Batteries That came with the 436 ?

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BOBRR

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Hello.

Have a new 436.

Are the quality of the batteries that came with the unit safe safe and "good enough" to use indefinitely,
or should I replace them immediately with, e.g., Maha ones ?

Thanks,
B.
 

troymail

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It would be terrible for any company to sell you something that requires immediate replacement of the batteries that came with it. They may not last as long as you'd like but I'm sure they are safe. Use them.

However, I'd invest in a good additional 1-2 sets of batteries and external changer as soon as I could.
 

safetyobc

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I use the supplied cells and have for years. I also have 3rd party ones that I have bought. The ones that Uniden provide are really good IMO.
 

jonwienke

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The supplied batteries are fine. You may find other batteries that have higher capacity, but they are just as safe as any other brand of battery.
 

BOBRR

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Charge time question

Hi

Guess until I get a charger, will have to charge in the 436.

How long to go from an empty charged battery that came with unit to fully charge them in the 436 ?

Thanks for help,
Bob
 

sprite1741

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Charge in the scanner is fine. I just charge mine overnight. I think it's 14 hours max. Going to install some USB wall charger outlets this week.
 

Rred

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Safe?
Are you aware that the only "unsafe" consumer gizmo batteries have all been prismatic lithium-ion battery packs? And these ain't those?
Maha may have changed over the years, but my experience with them when they were new to the US market, was that they were junk. And I'd still bet that premium Japanese brand names (Sanyo, Panasonic, Eneloop) would be the only ones worth pursuing by name.

OTOH, if you put any rechargeable batteries (NiCd, NiMh) in the wrong charger and cook 'em well enough, even the small ones make a dramatic BANG when they do explode. Don't ask me how I know that.
 

marksmith

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Hi

Guess until I get a charger, will have to charge in the 436.

How long to go from an empty charged battery that came with unit to fully charge them in the 436 ?

Thanks for help,
Bob
Only a charger can determine if the batteries have been fully charged. The radio cannot do this. The radio is a timer circuit only, and has no idea what the status of the batteries are when you tell it to charge, or 13-14 hours later.

The batteries themselves will determine when they are charged, and the radio, on a timer only, has no idea.

When you charge batteries in a good battery charger, that charges each cell independently, it knows the condition of the battery when you start the charge, monitors it during charge, and determines when each cell has been charged. I have never seen 4 batteries become fully charged at the same time in my LaCrosse charger.

The radio is stupid to all of this and simply applies power for as long as you set it. It's not a proper battery charger. It's a radio. Having overheated batteries or other issues related to in-radio charging is taking a risk. You paid $500 for the radio. It's possible to destroy it by using it as a battery charger. Just my 2 cents, but I state it with a reason.

Mark
536/436/HP1/HP2/996XT/996P2/396XT/325P2/PSR800
 
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sprite1741

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Everything I have recharges in the unit. Phone, laptop, tablet, Whistler scanner, ham radio, mp3, camera, car-camcorder. If there is a problem with the charger circuit Uniden needs to let us know. I wouldn't consider removing the batteries every time they need a charge. How many scanners have been damaged?
 

marksmith

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There's nothing wrong with the charging circuit in the radio except it's stupid, has no idea the batteries are charged, overheating or anything else.

A perfectly good circuit with a shorted battery will melt the radio.

Mark
536/436/HP1/HP2/996XT/996P2/396XT/325P2/PSR800
 

Rred

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Mark-
In my experience, the charging circuit that is in any consumer device (scanner, h/t, cordless phone, all of them) is simply a dumb "overnight" charger. They pretty much all charge at a 1/10th "C" charge rate, and they also are cleverly supplied with commercial AA cells that are built for robustness. They are typically only 600mA capacity but built to withstand constant charging AND abuse, in terms of overcharging and being allowed to go dead. These are intentional qualities and the reason that "obsolete" 600mA NiCd AA cells are still so popular among manufacturers. It is damned hard to kill them.
Since the charging circuit and the batteries are matched at a 1/10th "C" charge rate, and the batteries are designed to take that charging rate "forever" without damage, they can be charged perfectly well in the radio by just leaving them overnight, i.e. 12 hours for a full charge even when they were totally discharged going in.
As to overcharing damage? Consider the average cordless phone, which sits in a charger base 24x7x365 and still gets 5-10 years on a set of batteries. I've got a handheld radio that stays plugged into the AC charger (the radio has an internal charge controller set at 1/10th "C") pretty much all the time as well--and has done so for over a decade without any problems, just the usual slow battery capacity loss.

Yes, an intelligent outboard charger which monitors each battery will charge them faster. And might be "better" in some other way. But is it worth the eventual damage to the battery cover, springs, contacts, or just the nuisance time? Probably not unless you MUST have that faster charge.

Battery charger engineering is really old-school and mundane in these devices. And very intentionally optimized so you really don't have to think about it, and really can't kill it.

The real worry should be the wall-wart for the charger (any charger) itself. Fire departments all over the world will be glad to tell you about the incredibly large number of home fires that are caused by wall warts, even the UL/CE certified ones.
 
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