TRX-1: Batteries and Charging...

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sibbley

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Charging the TRX-1 was brought up in another thread, I thought I would move this to it's own thread. I've been running the TRX-1 all day everyday from 5AM to 9PM, recording every transmission on the hunt for new DMR in my area. Just over 300 frequencies, back light on low, no alert led. Mostly conventional programming, only 3 trunked systems.

Charging in the scanner is frowned upon. I normally wouldn't charge in the scanner, but with the outer case I just decided to use the internal charger. Batteries didn't last long at all. I'm talking about 4 hours. Yikes, that's bad. Some other members mentioned that they had much longer run times by externally charging. So off went the outer case and in went a refreshed set of batteries.

I've run three sets of batteries this week and I thought I'd post my findings so far. Each set of batteries were charged with an Opus BT-C2000. Just dropped them in and set for discharge/refresh. No special settings.

Disclaimer: This is NOT meant to be a scientific battery test. Just a simple drop them in an external charger and run them in the scanner to see how long they last test.

Battery line up.

EBL 2800, about 6 months old: So far the best performers. First use 10 hour scanner runtime nonstop. Second use, 14.5 hours till the scanner shut down.

Powerex 2700, about 6 months old. Discharged and refreshed before use. First use 9 hours till scanner shut down. Second use set is charging.

Eneloop XX 2500, These are older. Bought in 2013, although not used often. Discharged and refreshed before first use. 6.5 hours till scanner shut down. In order to be fair, I should buy a new set to use.

Just thought I'd share my experience thus far.
 

MichaelBhere

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I get just over 10 hours of operation on a set of 2300mAH batteries however I am not recording.

Charging in the radio is slow and I find if I use the radio 4 hours a day on batteries, the internal charger seems to top off the batteries if I plug in the scanner for the rest of the day.

I can use longer than 4 hours a day on the batteries but plugging in for the rest of the day does not get it back to full.

I learned the lower charge current was to comply with new CEC rules.

If I use on batteries for a full day (10 hours) I have a 2nd set of batteries that I swap out and use an external 4 hour charger. This way i always have a fresh set..
 

TOP2

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ICharging

I'm confuse about the Charging system for this radio. I understand the posts about batteries but once the batteries are charged then the internal charging shuts down depending on the time set for charging. It would be nice to be able to operate the TRX-1 on external power. Having to take the batteries out to charge them which is the best way and Whistler supports that is a real pain.

I was thing of making an external adapter to allow a 5 VDC supply. I have a spare 5 adapter that I bought for use on my Raspberry PI's and they work very well. They are very inexpensive 12vdc to 5vdc uses the same type connector as the TRX-1 charging cable. I would just have find the same female connect to plug the adapter into.

Mike
 

MichaelBhere

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You can charge the batteries in the scanner. I believe the timer resets every time you turn on the scanner. Just set it to 99 and plug in the scanner when you are going to be at home or in the car for extended periods of time.
 

TOP2

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TRX-1 Battery charging

I had it set for 99 then backed it off to 3. I was looking for some specs on the charging circuit because I didn't want to over charge the batteries. Last night I decided to set it to 0, I charge the batteries in an external charger and put them back in the scanner. My thought was I just use the external power adapter from the USB adapter that came with the scanner. Well I think it is causing some interference to scanner as I wasn't receiving much, I removed the usb cable and it started working again. I tried using the same usb cable which came with the scanner and pluged it into my Computer and the problem exists there also.

Anybody else having an issue using the usb cable either having it charging or using it as external power source for the scanner causing the scanner not to receive very well.

Mike
 

gmkelm

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The issue with charging in the radio is that it charges for a set period of time and does not monitor battery condition, temperature or charge level. A good moderately priced external charger will do all of those all the while preventing a battery disaster inside your expensive radio.

An external charger is cheap insurance against an overheated and/or ruptured battery.

73

Mark - K0GMK
 

JASII

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TRX-1: Batteries And Charging...

I am getting ready to order a Whistler TRX-1. My understanding is that it does not come with batteries. So, I just wanted to thank everybody here that has posted so far. This should help me determine which batteries to get.
 

SCPD

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The issue with charging in the radio is that it charges for a set period of time and does not monitor battery condition, temperature or charge level. A good moderately priced external charger will do all of those all the while preventing a battery disaster inside your expensive radio.

An external charger is cheap insurance against an overheated and/or ruptured battery.

73

Mark - K0GMK

A quick search on RR will show it is a pretty ***** idea to charge batteries in a scanner. The photos of the wrecked scanners is enough reason not do to it. But to each their own.

I use a couple of Maha MH-C9000's myself .. and never any issues.
 

JASII

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TRX-1: Batteries And Charging...

What, typically, causes the problem? Is it end users using cheap batteries? Are they not charging them the correct way? One of the reason I ask is I know Motorola radios simply drop in a charger and charge. Police, fire, paramedics use sealed battery packs. What is different about this?
 

Spitfire8520

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What, typically, causes the problem? Is it end users using cheap batteries? Are they not charging them the correct way? One of the reason I ask is I know Motorola radios simply drop in a charger and charge. Police, fire, paramedics use sealed battery packs. What is different about this?

Motorola chargers know when to stop and are basically smart external chargers. Scanners keep going until the timer stops. They sometimes ignore the timer or some massive failure occurs leading to a very hot scanner.
 

gmkelm

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What, typically, causes the problem? Is it end users using cheap batteries? Are they not charging them the correct way? One of the reason I ask is I know Motorola radios simply drop in a charger and charge. Police, fire, paramedics use sealed battery packs. What is different about this?

The charging circuitry in scanners charges only by time. It does not have the "intelligence" to determine battery condition or temperature.

The Motorolas for commercial service include chargers with intelligent circuitry.

If one wants to throw the dice and risk a ~$500 scanner charging batteries inside the radio versus an aftermarket external intelligent charger, the choice is theirs.

I charge outside of my radios.

73

Mark - K0GMK
 

TOP2

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Battery Charging

I've learn through the posts here that it is not good idea to use internal charger for a couple of reasons, first being there is no limit on the charging current therefore unless you know the batteries are completely dead you over charge the batteries. Thus causing the battery to split and leak acid inside. The other is your going to cause you batteries to form a memory and or weaken the batteries.
So far I have had good success in just charging the batteries externally. I get about 10 hours on a good brand of batteries. The other thing I do is set the charging time to zero (no charging) and use an external power source from the car or in the house I use my computer. This way I don't have keep taking outer cover off and I have a set batteries in the scanner for whenever I need to go portable.
I did try my external cell phone battery and it does work I have not tested it to see how long it would last though. Wonder if anyone has tried this?
Mike
 
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As of friday I updated the charger Ive been using..
Originally was using an off the shelf Energizer
dumb charger..

I purchased the LaCrosse BC700..fair price,
Works Phenomenally..Only regret is not
ordering sooner..

Never charge batts in the radio..Its a radio, Not a
battery charger..
 

sibbley

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So far the Powerex 2700 have been the very best performers for me since I started the thread over a month ago. My last set ran just about 15.5 hours. EBL 2800 second best just under 14 hours. I did get a new set of Eneloop XX 2500, which are not so good. Only about 7 hours.

I only change batts in my TRX-1 once a day.

I'm scanning about 266 conventional DMR frequencies, 2 TRBO systems now on a regular basis, back light on always set to low, and recording every hit.

I always completely discharge the batteries with the charger before charging. I use current of 5-600 to charge depending on the charger I use.
 

sibbley

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A question for all. Where do you set your battery switch even though running rechargeables? Alkaline or Rechargeable? I set mine at rechargeable so when plugged in to the computer it won't charge.
 

Ed6698

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So far the Powerex 2700 have been the very best performers for me since I started the thread over a month ago. My last set ran just about 15.5 hours. EBL 2800 second best just under 14 hours. I did get a new set of Eneloop XX 2500, which are not so good. Only about 7 hours.

I only change batts in my TRX-1 once a day.

I'm scanning about 266 conventional DMR frequencies, 2 TRBO systems now on a regular basis, back light on always set to low, and recording every hit.

I always completely discharge the batteries with the charger before charging. I use current of 5-600 to charge depending on the charger I use.

Eneloop XXX are old batteries. Where ever you got them, they sold you stock, that was several years old.
 

DJ11DLN

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Opps, I meant I set mine at Alkaline.
I don't own a TRX-1 (yet), but I always set the switch in my handheld scanners to alkaline for the same reason, to make sure they never try to charge the batteries. I try to take the batteries out before I plug the USB cord in to check for firmware/DSP updates, but being fallible I try to keep it set to alkaline anyway.

Downside to this, you get a low-voltage warning sooner than you should...alkaline batteries have a higher native voltage, so the scanner thinks it is out of juice before it really is. I can switch over to NI-MH and get another couple of hours out of the batteries, though I usually just switch them out at that point. NIMH batteries are alleged to be immune to building memories the way the old Ni-Cads did...so far, so good.
 

Ed6698

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I would not set it to alkaline when using rechargeable batteries. Just disable the charging by setting the charge rate to 0, which disables charging when using rechargeable batteries.

Also those XX Eneloops are probably 3 years+ old, far from being brand new.
 

Ed6698

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I have to make a correction on my one statement.

Set the Charge Hours to disable, under Battery Charge Option. I was not at home to actually look at the EZScan software when I stated about it before.
 
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