PSR-800 backlight impact

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kh11

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Just an FYI- Like many others, I've find the PSR-800's display difficult to read without leaving the backlight on all the time (I set it to "low"). I was wondering if there was any long-term adverse impact of doing this (other than increased drain on the batteries), so I asked GRE via their support web form. To their credit, I got an answer within minutes via email:

"Other than the slightly increased battery drain, there are no adverse impacts for leaving the backlight on at the lowest level all the time.

Best Regards,
GRE Support Team"
 

torontokris

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Id also add posibility of the backlight burning out sooner on a radio being run 24/7 with the light on....
its rare but chances must increase.

yes some of us have 10+ year old scanners that the backlight still works.

lastly hopefully the backlight is different from the 310/410 light.


"Other than the slightly increased battery drain, there are no adverse impacts for leaving the backlight on at the lowest level all the time.

Best Regards,
GRE Support Team"
 

RickS31

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Id also add posibility of the backlight burning out sooner on a radio being run 24/7 with the light on....
its rare but chances must increase.

Almost without exception nowadays, the backlights are not lightbulbs but are LEDs. LEDs, in addition to putting out almost no heat, last theoretically forever. That said, like any solid state device, there can be failures but as mentioned this would be exceedingly rare.
 

Halfpint

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I suspect that most of you have, by now, found that the `Low' setting is not really all that low, too? I don't know just how they are controlling the intensity but, I really don't think that the `low' setting isn't making that much of a difference in how much running the backlight set for `low' affects the battery `life'. If they could get it down to, lessay, 1-2 lumen *maybe* it would make a decent effect upon the battery life?
 

rwier

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If u-all live long enough, the idea of walking around, shirt-pocket, hiking, biking, hang-gliding, etc., with your scanner close at hand on battery power will not compute.

Long time rule for me=pull the batteries (if the scanner will function without them). Now recently we have the "record" scanners that demand the batteries be inserted to "record". Hate to give up the "record" function so I leave the batteries in but try to select a NO CHARGE option. I do not want to charge batteries while they are in the scanner. Probably will not get a satisfactory "record" result either, lol.

Rob
 
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the GRE-800 is a great scanner the back light does eat batteries and i wish the scanner would last longer on batteries my old radio shack pro-96 did last for days with out re-chargering batteries.i did get a slow charger for batteries and turn off the back light so i can only hit anay button to turn it on.i hope when the mobile type hits the market it works like the pocket scanner GRE-800 its better than the BC396xt i was testing it worked way better than bearcat.
 

ratboy

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The LED backlights are nice in that they basically never die, but really kill battery life. I was just thinking a few days ago, I have LEDs from the late 60's-early 70's that still work fine. I wonder what their lifespan will end up being? I expect they will be going on long after I'm not going...anywhere.
 

Arizona_Scanner

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As far as I can tell leaving the light on low is the way to go unless you are in bright environments where sometimes you might actually want it higher. Without the back light the display is pretty weak. On low the battery impact is reasonable. Make sure you have a good set like powerex or duracell 2650 batteries.
 
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