Pro 106 battery icon??

[kortmeyer]

Rechargable Batteries

On the subject of recharable batteries. I have currently by buying the the Rayovac Hybrid NiMH batteries and charging them in an Energizer NiMH charger. These batteries are holding there charge much longer than the Energizer's have been. I am ver impressed so far, and the cost of lower than other brands. I have buy them at an Alco store for $8 for a pack of 4 AA's. Not bad.

Just thought I would put that out there.

PS, I also have the Pro 106 and have no ill effects by charging in the scanner, however, I feel that after a good full drain of the batteries, I would rather put them in my external charger, I feel it tops them off better and increases the life of the battery.

Big Al

 

[RickS31]

I didn't bother to read this entire thread, but I disagree. I have 3 Pro-106's. One of which is on about 12 hours a day and is plugged in to the RS 9V wallcharger the entire time. I only occasionally charge my Energizer rechargables in the external charger to "top them off". I have had no problems whatsoever doing it this way for almost a year. The battery area will get a little warm but thats normal with charging batteries. I can not imagine any possibility of blowing your scanner up. Someone please explain to me why this is so, because it sounds like some crazy old wives tale.

You are obviously fully entitled to your opinion on this but some of the folks that have experienced scanner damage may be a bit miffed at being called old wives, unless they are old wives of course. Even then, old may carry a small conotation. Anyway, while you've had good luck with over charging your batteries, you're still hinging your scanners expensive life on having good batteries in them. As one or more of them approach end-of-life or get damaged from long term overcharging, things can go downhill fast. And that isn't a tale but rather solid science as to how these batteries are designed AND meant to be charged properly. The key here is that the 106 or even most of these radios don't have the overall smarts that the battery manufacturers expect to charge them properly for maximum life or, even more importantly, safety. You are right in one respect that they won't probably explode but melting important parts and/or filling the battery compartment with those pesky battery chemicals is a real possibility

Rather than get long winded here and not having it read, if anyone is interested I can provide the charging specs that the manufacturers expect and contrast that to what the 106 does just to provide the "science" as to why it's touchy at best. Otherwise, as was said in a previous post, it's your money and radio.

 

[Gamefreak88]

I didn't mean to come off as thinking I'm right and not accepting any other explanation. You are indeed correct that there is that risk, but I think its relatively minor. My post was more of trying to get an alternative side to the issue. So my apologies if I came off as a know-it-all.

I would be interested to know what the charge rate/specs are, and eventually I hope to tweak the battery settings for the icons once I do some research and math. I have noticed I get slightly better battery life when charging them in the external charger. I believe the wall charger probably does around 85% charge. For me, using my scanner every day, I can not be bothered to be changing out batteries all the time. I wish RS/Grecom made a battery pack like cellphones instead of AA's. Like a Lithium Ion/Polymer battery.

I have a multimeter (although I haven't really learned how to use one) and the Energizer wall charger. If I can be of any help, it may be nice to get the specs out there. I'm sure others would be interested too.

 

[RickS31]

I didn't mean to come off as thinking I'm right and not accepting any other explanation. You are indeed correct that there is that risk, but I think its relatively minor. My post was more of trying to get an alternative side to the issue. So my apologies if I came off as a know-it-all.

I apologize too. My comments were totally done tongue in cheek but I can see how they may have been construed as negative. Not meant that way. All here are entitled to their opinions and all comments are welcome as I have found, whether right or not (LOL).

I'll probably put together the mentioned document. I've spent years researching and designing these battery chargers so I hope that at least it may shed a bit of light on these workhorses.

With the newer battery designs and charger circuits they are better than ever and will take a lot more abuse than they used to.

Just for a quick warning of what can go wrong in the 106 and similar units as these batteries age, especially when under constant charge or overcharge, they begin to develop partial shorts internally. This becomes a cascade effect. Most "smart" chargers have circuitry specially designed to detect these results and shut down the charge current after a couple of obvious parameters are crossed. The scanners have no such safeties built in. So, that said, as the batteries age (and they will) the danger to both heat and chemical damage increase exponentially.

Anyway, knowing that, just keep your eyes on it and never let the scanner sit turned off with AC plugged in and the yellow holder in it like you might do overnight.

Regards,

 

[ampulman]

Accoring to the user manual on page 19, the battery icon flashes for two reasons - (1) when the battery power is low, and (2) when the internal battery charge circuit is active.

In the original poster's case, the battery icon is flashing because the internal battery charge circuit is active. The user manual says "Your scanner provides an indication when the the internal battery charge circuit is active. The battery icon briefly flashes approximately once every second". It also says, "The battery charge indicator does not provide positive indication that the batteries are actually being charged. Batteries will not charge unless the yellow battery holder is used".

What the user manual doesn't say is that there is actually a way to turn the internal battery charge circuit on and off while the scanner is plugged into the wall. To do this, go to ....

PGM - GLOB - Battery Info - Select

You will have three options to control the internal battery control circuit:

Done - Do nothing and return to previous menu item.
Stop - Stop the internal battery charging circuit.
Reset - Reset the internal battery charging clock and continue charging.
Charg - If the internal battery charging circuit is already off, you will have this option to turn it back on.

Revised to add - These options will not be available if the scanner is not plugged into the wall and is running on battery power.

Just got my 106 and am currently running on battery power (holding off on the pwr supply until I'm sure I'll keep it). In the expert settings, I set the charging time to ZERO. I read (probably here) that this would, in effect, turn off charging (correct?).

While I will likely get the supply, I like to carry the extra holder in my bag when operating portable (did this while I briefly owned a 96). When parked, waiting for my wife (shopping), I'm able to make a quick change when the batteries quit.

In the past, I would occasionally load (either) holder with alkalines, when my NIMHs weren't fully charged.

Can you (someone) verify that this is correct.

Thanks.

Amp

 

[grumpy_hermit]

Just got my 106 and am currently running on battery power (holding off on the pwr supply until I'm sure I'll keep it). In the expert settings, I set the charging time to ZERO. I read (probably here) that this would, in effect, turn off charging (correct?).

Correct, 0 (zero) will result in no charging.

 

[SCPD]

I have the Wally World Ray o Vac 2100mah batteries in my scanner. Its a common sense thing with the charger. Run the scanner all day on the batteries voltage low. You can safeely charge them overnight in the scanner. However I have a Homemade 7809 power adapter I made for my Yaesu FT-60 and it works for the scanner also. If I have weak batteries and leave that on there too long the batteries can get hot and its time to unplug the charger. I did it one time for 6 hours and the batteries were very warm (3 more hours and oops!) I do at times when the batteries are dead and need a full cherge put them in a 4 hours charger I have. However for day to day I do charge in the scanner BUT I MONITOR THE WARMTH. So far as the 10 dollar batteries no biggie if life is cut some short.

Bottom Line: Whatever you do just make sure you dont get the batteries so hot it does melt plastic. So far as I am concerned the designers of the GRE handheld products could have used some improved design of their power circuits. Uniden hjas them beat in that area hands down. What aggravates me is the turn on off to reset the unit after a power change. Otherwise a great scanner!

 

[RickS31]

Correct, 0 (zero) will result in no charging.

I do believe that the timer sits at 0 normally unless you specifically set it.Then, as long as the scanner is powered on, the timer counts down till 0 where it does indeed shut off the charge current. However, if you then turn off the scanner and then turn it back on the charge current will come back on even though the timer reads 0. I can tell you that my timer reads 0 and it does indeed charge.

Another thing to reiterate is that the charge circuit is always active when the scanner is turned off, the AC is plugged in and yellow holder is in place. This is no matter what.

I'm going to verify the timer issue once I get back home and will report later.

 

[judas12]

pro 106 sucks moth balls.... shouldve been for $100 instead of $500. What a rip off.

 

[Gamefreak88]

pro 106 sucks moth balls.... shouldve been for $100 instead of $500. What a rip off.

Thank you for your intelligent opinion.

Now in all seriousness, how about you explain WHY. I mean, you're an idiot. But without me saying why, it doesn't hold any merit. How about you tell us why the Pro-106 sucks moth balls.

I have yet to ever hear anyone refer to the Pro-106 in a negative way who wasn't just pissed off because they were too stupid to program it. I bet you've never even used a Pro-106.

I have three Pro-106's, plus a Pro-197 (and a Pro-97 which is unrelated), and they are amazing scanners.

 

[mymman]

pro 106 sucks moth balls.... shouldve been for $100 instead of $500. What a rip off.

Wow! This person has a way with words that really adds to this discussion.

 

[thagewood]

Pro 106

I have own many different scanners through the years of scanning and I purchased the Pro 106 and a Pro 107 about three months ago. I would deffinitely recommend the 106 to others. It is the best scanner I have ever owned. But this is just my opinion.

 

[RickS31]

Yes, judas12 definitely has a way with words and I have to agree with other posters that this is a person who has never used one. The 106 isn't perfect but it sure holds it's own against anything else out there. You'll always find flamers on any board. Nothing constructive but just trying to inflate their own ego for whatever reason. Oh well.

The 106 does really well every where I've used it.