BCD396XT Battery Charging

[moultons]

I have a question as to the optimum setting for Charge Time. The scanner's default was set to 14 hours, but I figure the 800ma (nameplate rating) charger should charge the 2300mah NiMH batteries in about 3. I want a full charge, but I don't want to smoke the batteries, so right now I'm set to 5 hours. Any advice? Thanks.

-- Steve

 

[vindictive42]

bcd396xt

never.....never.......charge batteries in your radio. If you over-charge them they could leak and destroy your radio. get yourself an external charger like a maha charger.

Powerex MH C9000 4 Cell Smart Charger AA AAA Batt NEW | eBay

I hope this helps.

 

[W9NES]

I own a Uniden 396xt and I charge the batteries outside the scanner in a smart charger, I will agree with vindictive42 on his post.

 

[jaspence]

Charging 396xt

I had a battery short in my Pro 96 during charging and melt the case. Another vote for a good external smart charger.

 

[UPMan]

While the adapter is rated at 800 mA, that is not the charge current for the batteries (closer to 230 mA). The default setting is appropriate for fully charging the fully discharged supplied batteries.

 

[moultons]

Thank you, UPMan; I appreciate your expertise. While I fully respect the opinions of those who have bad battery experiences, it's just not always practical to be swapping batteries.

 

[bear780ks]

never.....never.......charge batteries in your radio. If you over-charge them they could leak and destroy your radio. get yourself an external charger like a maha charger.

Powerex MH C9000 4 Cell Smart Charger AA AAA Batt NEW | eBay

I hope this helps.

I'll agree on that i have 2 C9000 MaHa's and they're the best investment I ever done for charging batteries in putting into my 396..


Posted using my Motorola Razr Maxx via Verizon..Ra

 

[nanZor]

I want a full charge, but I don't want to smoke the batteries, so right now I'm set to 5 hours. Any advice? Thanks.

If you run the batteries down all the way, then leave it set for 14 hours, and charge until the timer runs out. The way you have it set now for 5 hours means that you won't get a full charge from fully discharged batteries.

However, if you do opportunity-charging, say when you have only depleted half the capacity perhaps (hard to tell exactly by just using the voltmeter inside the scanner), having it set to 5 hours means you won't be overcharging your batteries.

Unless you totally geek out with timers etc, there is no real good way to "perfect" this technique. The absolute safest way is to just discharge the batteries fully, and then let them charge for 14 hrs.

By all means use "low self discharge" or "pre-charged" AA nimh batteries like Sanyo Eneloop, *recent* Energizers and such. LSD batteries have much lower internal resistance, which means they tend to not get as hot as regular nimh cells that have a high level of self-discharge.

 

[bear780ks]

Hertzian i like my PowerEX IMEDION's for sure they work really well in my 396 and when i charge them they don't get as Hot as i have seen some do. I'm still using my XX eneloops and i'm trying the Energizer 2300's there not to bad as well they tend to get slightly warmer than the IMEDION's but never to were i could touch them..

I charge my Energizers and my IMEDION's @ 1100mA to 1200mA When i discharge them sometimes i'll do @ 400mA then sometimes i'll discharge @ 500mA to change slightly what's going in and out. of the Battery.. Ra

 

[nanZor]

Sounds like you've gone over the deep end like me.

The point here is that if one is going to charge in the scanner, use any brand of low-self-discharge / pre-charged version of AA whether you need that capability or not - they don't get as hot as the normal ones do under charge.

 

[wtp]

imho

i always thought that the external charge guys were a little extreme but...
if the internal charger is set for 14 hours and the power is interrupted for a moment the charger resets to 14 hours that happens even if it charged for 13 and 3/4 hours then they get 27 and 3/4/ of charge. so i even got a maha charger

one way around some of this is to set the little switch to alkaline and plug in the power cord
it will run the radio and not charge the batteries and if you unplug it to go somewhere the batteries take over, when they are totally discharged then charge them for 14 hours

 

[jaspence]

Depending on the rating of the batteries,14 hours could be too little or too much. For safe charging without stressing the batteries, you need to know the charger's output and the battery's mah capacity. But someone using a cheap set of NICads could be asking for trouble with a 14 hour charge. For normal charging, it is usually figured at 10% of the battery capacity per hour., so a 700 mah would have a much different setting than a 2300 mah battery.

 

[chrislxq]

On this, I must agree...NEVER charge in the radio. I will usually fully discharge, and recharge in an external charger for that battery set.

Enjoy the radio

 

[One13Truck]

I get the never charge in the scanner argument but I'm not in that group. I have 2 external chargers that I'll use to keep spare sets in the case of the batteries being depleted but just about all of my charging is done in the scanner. Just a lot easier and more convenient than having to rip off the cover and pry out the batteries over and over and over. I'm sure if I ever have a meltdown like others have described I'd change my thoughts but to me it's just never been worth the extra steps and time.

 

[mikewpu04]

I have been using 2000 mah Sanyo Eneloops in the 396XT so far and have had pretty decent performance. I get about 8-10 hours of nonstop use. I have a bunch of Eneloops due to my external camera flash also requiring rechargables. I didn't want to buy another charger/set of batteries so I just put the scanner in the battery rotation.

 

[mrxdimension]

I'm in the Maha C9000, external charger camp. You set the charge rate (typically 0.5 x battery capacity, or 1100 mA for 2300 mAH batteries). The charger monitors your batteries and quits charging when appropriate. It's not based on time of charge.

The C9000 has a number of useful features. It charges each battery independantly. It can cycle the battery through discharge and charge. This allows you to get back battery capacity in some cases. It can also characterise the battery so you know how many mAH it actually has, or when it's reached end of life.

I bought the C9000 originally for use in my digital camera that uses AA's, but it has shown itself to be a good investment for charging batteries in general. I now use rechargable AA's in almost all of my gear that requires AA's. I do keep a few sets of alkaline AA's around for emergency use.

Thomas Distributing is a good place to buy the charger and batteries from. Keep and eye out, they run deals on C9000 with batteries.

I also agree with buying good rechargables with low internal resistance, such as Eneloops, etc.

 

[skip807]

Walmart has rechargable batteys platnuim 4 AA and the charger faster charger dont get hot either