BC60XLT1 Battery Question

[Shortwavewave]

I should know the anwser to this but.....
I have this ol' faithful working scanner, and was wondering if it would be ok to use NiMH batteries and charge them with the NiCad charger built inside?

Would this work?

Thanks

 

[Zack08]

It should work fine...... but I never charge the batteries while theyre in my radios in case they go bad and leak/explode. I think I remember a couple of horror stories on here in the past couple years.

You should be ok, just make sure they dont get too hot.

 

[iMONITOR]

I wouldn't recommend it. It will probably take about 48 hours to fully charge your NiMH batteries using that charger designed for NiCD's.

Go to Radio Shack, and for about $20.00 you can get a new NiMH 4-cell charger with 4 new NiMH batteries. That way you'll have an extra set to rotate in your radio, while the second set is charging.

 

[slicerwizard]

NiMH cells should work just fine. My old Pro-43's, which are designed for NiCads, work fine with (and charge) NiMH cells. Just toss a couple in and try it out. Lots of users have done the same with their older scanners.

 

[MrQ]

The only thing to watch out for when charging NiMH with a NiCad charger is when the batteries reach a full charge state. With NiCad cells, the charger is left on a few hours after this charge point to "overcharge" all the cells in the charger. Doing this allows "slower" charging cells to reach full charge before the charge is disconnected (cells will feel slightly warm to the touch).
When using the same charger for NiMH cells, the cells may remain in an "overcharged" state too long and being so, will slightly overheat the cells which can shorten the cells recharge cycle life. NiMH chargers are designed to throttle back the charge rate as soon as the cells reach full charge (a little sooner than NiCads do) to prevent this prolonged overcharge state, resulting in much longer cell life.
It is a minor technicality but worth considering if you want the most life out of your NiMH cells.

Mr Q