Motorola XTS 3000 - Battery issue

[cdurand]

Hello all,

I have two Motorola XTS 3000 radios I got off ebay. They came with some very very old (not Impres) Nimh batteries. Once I got the radios programmed and working the way I want I purchased a couple new batteries (not Impress) off Amazon.

One of the radios does not like either of these new batteries. The other radio works fine with both.

It feels like a mechanical issue. When I start seating the battery on the radio it will power up. If I leave it half connected it the radio stays on.

When I push the battery all the way onto the radio to lock in place the radio dies. No power.

Anyone seen this? If I put the old Nimh battery on it works just fine. Contacts are clean. Not bent or worn down. Can't quite figure this out.

 

[MTS2000des]

Typical of knock off poor quality Chinese batteries. Also, the 3000s didn't play nice with lithium ion batteries, these radios are 25+ years old and predate the IMPRES system and believe it or not LiON batteries were not common. IIRC an MTN was issued about using LiON (OEM) batteries with the XTS3000 and oddities such as low battery indicator coming on prematurely, noise on transmit, etc. One of the downsides to using antique radios like these for daily drivers is finding quality aftermarket batteries. Good aftermarket batteries come from suppliers like Power Products. They aren't $30 either.

 

[noderaser]

If they're the same battery as the XTS 5000, I happen to have a bunch that I'm going to dump soon...

 

[cdurand]

Typical of knock off poor quality Chinese batteries. Also, the 3000s didn't play nice with lithium ion batteries, these radios are 25+ years old and predate the IMPRES system and believe it or not LiON batteries were not common. IIRC an MTN was issued about using LiON (OEM) batteries with the XTS3000 and oddities such as low battery indicator coming on prematurely, noise on transmit, etc. One of the downsides to using antique radios like these for daily drivers is finding quality aftermarket batteries. Good aftermarket batteries come from suppliers like Power Products. They aren't $30 either.

I understand this is an antique radio. I'm just playing with it. Paid $149 for two of them off eBay. I'm not going to spend more on the battery than I did for the radio.

I believe it's a mechanical issue and not the actual battery causing this problem. The batteries work on the one radio. The other radio just doesn't like it when I fully seat it for some reason. Half seated, works fine.

Anyway, the beauty of buying the knock offs from Amazon is the liberal return policy. I will return it and buy another. See if I get lucky.

Just FYI - most of the batteries for the XTS 3000 from Power Products are LiON so I guess they didn't get the memo.

 

[MITTYCPD]

Just for the heck of it check the 3 copper colored tabs on the back of the radio and make sure they haven't got divits in them effecting contact with battery. My PD had problems when M changed the manufacturer and swapping batteries constantly caused them to wear down. Good luck.

 

[mbnv992]

Just for the heck of it check the 3 copper colored tabs on the back of the radio and make sure they haven't got divits in them effecting contact with battery. My PD had problems when M changed the manufacturer and swapping batteries constantly caused them to wear down. Good luck.

THIS.

Those 3000’s are 30 years old+ now and those fins on the back of those radios are probably most definitely “indented”. If that’s the case, it will absolutely cause issues exactly as you describe. Same with the xts5000’s. If the fins are dented or have black marks on them like they are burnt, this will cause random power cycle issues when the battery is squeezed with the radio, or just do it randomly. Your batteries are probably fine.

 

[MITTYCPD]

Absolutely correct.

 

[mbnv992]

FYI - I recently bought an XTS5000 for a really good price in UHF that came with a battery, antenna, Commander 2+ speaker mic and Impress charger ( scored the entire package for $99 bucks plus shipping so - not bad at all IMO ). When I got the radio in the fins on the back were definitely dented and the ( Genuine Motorola Impres ) battery would be internment ( everytime you’d squeeze the radio or pic it up the wrong way the radio would power cycle itself ).
I solved this little issue by bending the three prongs on the part of the battery that connects to the radio. Works perfectly again and you can squeeze the radio, place it down hard on a desk, etc and no longer has the resetting issue. So basically what I did was pry out the contacts on the battery to make them “closer” to the now-indented fins of the worn out connector on the back of the 5000.
This is only a GMRS / “hobby” radio and absolutely wouldn’t recommend this for an “in service” radio ( are there even anymore XTS3000/5000 radios still in service in 2026 ? ).