Pro-96 and Charging Question

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JimTDI

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Hi all! I'm a newbie here, just bought a Pro-96 after having a Pro-2006 for many years. Also got a copy of Win96, and signed up for an account here, so I'm prepared to learn alot and have fun. :)

I did a search for this on the forums before I posted this but can't find an answer.

When I plug my Pro-96 into the wall to recharge the batteries, (yellow battery holder is being used) I never see any indication on the display that says "charging" or anything like that. The display just stays blank. If I pull the battery pack out, the radio runs with just the power cord, so it's getting electricity.

Is the blank screen while recharging just normal behaviour for the Pro-96?

Thanks!
 

ayaresr

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As a general rule, every RadioShack scanner I have ever had with the exception maybe of an old Realistic, while charging, the display was blank. They do alert on low battery, but not on charge status.
Ryan
 

LEH

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First, welcome to RR. This is a great site.

Second, to answer your question. Yes, that is normal operation for the 96 and for the follow on PSR500.

Enjoy the scanner and learn a lot from here.
 

JimTDI

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ayaresr said:
As a general rule, every RadioShack scanner I have ever had with the exception maybe of an old Realistic, while charging, the display was blank. They do alert on low battery, but not on charge status.
Ryan

Thanks alot Ryan! Since this is my first "portable" scanner, I have no experience as to what to expect. I would have expected it would indicate somehow it was charging, but what can a person expect for $500 these days... :)
 

JimTDI

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LEH said:
First, welcome to RR. This is a great site.

Second, to answer your question. Yes, that is normal operation for the 96 and for the follow on PSR500.

Enjoy the scanner and learn a lot from here.

Thanks for the kind welcome! I figured out quickly a newbie like me could learn ALOT from a site like this. I'm sure the <Search> function here will become my new best friend for a while. I'm very relieved to hear that my scanner is operating normally in regards to the charging. I almost took it back... Thanks again!!
 

hill

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It is best to charge batteries with an external charger and not in the scanner. The higher quality chargers stop charging when batteries have 100% charge. The PRO-96 will charge the whole time and will cook the batteries faster. You also don’t want to risk a $500 scanner if something goes wrong during the charging process, since you can feel the PRO-96 getting warm by charging batteries. I don’t use the yellow battery holder in any of my PRO-95s, PRO-96s, or PRO-97s and only use the black battery holders. I always remove the batteries from the radios to charge them and you will get much more battery life by using this method.

Larry
 

manross

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hill said:
It is best to charge batteries with an external charger and not in the scanner. The higher quality chargers stop charging when batteries have 100% charge. The PRO-96 will charge the whole time and will cook the batteries faster. You also don&#8217;t want to risk a $500 scanner if something goes wrong during the charging process, since you can feel the PRO-96 getting warm by charging batteries. I don&#8217;t use the yellow battery holder in any of my PRO-95s, PRO-96s, or PRO-97s and only use the black battery holders. I always remove the batteries from the radios to charge them and you will get much more battery life by using this method.

Larry

Probably a good habit to get into, but for the sake of argument, I've always charged them internally for all the years I've owned it. I'm still using the same original batteries. Maybe I have just been lucky....;)

Marty
 
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mancow

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Actually, with the newest firmware applied the PSR-500 battery icon blinks now while charging. That's of course while the radio is on.



LEH said:
First, welcome to RR. This is a great site.

Second, to answer your question. Yes, that is normal operation for the 96 and for the follow on PSR500.

Enjoy the scanner and learn a lot from here.
 

JimTDI

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hill said:
It is best to charge batteries with an external charger and not in the scanner. The higher quality chargers stop charging when batteries have 100% charge. The PRO-96 will charge the whole time and will cook the batteries faster. You also don&#8217;t want to risk a $500 scanner if something goes wrong during the charging process, since you can feel the PRO-96 getting warm by charging batteries. I don&#8217;t use the yellow battery holder in any of my PRO-95s, PRO-96s, or PRO-97s and only use the black battery holders. I always remove the batteries from the radios to charge them and you will get much more battery life by using this method.

Larry

Larry - thanks much for the advice! I did buy an external charger as well. So are you suggesting I charge the batteries externally, and them use them in the black battery holder? Is the idea the yellow holder is only for charging, and it's OK to use rechargable batteries in the black holder? I'm just afraid I would forget and plug in the AC adapter to save on the battery life, and somehow have my Pro-96 start charging using the black holder. I will be careful - really would hate to smoke my new scanner. Thanks to you all for your advice!
 

manross

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Well I always figured that is why they gave you 2 different battery holders. The black one for standard alkaline and the yellow one for re-chargeable NiMH batteries. Apparently they designed the radio to charge the batteries while in the radio. Has there been any incidents documented that the Pro-96 has a problem in thier charging circuit? I never heard of one, but that doesn't mean that it doesn't exist I guess. :confused:

Marty
 
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hill

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The only difference is the yellow battery holder charges batteries in the scanner. The black won’t charge batteries in the PRO-96. If you look at them the yellow holder has bigger tabs to connect to the charging circuit inside the radio.
 

JimTDI

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hill said:
The only difference is the yellow battery holder charges batteries in the scanner. The black won&#8217;t charge batteries in the PRO-96. If you look at them the yellow holder has bigger tabs to connect to the charging circuit inside the radio.

Now that I've taken a close look at the 2 battery holders side by side, I see what you mean. Thank you for your reply!
 
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