I need battery charging help please.

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Elmo56

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I read in some post that external chargers are the way to go so i went to radio shack and told them i wanted the best charger they had.They sold me a enercell 8-bay universal charger and it looks nice.the only thing that worries me is it only charges my Ni-Mh batterys for 4 hours. Is this enough of did i mess up getting this charger.If so could someone tell me where to get the best charger to use please.
Also i just bought a PRO-106 scanner.its the second scanner i have had.My old scanner was not digital...but it was great for trunking it could scan all freq and you could save anything it stopped on.thats how i programmed it.It held 6 AA batterys and would go for days on a charge.
anyway i want to beef up my new scanner with a good carry case and better antenna.could someone suggest best ones to get.I found a nylon case and a 800 mgz antenna at scannermaster...all the reviews about the antenna were good.:)
any help would be greatly appreciated.Thanks.
 

Fast1eddie

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Well, I can help you with your charging concerns but I do not have a 106 so you'll have to look around, perhaps give Scanner Master a shot. Ok, the batteries-these guidelines work for me and should do good for you providing your batteries are sserviceable and the charger works. I am somewhat old school and always slow charge my batteries. A rapid charge is good every now and then but the problem is not so much the charge process but rather the heat that is produced with the increased current flow. All those molecules moving about doing their thing! Significant exposure to heat without adequate ventilation-good airflow-will shorten the life of any battery resulting in lowered capacity and voltage retention. I also use a older 8 bay Realistic charger that automatically determines the battery type, i.e NiMh or Nicad. It throws off plenty of RFI so I do not use it often, My daily carry radio is a AOR 8200 that at this time is running off lower capacity Nicads I just bought at Harbor Freight for cheap. They work extremely well and I am impressed with the run time. The 8200's internal charging circuitry is designed for Nicads with charging NiMh's as a engineering afterthought. Just a pain removing the radio from the case and taking the batteries out, one more thing to do. I like being able to charge the batteries internally while actively using the radio. The experts will tell you this will result in a memory effect but I have never had that problem as I allow the batteries to pretty much run down every now and then. I like to let the radio charge for 12-16 hours and have good results with that. Sanyo Eneloops are the greatest and have had mixed results with the Evereadys, am also running a set I bought maybe 10 years ago and reguarly get run time in excess of 12 hours and some. So, stick with slow charging and reguarly cycle them. Newly purchased batteries may take several charge/discharge cycles to perform at peak efficiency, give 'em some time. You can label your sets with a Sharpee and get a case to really geek things out. I do not trust mobile chargers as the output voltage is often poorly regulated and induces noise into the received signal. In a jam though you can get away with it or simply carry a spare pack of alkalines. Also, clean the radio's battery contacts with a pencil eraser and also the battery. Dust, oxidation, Mr. Yuk are all bad and effectively add resistance into the circuit and will load down the terminal voltage. Like I said, I am old school and this is what works.

Good Signals!
 

WayneH

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Please make sure you are in the proper forum before creating your thread. The Scanner Reviews forum is not the place for this topic. Thread moved...
 

N0WEF

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I'm not sure which 800 antenna you are talking about on the scannermaster site, but the GRE one that you can get at radioshack works great!! (If you're near a radio shack, you may want to get it there to save shipping.)
 

Elmo56

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thanks all for the help...Appreciated greatly!...and sorry for being in the wrong place..ill be more carefull from now on.
 
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