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Phantom Power Draw

JASII

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My wife and I were out of town for a week on our cruise.

I left my Unication G5 home and the battery was fully charged.

When we returned home a week later, the battery was dead.

Was uses power on the Unication G5 when it is powered down?

I suspect the clock uses power.

Are there any other things that consume power on the Unication G5 while it is powered off?

It seems like other battery powered radios will still have some battery life after a week if they are turned off.
 

dhmann1811

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My wife and I were out of town for a week on our cruise.

I left my Unication G5 home and the battery was fully charged.

When we returned home a week later, the battery was dead.

Was uses power on the Unication G5 when it is powered down?

I suspect the clock uses power.

Are there any other things that consume power on the Unication G5 while it is powered off?

It seems like other battery powered radios will still have some battery life after a week if they are turned off.
How long have you had your battery? Unication recommends replacing it every 12 months. Just curious if this could be the problem.
 

belvdr

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My wife and I were out of town for a week on our cruise.

I left my Unication G5 home and the battery was fully charged.

When we returned home a week later, the battery was dead.

Was uses power on the Unication G5 when it is powered down?

I suspect the clock uses power.

Are there any other things that consume power on the Unication G5 while it is powered off?

It seems like other battery powered radios will still have some battery life after a week if they are turned off.
I haven't done a test like that specifically with mine, but turning the knob to off is similar to sleep mode on a computer.
 

JASII

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I was wondering that same thing.

I have had the Unication G5 for several years now and I have only swapped the battery once!

It very well may be time to swap it out, again.
 

Elpato

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My g5 is currently in for the same problem. I'm guessing it's a defective power knob/switch since the darn thing would pretty much stay on even when turned off.
Hopefully they fix it soon.
 

bob550

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The G-series doesn't seem to completely power off when the pager is turned off by the knob. The belief is that the pager normally remains in a semi-powered state which allows for a faster startup. Some users have reported that when their pager is left unused for several days, turning on results in a complete reboot with the sequential dots as if with a battery pull or a 3-finger reset. I have not experienced that. But I have experienced battery drain while the pager was "off" for several days. It just appears to be normal behavior. All that said, going from a full charge to dead in one week seems suspicious and may signal the need for a new battery.
 

R8000

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The belief is that the pager normally remains in a semi-powered state which allows for a faster startup.
I agree. I have noticed this behavior as well.
I suspect the idea is for those who use the device as a real public safety pager don't have to wait as long to have it in a operational state when turning it on. Keeping it in a sleep state lets it come up faster and be ready to go.
For those who use it as a scanner may benefit from it shutting totally down. Maybe a firmware feature added to allow a menu selection to choose if the unit turns totally off, or just goes to sleep.
 

bob550

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Maybe a firmware feature added to allow a menu selection to choose if the unit turns totally off, or just goes to sleep.
I don't see Unication adding this feature to their pagers. Most of the time, I get the impression that Unication is trying to save us from ourselves with some of the programing choices they've implemented. A good example of that is allowing a call to interrupt your attempt to navigate the menu system or change zones. With these pagers, certain operational priorities appear to have been established that heavily favor the Public Safety user. Scanner users are not their priority.
 

kc9neq

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A Unication Rep and a Motorola Rep both told me that the G5's power will drain when the unit is not powered on and not on charge.
I inquired about the same type of power drain that you are having and both reps told me that the unit is in a state of "sleep" mode.
 

doc62

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Wasn’t that the reason for one of the firmware updates. My G4 runs the current firmware and fully reboots every time it is turned off for more than 2-3 hours. I believe that change was made to eliminate the battery drain. The G5 I have mounted in my vehicle is running older firmware and when you turn it on it immediately starts scanning for the system. It does have a battery drain, but I make sure to charge it during the week to avoid complete battery drain. I never updated the G5’s firmware because I need it to start up faster to monitor talkgroups when responding to calls. My G4‘s boot time was a nonstarter for me to me for use in my vehicle for call response unless already powered up before a call. If they could make that ability selectable, I would gladly update my G5 and then I could have UID’s programmed like I do in the G4.
 

belvdr

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My G4 doesn’t do a full reset after being in sleep mode, unless the battery fully drains. After 2-3 hours it comes alive quickly.

Running 1.33.
 

belvdr

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Don’t think it’s firmware related. Does this happen if it’s also on the charger?
 

hill

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My G4 reboots with the dots and complete reboot all the time if left off for most the day or a long time. It stays in my car overnight when doing my two day run at work, since it's of no value in the area I deliver to with it all being all Smartzone.

Being off for short time period it starts right up.

Being just over a year and month old I have already purchased a new battery. The old battery seam to working alright, so have installed the new one yet.
 

doc62

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When I insert the G4 in the charger, it shows the reboot dots initially if it had been off for a while. When I pull it out of the charger, it starts scanning right away.
 

belvdr

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I feel lucky then. Mine never does that unless the battery runs out or I program it.
 
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