BCD436HP/BCD536HP: Bye Bye Uniden 436HP

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VE3RADIO

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Well I ditched my 436HP today.. I simply cannot stand the fact that if I leave the scanner off for more than a week I am pestered to set the date and time.. I know about leaving it plugged in for 50 hours and yes I have done that several times.. the point here is that sometimes I go a week without using the handheld since I have several base units and it really started to piss me off every time I would not use if for a week that I had to re-enter the time.. and then re-enter the time again a couple hours later if I turned it off before 50 hours.. Why is it that the GRE800 can keep the clock set off the AA batteries and yet the uniden seems to rely on ONLY the internal CMOS? Should the CMOS not only be used when the AA batteries are dead? Seriously what a pain in the ***.. At least I got what I paid for it back. Nice scanner but what a pain in the ***..
 

SCPD

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charge

Did you have it on charge all the time or was it unplugged?Did you ever charger it for the time it said in the manual initially I think it was 24 hours,it was in the manual,just curious..?
 

VE3RADIO

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Did you have it on charge all the time or was it unplugged?Did you ever charger it for the time it said in the manual initially I think it was 24 hours,it was in the manual,just curious..?

I left it plugged in an on for 3 days initially as instructed.. another time I left it plugged in to the USB cable on teh compute but turned off for a few days.. either way the charge seems to go away after 5-7 days on non use.. where my GRE will hold the clock until the AA batteries are removed.
 

Hit_Factor

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I have only set the clock once on my 436 (purchased about two months ago) and don't recall if there was one on my psr-500 I sold recently.
 

VE3RADIO

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I dont use mine more than once a week so by time I use it the CMOS battery has drained.. its such a PITA... thats why I dumped it and went back to my 396xt and GRE800
 

Boatanchor

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Tragic :(

It is kind of funny (in a tragic way) that in this day and age, Uniden managed to completely **** up something as simple as a reliable RTC in a $500 portable device.

I thought it was a misprint when I first read the direction to charge the RTC battery for two days, before only getting 5-7 days of back-up before having to repeat the process again.

I'm sorry, but this issue (amongst others) is why I have retained the 396XT & 996XT as well.
 

SCPD

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Yep for the record I'm having the same issue on the 536HP too. I let it sit but the battery issue is silly.

I'm glad I haven't replaced my 996xt/396xt/PSR800 as yet...
 

AA6IO

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I'm sorry, but this issue (amongst others) is why I have retained the 396XT & 996XT as well.

I was going to post something to that effect the other day. Yes, I have the 536HP and 436HP, and there are some good features, but do not sell your other scanners. There is still a lot I (we) can do with our 396XT, 996XT, and GRE/RS scanners that is not available on new units. Better sensitivity on the 396XT vs 436HP is just one issue. Control channel status, CC dump, recording out, some P25 issues and on and on.....This should be a thread in of itself. Do not get sell your other scanners.

Steve AA6IO
 

kb8rvp

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Well not sure why you ditched the scanner for the clock issue when the solution would have been super simple. You cannot leave the USB cable plugged into the scanner without a power source at the other end. Your options are to have the USB cable plugged into the scanner with a power source or if you’re going to turn off the power source (your computer) you have to unplug the cable from the scanner so it can switch to the internal AA batteries to keep the clock going assuming you have fully charged batteries in hte scanner. I have had the 436HP for 2 months and have never had to reset the clock. To put it another way if you parked you’re car every night and unhooked the battery you would have to reset your clock in your car and reset all of your radio stations each day when you reconnected the battery. When you plug in the USB cable to the scanner it disconnects the 3 internal AA batteries and to use external power and when you turn off the power source the scanner has to way to keep the clock powered so unplug both ends of the USB cable and bingo your all set. I bought a wall wart power cord at a ham radio swap meet for $1 and it will power my PSR-800 or my new 436HP and it plugs into the wall so I don’t have to depend on a laptop, but 90% of the time I just use the AA batteries. Do you even know if the AA batteries were charged or were they dead inside the scanner? Would have been such an easy fix… And buy the way if I allow the batteries to go dead in my PSR-800 or take more than 30 seconds to change the batteries in my PSR-800 I have to reset the clock on it too.

Mike
 

VE3RADIO

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Well not sure why you ditched the scanner for the clock issue when the solution would have been super simple. You cannot leave the USB cable plugged into the scanner without a power source at the other end. Your options are to have the USB cable plugged into the scanner with a power source or if you’re going to turn off the power source (your computer) you have to unplug the cable from the scanner so it can switch to the internal AA batteries to keep the clock going assuming you have fully charged batteries in hte scanner. I have had the 436HP for 2 months and have never had to reset the clock. To put it another way if you parked you’re car every night and unhooked the battery you would have to reset your clock in your car and reset all of your radio stations each day when you reconnected the battery. When you plug in the USB cable to the scanner it disconnects the 3 internal AA batteries and to use external power and when you turn off the power source the scanner has to way to keep the clock powered so unplug both ends of the USB cable and bingo your all set. I bought a wall wart power cord at a ham radio swap meet for $1 and it will power my PSR-800 or my new 436HP and it plugs into the wall so I don’t have to depend on a laptop, but 90% of the time I just use the AA batteries. Do you even know if the AA batteries were charged or were they dead inside the scanner? Would have been such an easy fix… And buy the way if I allow the batteries to go dead in my PSR-800 or take more than 30 seconds to change the batteries in my PSR-800 I have to reset the clock on it too.

Mike

I understand the process and yes my computer is on 24/7.. so that is obviously not the issue.. lots of people report it so perhaps you got lucky or use it every day.
 

SCPD

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idea

I understand the process and yes my computer is on 24/7.. so that is obviously not the issue.. lots of people report it so perhaps you got lucky or use it every day.

Whats your serial number and when did you buy it?Anyone else have this issue post yours too!
 

kb8rvp

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I understand the process and yes my computer is on 24/7.. so that is obviously not the issue.. lots of people report it so perhaps you got lucky or use it every day.
Upman just posted on another thread the following to fix the "setting the clock issue". on the 436HP.

1) Select serial mode for the USB when you plug in the power.
2) Leave the scanner turned on w/power for a long time to charge the internal battery (the clock does not run off of the AA's).
He also said the scanner must be left on to fully charge the internal battery (not turned off). So it has to have power and must me turned on so you could turn the volume down and leave it on for a couple of days. So now we are getting more information and we are all learning together... Good luck with your PSR-800 by the way... It's sad everyone is having so many issues but that is what this forum is for so we can get information to fix or learn how to fix these things. This is a brand new scanner it has a learning curve just like when the PSR-800 first came out. Most of the items are very simple to fix but it can get frustrating but I don't think it's worth ditching the scanner just set it aside and take a break and come back again to see if anyone has figured it out or wait for a response from Upman on a solution. It sure is nice to have these forums so we can all learn together and help each other out. Even though I am not having issues with setting my clock I assumed the AA batteries would keep the clock set and I was also wrong and now I know why I have not had to reset my clock because my 436HP is on and plugged a lot when I am at work and when I get home it's normally running on the AA batteries.

Mike
 

ffexpCP

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I haven't had to reset the clocks due to the battery draining, but none of my scanners can keep time accurately. The clocks drift quite a bit.
 

greggk

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I have been warned over and over not to charge the batteries in the scanner, so I bought a good charger. Today when I turn the 436 on it tells me to set the clock. So with the batteries in I set the internal clock.

But, in order to charge the internal clock (the so called 50 hours), you cannot connect the power to the radio unless you have batteries in. Therefore, unless I am missing something, then to charge the internal clock you must charge the AA batteries in the radio as well. ??

After the initial internal battery charge, is the time then maintained by the 3 AA's?

Greg
 

Jay911

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Therefore, unless I am missing something, then to charge the internal clock you must charge the AA batteries in the radio as well. ??

You are indeed missing something. The radio doesn't charge when it's turned on (nor when you say 'no' to the question after you plug the cable in). Just turn on the radio, plug in the USB cable, press the dot key to put it in serial port mode, and leave it be for a while. This will charge the clock battery just fine, and you won't even have to return it to Uniden and post a childish rant in Uniden Owner Tech Support about it afterwards.
 

NUGEN

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It sucks that you dumped the scanner because of that. Ya I can agree Uniden probably should have beta tested it more before releasing but audip quality is not even comparable with this and the 396xt or psr800, the x36 models sound much better IMO. I found a bug with the clock and reported it to UPMan that when you initially turn it on and set the clock, then set the key lock, then it off then back on you can't set the clock due to the keypad lock being on. This forces you to reset the whole scanner. I'm sure if it hasn't been fixed yet it will be soon.

The scanner is a great unit and is made much better build wise and quality wise vs it's predecessors and competition. For such a small issue as having to set the clock once in awhile because you didn't use it for a week is a stupid reason, IMO, to get rid of the unit but we all have our own opinions and I respect yours.
 

VE3RADIO

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Whats your serial number and when did you buy it?Anyone else have this issue post yours too!

It has been returned so I cant tell you... for all those wondering I had left the scanner on for hours at a time.. the problem is not knowing how to charge it .. the problem is the capacity of the internal battery is too low.. and in my opinion the setup is flawed.. what should happen is that the internal clock should be set and maintained by the AA batteries with the internal CMOS as the backup... that way the drain on the CMOS battery would not be that high.
 
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