bcd436hp

Status
Not open for further replies.

JamesO

Member
Joined
Jan 22, 2003
Messages
1,814
Location
McLean, VA
I have not bothered to do a side by side comparison, however, Eneloop standard AA are rated at 2000 mAh vs Eneloop Pro AA are rated at 2500 mAh, so about 25% more capacity which should yield 25% more run time.

Your choice.
 

srpawski

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Nov 23, 2016
Messages
209
I know that the pro version of the eneloops delivery more power with the tradeoff of lesser runtime, but from what I have read about them in general, the cost difference over the standards on the initial outlay is not arguably worth it.

I guess I'm not sure which way to go. It seems that if you are going to go with the standards have more of them on hand for the same price of lesser amount of pros and change them out more often vs fewer pros to have to recharge more often. Other than the extra say hour to hour and a half that the pros will supposedly run over the standards, I would be more interested in the pros if there was another performance advantage or reason to go with them over the standards.

I have had my 436 for a week and so far I have gone through 4 sets of batteries. I would say my run time is averaging roughly 6 hours, but that has also involved the scanner being hooked up to the computer for tweaking of the programming, so I'm not sure how much of that has played into my so far perceived battery life. I know that I don't need to have it hooked up to change the programming, but while I was changing it some of the time I had also performed standard firmware updates and then later on another set updated to the DMR firmware.

Plus, from what I have read, the standards do not hold 2100 ma charge, closer to 1800, so even if the pros are rated for 2550, what do they real-world hold, more like 2300?
 

k3fs

Member
Joined
Mar 11, 2010
Messages
275
Location
Western PA
I bought some standard Eneloops, and a set of Eneloop pros. Probably got a couple of extra hours out of the Pros compared to the standard. However, the standards are still going strong. The pros are all but unusable in my 436 at this point. They charge fine, and I am showing good capacity when charged. Put them in the 436, and the radio acts like the cells are low. I get low battery beeping for about an hour, and then the voltage shown on the radio increases, and the low battery beep stops. Radio will then run for hours. It got to the point where the radio boots up, and then shuts down, boots up, and shuts down over and over. The cells are still usable in my Pro96. The Pro 96 will beep low battery for a while initially, but they are still working.

Granted small sample size, and may not be valid results. But, I would stick with the standards. I can deal with the slightly shorter run time, and prefer to get a longer life time cell.

Depends on your needs or wants. Slightly longer run time and shorter life time may work for some people. In that case go with the Pros.
 

srpawski

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Nov 23, 2016
Messages
209
Thats odd. Do you think your pros are defective then given the behavior?
 

k3fs

Member
Joined
Mar 11, 2010
Messages
275
Location
Western PA
Possible, but I used them for over a year before that started.Each cell still tests good in the charger. Just makes me suspicious that you are giving up a little bit of cell life to get a little extra capacity.

All my standard cells are going good and approaching two years old.
 

kandrey89

Member
Feed Provider
Joined
Dec 11, 2009
Messages
320
Location
San Ramon, CA USA
I sure hope you held the power button for at least 3 seconds, typically 1 full second is enough.

Don't can the product just because one item is DOA.

If you're running it in the car, I suggest you drain the batteries down all the way, then you'll get a couple of hidden benefits that are not advertised and make life easier when using the scanner in the car.

Note: sufficiently drained implies that if you disconnect USB power, the scanner simply dies, there is no Writing to SD card message. Also, batteries should not be completely drained below a certain voltage in order for recording to work. The scanner shuts down below 3.00V, so the batteries must be <3.00V but must not provide sufficient current for the scanner to save to SD card. Saving to SD card will prevent auto-start up

Hidden Features after batteries are sufficiently drained:
1. Auto-start up on car ignition, useful when you want to hop in a car, start driving and listening without fiddling with the scanner. (minus the start recording button)
2. Recording with drained batteries, a certain battery voltage must be maintained.

Right now I am still trying to drain the batteries I got with the scanner on November 20th. So far it turns off right after I turn off the car, but there's still enough juice in batteries to write to SD card. I didn't want to manually short the batteries through a resistor, I'll just let them drain naturally through usage.

FYI, I have 2 scanners, this works on the other scanner with drained batteries. It's not scanner related because I swapped batteries and I still get my auto-start up with drained batteries.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top