Although not recommended by many, to charge, you connect the USB cable and turn the radio off. You should be prompted to enable the charger (or not) in the radio.
It's probably best to keep at least a second set of batteries that are charged in an external changer and then swap out/remove/replace the batteries when they need charging.
While on the subject - you should also have on hand a backup/spare SD card - just in case. If the one an only SD card you have fails, your radio won't work.
I plugged the USB into computer to charge the battery on this scanner, turned off the unit,, the screen said charging,, then a few minutes later it said battery error, so now what
I plugged the USB into computer to charge the battery on this scanner, turned off the unit,, the screen said charging,, then a few minutes later it said battery error, so now what
Is your radio on when you plug in the USB cable? When the radio is off and you plug in the cable, you'll see "Battery Charge" "Start Charging?" Yes = E / No = ."
I plugged the USB into computer to charge the battery on this scanner, turned off the unit,, the screen said charging,, then a few minutes later it said battery error, so now what
If you are seeing 'battery error', then one or more of the batteries is possibly defective. However, this can also occur if the battery is not seated fully in the holder. Pop off the battery cover, and make sure that all the batteries are firmly in place.
As Troy noted, you're better off to charge the batteries in a dedicated external charger. I have multiple sets of rechargeable batteries for my various hand-held scanners, including two 436HP's.
And you can also use a "wall wart" charger or 12 Volt charger, similar to that used for smartphones. The same cable that you connect to the USB port on the computer would also be used for the above chargers.
Once you make the connection, you'll see a prompt on the screen of the scanner, something like Press E/yes to begin charging. See page 14 of the manual for a full description.