HP-1: HP-1 Battery Questions ?

[BOBRR]

Hi,

Re the charging of the batteries in the Home Patrol HP-1:

I really want to avoid removing them all the time, and re-charging in a very good, quality, charger.
Would really hope to simply do it all the time in the unit.
Thoughts ?

I guess the actual charge on the batteries as they are being charged is not
actually being monitored. Rather, it simply charges for the time you enter.

Is this correct ? Or ?

If you tell it to, eg,, charge for the maximum time, and the batteries are already nearly
fully charged, any (potential) problems ?

etc. ?

Thanks,
Bob

 

[KK4JUG]

If you tell it to, eg,, charge for the maximum time, and the batteries are already nearly
fully charged, any (potential) problems ?

etc. ?

Thanks,
Bob

Yes. It's not good for the batteries to be charged when they're already charged. It can be an inconvenience to remove the batteries to charge them but it pays off in the long run. In an earlier thread, someone bragged about how his batteries lasted almost a year and how happy he was. The batteries in my HP-2 are almost 4 years old and going strong. Admittedly, I don't use the HP-2 as much as the 436 or the SDS-100 but I still expect to get at least another year out of the HP-2 batteries.

You're right, The HP1/2 and 436 have timed chargers. Regardless of how much you used the batteries, the charger will give it a full (timed) charge. I use a "smart" charger (Maha/Powerex). There are also other similar chargers that work well.

 

[jonwienke]

If the scanner is plugged into USB power, it doesn't use the batteries. That will cut down on the number of charge cycles.

 

[BOBRR]

Hi,

Thanks for explanations:

Followup, please: Let's say I put in a brand new set of 2300 mamp-hr batteries.
They are Fully charged.

If I then turn the unit on, and have it scanning, what might I expect for usability on battery
powers, until the batteries become "discharged" and the unit is no longer functional on battery power ?

e.g., how many hrs until run-down ?

Regards, and thanks,
Bob

 

[N9JIG]

I just write it off as a cost of ownership and plan on replacing the batteries every couple years. I buy a box of a dozen high-quality cells each year and use them in my various scanners that I use rechargables for and not worry about charge condition. I use them for about 2 years (I have a lot of scanners...) and swap them out for new ones, half the fleet each year.

It saves me time and hassle and 2 years out of a set of cells is about what you can expect even with proper management anyway. I probably could get more life out of them if they were properly managed and charged with external chargers but my time is more important.

 

[N9JIG]

Operation life on a set of cells depends on many conditions that make any thing a pure guess. You can extend the battery life by doing some of these things:

• Reduce the lighting of the display
• Reduce the volume
• Use earbuds instead of the speaker
• Reduce the actual listening time by careful selection of the channels monitored.
• Conventional channel scanning uses less battery power than trunking.

That said you could get an hour or a day from a good condition set of cells. What you can measure with some certainty is the relative life of the battery compared to your prior results.

 

[KK4JUG]

I just write it off as a cost of ownership and plan on replacing the batteries every couple years. I buy a box of a dozen high-quality cells each year and use them in my various scanners that I use rechargables for and not worry about charge condition. I use them for about 2 years (I have a lot of scanners...) and swap them out for new ones, half the fleet each year.

It saves me time and hassle and 2 years out of a set of cells is about what you can expect even with proper management anyway. I probably could get more life out of them if they were properly managed and charged with external chargers but my time is more important.

You make a great point. If the convenience is more important, the cost of the batteries won't matter, within reason.

I'm retired and while the cost isn't great, removing the batteries to charge them isn't much of an inconvenience for me but, as they say, YMMV.

 

[BOBRR]

Hi,
Again, thanks for all he really good info.

Would I get, e.g., 8 hrs of listening / scanning usage from a set of
fully charged 2300 mAhr batteries ? (before I would have to re-charge them again)

Bob

 

[trunker]

Hi,

Re the charging of the batteries in the Home Patrol HP-1:

I really want to avoid removing them all the time, and re-charging in a very good, quality, charger.
Would really hope to simply do it all the time in the unit.
Thoughts ?

I guess the actual charge on the batteries as they are being charged is not
actually being monitored. Rather, it simply charges for the time you enter.

Is this correct ? Or ?

If you tell it to, eg,, charge for the maximum time, and the batteries are already nearly
fully charged, any (potential) problems ?

etc. ?

Thanks,
Bob

Charging your (quality) batteries properly will give you longer battery life and they will last longer overall too.
And, if you should have a cell go bad, you don't want it connected to a dumb charger.
As Jon mentioned, you can plug it in and select 'no' for charging. Just use the batteries when you need to.
You only need batteries to be mobile and for some odd reason to use the record feature.

 

[jonwienke]

You only need batteries to be mobile and for some odd reason to use the record feature.

Batteries prevent the scanner from losing power and corrupting the card if the plug gets pulled unexpectedly during a transmission.

 

[IC-R20]

One thing you could actually do is get protected AA cells. I have a set that has a little chip in the top similar to how 18650s do. Once they are full they stop taking a charge though can get slightly warm but it keeps the cells from over charging as well as over discharging. Lot of chinese shortwave radios have similar AAs included as well. Kind of shame the more expensive scanner manufacturers don't do it.

 

[jonwienke]

The only protected AA-form factor batteries I've been able to find are actually 14500 Li-ion cells, which aren't directly compatible with most AA-powered devices, because they are triple the voltage of NiMH cells.

 

[IC-R20]

The only protected AA-form factor batteries I've been able to find are actually 14500 Li-ion cells, which aren't directly compatible with most AA-powered devices, because they are triple the voltage of NiMH cells.

No there are AAs NIMH, hard to find but they are out there. Water is wet.

 

[Ubbe]

Once they are full they stop taking a charge though can get slightly warm

Isn't that how cells without that chip works? When standard cells are fully charged the charge current will be transformed into heat as the energy has to go somewhere, and that raise of the temperature are used in some chargers to cut off the charge cycle. Some batteries for professional radios have a third contact for a termistor to sense the internal temperature in the battery that are monitored by the charge circuit.

/Ubbe

 

[jonwienke]

No there are AAs NIMH, hard to find but they are out there. Water is wet.

I'm with @Ubbe here. If the cells are heating up at the end of a charge cycle, they aren't any different than any other NiMH cell. If current was cut off by a protection circuit at the end of the charge cycle, the heating wouldn't occur. It sounds about as real as 4000 mAH Chinese AA capacity--occasionally advertised by unscrupulous vendors, but never found to be accurate when tested.

It's also curious you haven't offered a link to somewhere they may be found.