BCD396XT Battery's

[brewcrewfan]

Thank you everyone for answering on my previous post.

I have one more question (for now) a question on my BCD396XT batteries. It takes 3 AA batteries. inside it has a switch between Alkaline and ni-mh batteries. i have it set for ni-mh since i have rechargeable batteries in. The scanner itself lets you choose a charge time between 1 hour and 16 hours. I want them to last as long as possible so what time range should I use?

 

[Ronaldski]

I have that setting set for 2 hours and have done so for many years. Granted rechargeable's eventually will start losing their longevity and will ned to be repllaced. Be sure to use name brand ones. Many swear by the Panasonic eneloops and what I use too.

I can pretty guarantee you others will say about not charging in the radio itself and only in a separate charger. These battery questions always go that way.

 

[KevinC]

The charge current is approximately 230 mA. So do a little math and see how long it will take to fully charge whatever batteries you have installed.

 

[wtp]

i am an external guy. get a smart one and you can see the real capacity of each cell.
and just think of it as charge/no charge for the settings in the radio.
also with a smart charger it stops charging when they are full.
and if the power get a little blip it will start to charge them again but it stop in a short time
if the power blips on the radio and it starts to recharge for the time it is set for.
i found that out after setting the timer for 14 hours and the power blip at night so they almost got a 20+ hour charge.
you shorten the battery life with either excessive charging or heat.
here is a discontinued model so as to not try and push a sale.

Powerex MH-C9000 WizardOne Charger (DISCONTINUED)

Maha Energy is the maker of Powerex batteries, NiMH Rechargeable Batteries, aa battery charger, aaa battery charger, nimh battery charger and charging solutions. Powerex batteries offer the highest performance available today. Powerex chargers use advanced techniques for optimized battery...

mahaenergy.com

and the radio runs longer if you match up the cells by capacity.
i do that about once a month.

 

[Ronaldski]

Forgot is that at 3.35 volts the radio shuts off, so for those three batteries all you need is a couple tenths more voltage charge.
When you push down the knob for volume, you will see the battery voltage in upper right.

14 hours is good provided the cells are zero volts, but as shown above they don't get down that far.

 

[wtp]

i thought it started to beep at 3.39 and shut down at 3.29

 

[wtp]

maybe it was 3.49 and 3.39

 

[GTO_04]

maybe it was 3.49 and 3.39

It is 3.48V for me.

If you use a NiMH charger that charges each cell independently, you will get a longer run time on a set of charged batteries. I prefer to use an external charger. That way, if there is a battery fault, it won't kill the scanner. But to each his own.

GTO_04