I almost screwed up my PRO-106

[morrisr3nd]

Well I almost toasted my 106. I was driving back from Jackson, MS last night and had my scanner plugged into my external power adapter. When I had almost reached my daughters house I reached over and grabbed my scanner and noticed that it was HOT around the battery compartment. I quickly unplugged it and jerked the battery cover off and removed the BLACK battery pack That had ENERGIZER NiMh batteries in it.

Needless to say the batteries were gone as well as the holder. It also melted the back of the case. I cooled the case off and then plugged it back in and made sure that it was still working. It was. I'm blessed that it didn't ruin it too. I didn't think it was suppose to charge the batteries with the BLACK holder in place. Go figure.

Luckily I had a 97 that has the same back and battery cover. I got those replaced this morning.

OK. I can take the bashing so let me have it with both barrels about not keeping the battery holder in while its connected to external power. Especially after reading various posts warning against it. I was in a hurry and thought I had taken them out before I left work. So much for thinking.

 

[stevecubfan]

your mistake was simple. the black battery pack is for NON rechargable batterys. use the yellow battery pack for rechargable batterys. you would be wise to invest in a battery charger or two.

 

[HopperD]

Lesson learned man, don't sweat it - it happens sometimes. Just count your lucky stars that the radio still works.

I don't think there will be much bashing, we all make mistakes.

 

[TheManBornWithin]

Just a question....how would having rechargeable batteries in the black holder cause it to heat up like that? My understanding is the black holder physically disconnects the batteries from the charging circuit (only 2 contacts versus 3 on the yellow) - so regular batteries won't be charged if the scanner is plugged into external power. Even if he had rechargeable batteries in the black holder, the scanner shouldn't have been able to recharge them.

If my above understanding was correct, then it sounds like there may have been a problem with the scanner, and it was somehow providing power to the batteries.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

 

[n5ims]

There have been a few posts on this and other forums where the black battery holder did indeed allow the batteries to charge although it is designed not to. Generally this is due to a bent pin allowing the charging pin to touch the power pin, causing what you saw happen. The holder may be what's keeping the pin bent and as soon as the holder is removed it returns to the normal position (although it may be weakened and bend again more easily later) so every thing looks just fine. It's just something you shouldn't place your full trust in.

As far as putting rechargable batteries into the black holder, this should be fine, they just shouldn't charge in the radio (unless there's a bent pin as indicated above). What you should never do is put regular batteries into the yellow holder since it is easy to accidently charge them in the radio and cause them to overheat.

 

[SCPD]

I use a Maha MH-C9000. You should check it out ... it is an awesome charger and would charge your batteries for your scanner just fine.

 

[gr8rcall]

I leave my black battery pack with Duracell AA Non-Rechargable batteries in all of the time!
I've never had a problem with it!
As long as you have the Non-Rechargables in, It's okay!

Just make sure in your settings that it says Alkaline, you have the right batteries in the black holder, and you should be good to go!

 

[fourthhorseman]

Hold Up..
the BLACK tray should only have 2 contacts,the Yellow,3..
the yellows 3 matches to the 3 contacts on the radio..the
3rd,farthest to the left is the charging pin..

How is the black tray allowing the charging of the batts?
its is,or is supposed to create an incomplete circuit for the
batt charging function..

have you opened the radio to see,possibly if there is any
items that would be bridging the pins?..

BTW Cheers regarding the near demise of your 106..i love
mine,a modded- beat up workhorse - but it runs flawless...like a
swiss watch!

 

[morrisr3nd]

Guys that was my thoughts as well. I looked at the pins and they didn't appear bent. The case backings were pretty much toast. Since I robbed the parts off of my 97 I will probably sell it for parts even though it works perfectly. I felt it was more important to fix the 106. BTW, I do use an external battery charger to charge my batteries. I use to charge them in the scanner until I read the horror stories.

It could have turned out worse than it did. I'm just grateful that it wasn't unrepairable.

 

[tsalmrsystemtech]

I have a PRO 106 and I have never had a battery overheat problem. I always use portable scanner practices. NEVER EVER charge your scanner batteries in the unit. I always charge my batteries in a powerex professional charger and I always put my rechargable batteries in the holder that you can't even charge or mistakenly charge

Always use good expensive batteries and charge them outside the unti unless you want a melted scanner and then have to go out and buy another 500 dollar scanner.

 

[morrisr3nd]

I have a PRO 106 and I have never had a battery overheat problem. I always use portable scanner practices. NEVER EVER charge your scanner batteries in the unit. I always charge my batteries in a powerex professional charger and I always put my rechargable batteries in the holder that you can't even charge or mistakenly charge

Always use good expensive batteries and charge them outside the unti unless you want a melted scanner and then have to go out and buy another 500 dollar scanner.

That's what I did. I started charging outside the scanner once I read those scary posts. And I did use the black holder. It's got me baffled though.

 

[QwKiE]

I know that I read somewhere that the black holder can be modifyed to be a working yellow so you can charge batts check the holder to see if its a modifyed holder.

 

[morrisr3nd]

I did that too. It was an original unmodified holder but that is a good thought.

 

[RDGDigital]

I've seen several threads about this on these forums and I became absolutely paranoid that it would happen to me. I believe the "bent pin" is the most common theme attributed to this. I first read about this shortly after purchasing my Pro-106 and became emphatic about never charging batteries in the scanner. I immediately discarded my yellow battery holder and purchased a couple of spare black holders. I was already charging my batteries in an external charger.

One additional step you can take is the Pro-106 can be programmed to set the charge time. I've set mine to 0 Hours so that (hopefully) it won't even attempt to charge them if by some case the "bent pin" syndrome does affect me.

 

[morrisr3nd]

I've seen several threads about this on these forums and I became absolutely paranoid that it would happen to me. I believe the "bent pin" is the most common theme attributed to this. I first read about this shortly after purchasing my Pro-106 and became emphatic about never charging batteries in the scanner. I immediately discarded my yellow battery holder and purchased a couple of spare black holders. I was already charging my batteries in an external charger.

One additional step you can take is the Pro-106 can be programmed to set the charge time. I've set mine to 0 Hours so that (hopefully) it won't even attempt to charge them if by some case the "bent pin" syndrome does affect me.

That's one of the funny things about this. I had already set the charge time to 0. Who knows. I did triple uncheck the "bent pin" thing and tried aligning it on another holder and I can't see anywhere it could possibly contact except if the pin was sitting too high so it contacts the top metal contact.

 

[marine_hm]

Weird, I've charged mine in the yellow holder for two years now. Never had a problem! I might have taken out the yellow holder 3-4 times to borrow batteries when I needed them in a hurry.

 

[radunn]

I never even use my holders (the black/yellow holders) because I strictly use AC current. It's my understanding that you use the black holder for non-rechargeable and the yellow for chargeable to power the radio; is this true or not. Can you leave batteries in either holder when running the scanner via AC?

 

[Redneck0410]

I never even use my holders (the black/yellow holders) because I strictly use AC current. It's my understanding that you use the black holder for non-rechargeable and the yellow for chargeable to power the radio; is this true or not. Can you leave batteries in either holder when running the scanner via AC?

There are differing opinions on that subject. On my Pro-164 the black battery holder has two pins, whereas the yellow has three to facilitate the charging circuit of the scanner. For best results and to prevent damage to the scanner, I would strongly advise you to not attempt to charge rechargeable batteries in the black holder. If that is all your scanner has available, you may want to consider purchasing one from Ebay or something like that. Otherwise you could very well end up with a paperweight, and I'm sure you don't want that from a 300-plus dollar scanner. Don't get me wrong, you can, in theory, use rechargeable batteries in the black holder and it will still work, but the scanner will not charge them since the charging connection is missing from the black holder. I would suggest, if you DO use rechargeable batteries in the black holder, remove the holder prior to connecting your scanner to AC. If you use the yellow holder, you're fine. You may not want to leave them in for an extended period of time, as I do not think these scanners are designed with an overcharge protection circuit as you would find in an actual battery charger. Make sense?