Batteries

[papadoc]

What brand and type of batteries do you use for your handheld scanners, such as the Uniden BCD396XT. It's time to get some new ones, so I thought I'd get your opinions. And...do you keep your handheld plugged into the wall while your listening to it at home, or run it off the batteries? I'm not really sure which is better to do.

 

[russellmaher]

Hi papadoc: I have a Uniden BCD396T that I bought in 2006 and the batteries that I have used are:

1. Energizer rechargeable that are pretty good and give me about 6.5 to 7 hours running time with a full charge.

2. RayOVac rechargeable that I like even better than the Energizer since they give me 8 hours, and sometimes a little more.

I use a Enercell 23-787 battery charger that I bought about three years ago, and works very well and was (as I recall) not very expensive. All of these items were purchased at Wal-Mart and have served me well.

Just let me add one thing that is most important and I'm pretty sure you'll hear others on here backing me up on this.....DO NOT charge the batteries while they are in the scanner! Pick up a battery charger similar to the one I mentioned (or any other that strikes your fancy) and use that for charging.
Remember, the 396XT is a pricey unit and I'm sure you'd be pretty upset if something went wrong and the batteries exploded or had a meltdown inside the scanner. I would rather replace a cheap charger than a $500 scanner.

As far as listening to it....I always run it off the batteries. Others may do it differently.

Hope this info is helpful to you.

Russell

 

[papadoc]

Just let me add one thing that is most important and I'm pretty sure you'll hear others on here backing me up on this.....DO NOT charge the batteries while they are in the scanner!

Hope this info is helpful to you.

I've been charging them in the scanner. I do have a charger that I use for the batteries in my camera, so I'll use it for the scanner batteries too. So thank you for mentioning that. Very helpful indeed. I look forward to what others have to say also.

 

[W8RMH]

I have been researching this very subject.

It seems that the Sanyo Eneloop look like the best choice.

I just ordered some on ebay.

 

[gewecke]

I use these.
here's the link,

MH-4AA270-BH/MHRAA4 2700mAh NiMH Rech. AA 4pc w/Carry Case

73,
n9zas

 

[papadoc]

Again, thanks for the replies so far.

I have another question, if you don't mind. I discovered I can take the batteries out of my handheld and still listen to it by plugging the power cord into the wall. Is that ok to do?

 

[HogDriver]

No problem at all

 

[climberkid]

I have been researching this very subject.

It seems that the Sanyo Eneloop look like the best choice.

I just ordered some on ebay.

That's what I use. I also use the eneloop slow charger to maintain the life of the batteries over daily charge and discharge cycles. When I have it in my vehicle I use the batteries because I can't get it to work on the car charger uniden sent me. Have to get a new wall charger so I can stop using my batteries while I'm just at home.

-Alex

 

[papadoc]

No problem at all

Thanks!

 

[anchor1]

A few weekends ago, I had way too much free time on my hands, and wanted to see how long my HP-1 would run on batteries. I inserted a set of fully charged Tenergy 2500 mAh batteries, and the scanner ran for 8 hours 27 minutes before the "low battery" indicator activated. With still more free time, I then inserted a set of Duracell alkaline batteries, and the scanner ran for about six and a half hours. To be fair, while the Duracells were "new" out of the pack, they had been sitting around for a while. I hope this info may be helpful to someone.