Yep. My bigbutt door is double padded. I think they made the door too big and had to shim it inside. Someone's going to rip the pad out and try a single
 

cistercian

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So you're saying that a consumer of a $700 radio should have to take to it with a file and modify/alter the thing to achieve proper operation? And that even if it is a design flaw, it's somehow the OP's fault and he "broke it"?

Seems to me this radio should be placed inside a cabinet next to grandma's fine china, never to be touched again.

No. The new battery should fit correctly. If you have to modify it to work...shame on uniden.
A 700 dollar radio should be made to a high standard. Cheesy work arounds are unacceptable.

I have lots of ICOM gear. Not only does it perform superlatively it also is built to a high standard of fit and finish, At 700 dollars, this scanner costs far more than my IC-T70A. And the ICOM is built so much better.
Hell, it is half the cost of my ICOM IC-7410 which is a epic grade HF transceiver.

It also costs a lot more than my ICOM 2730A which is not only an excellent dual band transceiver with 50 watts on both bands with cross band repeat but also a kick *** scanner in its coverage range. It is fantastic for trains and aero use.

I cannot believe the fanboys here. Great radios built well with good support exist. And you settle for this?

Get a clue. Uniden needs to step up.
 

buddrousa

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And getting in a hurry and not seating the battery then trying to force the clip lock and breaking it is not Unidens fault. Comparing analog none of the Icom equipment you listed will do P25 Phase 1 and 2 can not be upgraded to DMR or NXDN. I have a Uniden analog handheld that works great for $199.
 

Citywide173

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I can already see the direction that will be coming from the fanboys in this thread....

"Why are you swapping batteries in the first place? Just charge the one you have in the radio and there is no reason to remove the battery door."

Of course, this goes against the advice given in so many other threads about in-radio charging, but if it solves the problem without Uniden getting any blame, then it's the right answer. The fact Uniden came out with an external charger just for this battery is irrelevant.
 

KK4JUG

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I can already see the direction that will be coming from the fanboys in this thread....

"Why are you swapping batteries in the first place? Just charge the one you have in the radio and there is no reason to remove the battery door."

Of course, this goes against the advice given in so many other threads about in-radio charging, but if it solves the problem without Uniden getting any blame, then it's the right answer. The fact Uniden came out with an external charger just for this battery is irrelevant.

This radio has a different charger than previous models. It's designed to be charged in the radio. It could be called a semi-smart charger. It reads the battery strength where the others simply applied charging voltage for a specific time. I called it semi-smart because it's for charging only and not reviving, testing, etc., the battery.
 

n5gqb

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Uhmm yeah right ok uh-huh whatever... So much assumption and exaggeration flying around from the trolls, typical.
I've had other radios with similar snap clips for batteries so I am familiar with them.
It cracked while unsnapping to take out the battery. Since the large battery is a tighter fit (due to pads) I would press together the cover and radio to mate up before snapping. However unsnapping I typically didn't do this, as it was not ridiculously hard to unsnap, but more so than the small battery/door. Never suspected of it breaking.

I don't know if it's supposed to have two pads in there or not. IMO, two are too thick and place too much stress on the clip which can lead to easy breakage. Don't know how one pad would work, may be more like the fitness of the small battery or may be too loose. Maybe one of you daring ones w/o a broke clip can remove one layer of pads and see how it goes.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N930A using Tapatalk
 
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phask

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I have 2 doors (and 2 batteries) both have 2 small pads, both double thick, removed one entire pad at the bottom and latches easier.


YMMV
 

srpawski

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Yep. Still glad I sold mine and moved on. This is definitely not impressive.
 

AvidHiker

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LOL, one insensitive guy puts some blame on the OP, followed by multiple sympathetic replies from other SDS owners, and we're all terrible awful fanboys shifting blame away from Uniden? You Uniden bashers are just as childish as the few true Uniden fanboys. Priceless.

Anyway, I have both the large and small batteries and haven't noticed any difference in the clip force. Could be I just naturally adopted the habit of firmly seating the door before latching - seems to make sense considering there's a o-ring gasket there. I don't see any issue with the battery door design (almost identical to my little Icoms, which have taken many ugly falls), but it's certainly possible that the clip isn't sufficiently strong. Could be a simple material property adjustment - looks like there may even be a little room to beef it up a bit. Anyway, mountain from molehill (for some) as it currently stands. The battery redesign wasn't expected, so I'm not surprised there may still be some growing pains ahead.
 

phask

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Same here, years of Pelican cases, tackle boxes and instument cases . Some Pelican's are so tight I have to pry them open and dammnear sit on them to latch (2 stage latch).








LOL, one insensitive guy puts some blame on the OP, followed by multiple sympathetic replies from other SDS owners, and we're all terrible awful fanboys shifting blame away from Uniden? You Uniden bashers are just as childish as the few true Uniden fanboys. Priceless.

Anyway, I have both the large and small batteries and haven't noticed any difference in the clip force. Could be I just naturally adopted the habit of firmly seating the door before latching - seems to make sense considering there's a o-ring gasket there. I don't see any issue with the battery door design (almost identical to my little Icoms, which have taken many ugly falls), but it's certainly possible that the clip isn't sufficiently strong. Could be a simple material property adjustment - looks like there may even be a little room to beef it up a bit. Anyway, mountain from molehill (for some) as it currently stands. The battery redesign wasn't expected, so I'm not surprised there may still be some growing pains ahead.
 

srpawski

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I am too. I used the money to purchase more quality amateur radio electronics.
 

darkness975

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As with all newly manufactured devices im sure we are starting to now see an issue with the quality of the materials or design (small battery vs big battery) or a combination of a few things start to happen with normal use over 6 months.

I was thinking of getting an SDS100 for Christmas. I have been fortunate enough to borrow one on several occassions and liked it. However im not in a position where i NEED one. My other radios and scanners are doing the job. Going to sit back and see if any more of these latch issues creep up.

I second this. I don't know if the SDS100 will perform any better than my BCD325P2 or my other radios (and they all will perform better when I move some day) but at the moment what I have works.
 
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dlhess

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Bearcat Warehouse has SDS100 replacement battery covers available for $10.99
 

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SteveSimpkin

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I guess this shouldn't surprise me, but $11.00 for a cheap piece of plastic ?.

Parts have always been highly marked up from manufacturers. I recall a story from the 70's that estimated it would cost you about $25,000 to order the parts that made up a Chevy Vega that sold new for about $2,300.
 

KK4JUG

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Replacement parts go through a different supply line before they end up at the consumer as opposed to the manufacturer.
 
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