BCD436HP Backlight Issue

[NJParamedic]

Nope. Backlight behavior is the same regardless of the power source.

Then what.....the......heck.

 

[jonwienke]

Use the scanner menu instead of Sentinel.

 

[NJParamedic]

Use the scanner menu instead of Sentinel.

Just did. Followed your exact instructions. Same thing.

 

[Jay911]

Sentinel. Are you using this on battery or USB?

Both; may I suggest that leaving the batteries out of the radio might be the issue.

 

[jonwienke]

I suppose that is possible. You should never run the scanner without batteries because any momentary power interruption (like the USB cable getting bumped) will shut down the scanner and can corrupt the data on the SD card.

If there are charged batteries in the scanner, the backlight should behave as I described with the specified settings.

 

[NJParamedic]

Both; may I suggest that leaving the batteries out of the radio might be the issue.

I suppose that is possible. You should never run the scanner without batteries because any momentary power interruption (like the USB cable getting bumped) will shut down the scanner and can corrupt the data on the SD card.

If there are charged batteries in the scanner, the backlight should behave as I described with the specified settings.

I will try that.

Thanks everyone for your help.

 

[UPMan]

There are a number of things that won't work properly if batteries are not in the scanner. I had not noted the b/l behavior, but am not surprised. The scanner is designed to have batteries installed, even if you are powering from an external power source.

 

[mancow]

There are a number of things that won't work properly if batteries are not in the scanner. I had not noted the b/l behavior, but am not surprised. The scanner is designed to have batteries installed, even if you are powering from an external power source.

 

[highwayman1224]

There are a number of things that won't work properly if batteries are not in the scanner. I had not noted the b/l behavior, but am not surprised. The scanner is designed to have batteries installed, even if you are powering from an external power source.

I've never put batteries in mine since I've owned it & I've experienced zero problems. Use it in my semi truck 5 days a week using a USB cable.

 

[dick122]

I've never put batteries in mine since I've owned it & I've experienced zero problems. Use it in my semi truck 5 days a week using a USB cable.

Same here. I have never used batteries and mine is on at least 15 hours a day seven days a week. I would be interested in knowing what problems may happen??????

 

[Jay911]

Same here. I have never used batteries and mine is on at least 15 hours a day seven days a week. I would be interested in knowing what problems may happen??????

At the very least, even a very brief power interruption could cause open files to be not written properly to "disk" (SD card), and if that happens, the odds are there that one of those files could be required for booting the radio again. You'd have to wipe the SD card and start over.