Charging Unit

Status
Not open for further replies.

tgbrengel

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Apr 18, 2008
Messages
35
Hello, second day with the PSR500, great radio!

I just purchased some rechargable RadioShack Nickel-Metal Hydride
batteries. I put them into the yellow craddle and into the radio and
pluged into the AC charger. The batteries are not charging (past two
hours radio will display "**low voltage**, replace or recharge
batteries".

I thought the scanner would recharge the batteries when they were in
the yellow craddle and in hooked up to the AC charger. Do I need to
purchase a charger?

Thanks for the help.
Tom
 

mancow

Member
Database Admin
Joined
Feb 19, 2003
Messages
6,879
Location
N.E. Kansas
How long did you recharge them?

Also, the 500 has a charge control menu. You might want to check it out to make sure it's set correctly. The 500 will charge batteries but if you leave it on it while doing so it will take forever. However, turned off and left overnight 8-10 hours should give you a good solid charge.
 

tgbrengel

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Apr 18, 2008
Messages
35
I've had the radio on almost since I received it. I've had it pluged in to the AC adapter well over 10 hours and into a DC charger whenever I'm at work (about 16 hours so far....)

The battery symbol still shows no bars. The unit does get VERY hot but no charge to the batteries.
 

mikey60

Member
Joined
Sep 15, 2003
Messages
3,543
Location
Oakland County Michigan
I've had the radio on almost since I received it. I've had it pluged in to the AC adapter well over 10 hours and into a DC charger whenever I'm at work (about 16 hours so far....)

The battery symbol still shows no bars. The unit does get VERY hot but no charge to the batteries.

The battery symbol has no bars in it to display...

The heat would indicate that the batteries are being charged.

Depending on the firmware version in your scanner, if the scanner is plugged into the power supply, the battery icon will flash about once every 1.5 seconds to indicate that the batteries are being charged (even if you are using the black battery holder). This is normal.

When you disconnect the DC power from the side of the radio, does the battery icon appear? If not, that would indicate that the batteries have been charged by the radio.

It has been widely recommended on this board and others that you charge the batteries externally to the radio. This has been true for every scanner model that I've ever seen discussed. When charging batteries in the scanner, you run the risk of overcharging the batteries, which causes excessive heat, causing a "melt down" of the radio. I've read a number of horror stories from other people about how the battery compatrment door on their scanner had been melted by batteries that got too hot while charging.

Mike
 
Joined
Nov 5, 2006
Messages
635
Location
Phoenix Arizona
The PSR-500 might just be the worlds most expensive AA battery charger, so you had better hope one of the cells doesn't explode.

I just don't have the heart to charge cheap chinese batteries in a $500 radio. I have seen too many turn ugly and do damage.

My advice is to keep an extra set charged via a maha conditioning charger. Mine takes two hours to rapid charge and can recondition batteries when needed.

Besides, every time you turn your radio off, the stupid charge cycle starts over. What sense does this make? You need to leave the radio on to charge. Nonsense.

What would really be nice in the next scanner model would be a LI-Ion battery pack that works like a commercial radio's pack and where the whole scanner sits in a microprocessor controlled cradle, that also allows the charging of the pack on it's own for those who have an extra pack. The same way my ICOM GMRS ht works. It even has an emergency pack that takes AA batteries for when the end times come and all.

Still waiting for a scanner that charges this way.
 

DaveIN

Founders Curmudgen
Database Admin
Joined
Jan 5, 2003
Messages
6,515
Location
West Michigan
The charging circuit is a nice feature, however I recommend an external charger. I personally do not want to take a chance on a bad cell when the radios charging circuit is not capable of knowing that the battery has a fault, so I use the black cell cradle and charge the batteries on the outside of the radio with a spare set for continuous battery operation. Hopefully GRE can come up with a better way to monitor and charge the battery with a smart circuit in future handheld models.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top