TRX-1: TRX-1 Overheats battery and deforms cover

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Sanscanman

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Good Morning,


This is not a thread to slam on Whistler. Just merely to offer information and help identify a potential issue or one off fluke.


I recently purchased my TRX-1 on prime day and received it the next day. I have not had time to put it through it's full paces yet, but my main impetus for getting it was a nearby local PS NXDN system.

The serial on the unit is 0003590. I loaded with a set of enercells and have been using it in the home and car both attached and unattached to USB. Up until last night I had noted no issues.


Last night I had it the car with me attached to the car USB which is rated at 5 volts 0.5 amps. It appeared to operate fine the whole morning, picked up signals. When I got back home I noticed this on the back cover in the third battery position. There is a noticeable bubbling on the cover and at the pole position on the bottom of the scanner now. Also it appears it got hot enough to fuse the cover or maybe the seal, as I can't even get the back cover off now.

9c86d1443797cbda9b2cb937d83ece78.jpg


I have ordered a replacement through Amazon. Wendy if you will pm me I will get you the informations you need to get with Amazon and get this unit back for further dissection.

Hopefully this is just a fluke.


P.S. This thread was started for information purposes, and not to debate the merits of wether one should or should not charge batteries in our scanners.

Thank you




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krokus

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Srarting without the basics here, did you ensure the battery type slide switch was set to the correct and relevant position?

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Adding to the quoted text.

Many people will tell you to not charge your batteries in the radio. While that is good advice, I have never had an issue with doing so.

"Enercell" was mentioned, but that is a brand, not a type. What type of batteries were installed?

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jaspence

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Deformed case

I had the same experience several years ago with a Pro 96. The problem was a battery that had shorted internally. A good external charger is the only way to prevent this. My latest charger came from Ikea. It holds twelve AA or AAA cells, each is charged individually and goes into a maintenance mode when a cell is done so I always have a fully charged set or two.
 

BrianG61UK

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Since only one cell overheated it looks to me like that individual cell somehow shorted out.

On some cells the bump at the positive end doesn't stick out much more than the end of the metal case that is the negative which is also often only covered by a thin layer of plastic. My guess is a short occurred there.

This is a useful warning to check batteries for other exposed metal near the bump at the positive end.

I'd say this probably didn't have much to do with the fact that the batteries were charging at the time and could have happened at any point.

I hope you can get it repaired or replaced without extra cost.
 

Sanscanman

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Good Morning,

To follow up on a few questions.. The Enercells were NiMh and recently gone both analyze and reconditioning cycles on my trusty Maha CH9000 charger. I would agree with the idea of a short myself but I can't get inside to inspect it. As to repair. That's the beauty of Amazon. They tell me the replacement unit will arrive by the 26th. While it's not the original one day shipping that I got when I purchased it, there is still no reason to complain. They are willing to advance ship and wait up to 30 days for return. I think that's more than fair. And who knows?! I might get it sooner since there is a warehouse just down the road.


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SCPD

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I always use the TRX1 to charge and always leave it plugged in to charge.No issues.
I think maybe that one battery was bad or was accidently reverse-polarity.
What kind of USB charger are you using?
Mine is 2 amps.
Enercell?Is that Radio shack?
Like to see a picture of the batteries in the scanner when this kind of thing happens
 

Sanscanman

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Good Evening,

I was able to finally get the back cover off. It appears it got hot enough to fuse the plastic.. here are additional photos I have taken for those of you that are interested.

7107f83cfe6250318a1393932acc782b.jpg


edf4b9023a601952ac28d6538e48d9ee.jpg


be7db8794f56e5b4f766303ab67fba36.jpg


482d494a165fae57042af2c69fc93f26.jpg


c8f3da806e620825bd0ec67bb259a601.jpg


44aafffc4ef014f8af8cb6cc8e8f33cf.jpg


Thank you.






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milcom_chaser

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Good Evening,

I was able to finally get the back cover off. It appears it got hot enough to fuse the plastic.. here are additional photos I have taken for those of you that are interested.

7107f83cfe6250318a1393932acc782b.jpg


edf4b9023a601952ac28d6538e48d9ee.jpg


be7db8794f56e5b4f766303ab67fba36.jpg


482d494a165fae57042af2c69fc93f26.jpg


c8f3da806e620825bd0ec67bb259a601.jpg


44aafffc4ef014f8af8cb6cc8e8f33cf.jpg


Thank you.






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Those photos are smokin.
 
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