Pro-668: Best rechargable batteries for a 668

[CycleSycho]

My 2 cents worth...

Panasonic Eneloop Pros have been the best I've ever used. They seem to give twice the runtime of my other batteries. As my existing batteries become unservicable, they will be replaced with Panasonic Eneloop Pro batteries. I'll stick with genuine Panasonic; no 'generic eneloop types'. Usually, I'm the cheapest guy in the room but I have been that impressed by these batteries and the real Panasonic charger for them.

The initial set and charger were relatively inexpensive too. It was 4 batteries and a 4 bay smart wall charger by Panasonic for under $20 on Amazon. IMHO, they are well worth it.

And if you like em, keep on trucking. So far, the Rayovacs are doing better (cost per mah) and I am happy.

Gonna look into those Panasonics today as I use rechargeables for most everything (Xbox One controllers and headsets, remotes, etc). The Rayovacs, however much I love them, are just too expensive and apparently underperform Panasonics. Plus my charger is very old.

Sent from my VS987 using Tapatalk

Sounds like you buy from a high priced retailer... Have fun with your retailers. A suggestion, upgrade your charger.

I already know the outcome of it, also I would not even have to cherry pick them. That is not even worth trying again because I already did. The Rayovacs would not even have a chance, they might for a few months, after that when they start degrading the Eneloops will still be going strong.

Like I said Duracell, Energizer and Rayovacs are decent for normal use, but they never will last the rigors of daily use and charging compared to Eneloop Pros in a scanner. Been there done that.

Its your $, use it for what you want. I know what works for me, and its my $.


:roll: Cliques are fun, buddies are fun, advertisers are paid to convince ppl to buy their products. Nothing new here. I'll be happy to update in 3 months, 6 months, a year, and 2 years + onward. Been dealing with rechargables for many years and have had good ones, and bad (both name brand and off brand). Come back in a few months, and more. Will be happy to update one way or the other. :roll:
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[NWI_Scanner_Guy]

Well, for now I'm going to go with a couple sets of the 2400mAh Rayovac batteries. Was in Menard's Wednesday and saw them and remembered someone had mentioned them. They seem to be doing good so far. Got about 7.5 hours out of the first set and a little over 8 hours out of the second set. That's with the LCD back light on continuously but no keypad light.

I only bought two sets because I found out that the USB connection, while loose, will work as long as the radio sits still. I currently have it in a stand and it's being powered via a USB outlet just fine. Looks like I won't have to swap out batteries as often as I thought.

Now, if I could just get it to decently receive my local phase II simulcast system, all would be right with the world.

 

[CycleSycho]

Well, for now I'm going to go with a couple sets of the 2400mAh Rayovac batteries. Was in Menard's Wednesday and saw them and remembered someone had mentioned them. They seem to be doing good so far. Got about 7.5 hours out of the first set and a little over 8 hours out of the second set. That's with the LCD back light on continuously but no keypad light.

I only bought two sets because I found out that the USB connection, while loose, will work as long as the radio sits still. I currently have it in a stand and it's being powered via a USB outlet just fine. Looks like I won't have to swap out batteries as often as I thought.

Now, if I could just get it to decently receive my local phase II simulcast system, all would be right with the world.

Is your mini USB broken or is it loose from the PCB? If I were you, I would try to get that repaired before any of the thin pin connectors break. When that happens, you'll be doing a lot of card removal to update/program. Hopefully, it'll not 'cross' wires/traces if one does break loose and move (during connection/disconnection, or just moving it while connected).

BTW, my first two tests of each set of 4 (after three charge/discharge cycles) show the Rayovac 2400's average 11 hours per charge, per set. Backlight/key light on only when traffic opens radio (which is a lot) and when I use the keypad (not very often). I let them go until the 'low batt' alarm sounds and swap the set. Am very happy with them, less than 15 bucks delivered (for two sets of 4 each) and between them both I get 22 hrs of run time. While settled for the night (after testing the Rayovac 2400's), I use the 5v A/C adapter off the computer UPS (we have power bumps on occasion). Of course, took the advice of the experienced membership here that to not charge the NiMH's in the radio (using separate charger).

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[NWI_Scanner_Guy]

Is your mini USB broken or is it loose from the PCB? If I were you, I would try to get that repaired before any of the thin pin connectors break. When that happens, you'll be doing a lot of card removal to update/program. Hopefully, it'll not 'cross' wires/traces if one does break loose and move (during connection/disconnection, or just moving it while connected).

BTW, my first two tests of each set of 4 (after three charge/discharge cycles) show the Rayovac 2400's average 11 hours per charge, per set. Backlight/key light on only when traffic opens radio (which is a lot) and when I use the keypad (not very often). I let them go until the 'low batt' alarm sounds and swap the set. Am very happy with them, less than 15 bucks delivered (for two sets of 4 each) and between them both I get 22 hrs of run time. While settled for the night (after testing the Rayovac 2400's), I use the 5v A/C adapter off the computer UPS (we have power bumps on occasion). Of course, took the advice of the experienced membership here that to not charge the NiMH's in the radio (using separate charger).

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It's loose. When I bought the radio, I was told that it won't recognize when the USB cable it attached. I was also under the impression that meant I wouldn't be able to power it externally using a USB cable as well. Turns out I can use a USB cable for powering it, but it's true that it will not recognize when the cable is being used to program / or update firmware. It's no biggie. I don't mind taking out the microSD card to program it. I'm the kind of guy that once a radio is programmed how I want it, I'm good to go. I don't anticipate needing to do much more programming to it, so the card won't be coming out many more times.