Picked up 2 xts3000 radios and now need some help for a volunteer EMS service

[Danny37]

Recently I picked up 2 Motorola xts3000 radios for our volunteer ambulance service. They both came with Ni-MH batteries with a capacity of 4000mah. So far I love the radios and programming them was an ease to do. One down side is that the batteries are heavy and I mean heavy haha. Sometimes I feel like our pants are going to fall down if our belt isn't tight enough. I'm assuming lithium batteries are lighter in weight compared to Ni-Mh batteries? If so should we purchase lithium batteries? I haven't had the time to test out the batteries but they seem to last long, compared to our kenwoods and vertex radios.

Also would a 4000mah be enough for a standard 12 hour shift? There's minimum amount of transmitting but a lot of radio traffic on the receive end (analog). I would say maybe 10-15 minutes worth of transmissions throughout a shift. Can we go lower like 3000mah?

Thanks in advance.

 

[mmckenna]

The lithium-ion I use on Kenwood radios are lighter than their Ni-MH counterparts.

4000mAh might be a bit large for your use, but it's hard to say for sure. Oversizing your batteries might seem like a good idea, but if you don't use most of the capacity of them, it's just extra weight you are carrying around and extra money you are paying.
While not an XTS-3K, I do carry a Kenwood radio most of the day at work, and a 2000mAh battery often gets me through 2 days of work. I'm not using it heavily, but it is on a trunked system, so the receiver is working quite a bit.

A better solution might be to use smaller batteries and either keep a spare in the vehicle, or install chargers.
I have a drop in charger in my work truck that lets me keep a battery in there full time. At any point in the day I can swap out for a fresh battery without having to head back to the office.
That, and the mobile radio in the truck is always there.

 

[redbeard]

Use a radio strap with anti-sway and leather case to carry the weight instead of your pants.

 

[Danny37]

The lithium-ion I use on Kenwood radios are lighter than their Ni-MH counterparts.

4000mAh might be a bit large for your use, but it's hard to say for sure. Oversizing your batteries might seem like a good idea, but if you don't use most of the capacity of them, it's just extra weight you are carrying around and extra money you are paying.
While not an XTS-3K, I do carry a Kenwood radio most of the day at work, and a 2000mAh battery often gets me through 2 days of work. I'm not using it heavily, but it is on a trunked system, so the receiver is working quite a bit.

A better solution might be to use smaller batteries and either keep a spare in the vehicle, or install chargers.
I have a drop in charger in my work truck that lets me keep a battery in there full time. At any point in the day I can swap out for a fresh battery without having to head back to the office.
That, and the mobile radio in the truck is always there.

That's amazing, our kenwoods and vertex are already dead by the end of the shift and if it's busy we need to swap them out towards the end of the shift. I see that there's a oem Motorola battery that's 2750mah and it's advertised as "slim" thinking of picking one up.

As far as vehicle chargers since most of our equipment is retired equipment from PS, we at the moment have 3 different radios we use and we already have a kenwood and vertex charger in the vehicle. adding another would be so much clutter.

 

[Danny37]

Use a radio strap with anti-sway and leather case to carry the weight instead of your pants.

I honestly never liked them, I tried wearing it for months at time and always was uncomfortable or in the way. Other guys here love it but I like the old belt swivel.

 

[mmckenna]

As far as vehicle chargers since most of our equipment is retired equipment from PS, we at the moment have 3 different radios we use and we already have a kenwood and vertex charger in the vehicle. adding another would be so much clutter.

If these are being used in EMS service, where someones life may depend on it, then you might need to consider that buying random used equipment because it's cheap isn't the best plan. Standardizing on one model of radio can prevent a lot of issues, especially if you expect radio users to switch back and forth seamlessly. Being able to standardize on a model radio, even if it costs a bit more, means you have a common battery platform as well as a common charger platform. Having a single in-vehicle charger that they can drop into as needed might save more money in the long run. It can certainly reduce training/user issues.

 

[Danny37]

If these are being used in EMS service, where someones life may depend on it, then you might need to consider that buying random used equipment because it's cheap isn't the best plan. Standardizing on one model of radio can prevent a lot of issues, especially if you expect radio users to switch back and forth seamlessly. Being able to standardize on a model radio, even if it costs a bit more, means you have a common battery platform as well as a common charger platform. Having a single in-vehicle charger that they can drop into as needed might save more money in the long run. It can certainly reduce training/user issues.

We do plan on getting 6 new ht1250s with the gang charger from a dealer. As with most volunteer organization, a lot of stuff is donated and on low budget. The radios work very well, they were phased out because they are analog radios and most PS agencies have upgraded to digital or trunking or both. All of them have new batteries and were sent to a dealer to be tested with good results. These xts3000 are going to be sent to a dealer to be tested soon.