It’s pretty common for me to see radios sitting in chargers while turned on to monitor a TG or channel. They are not transmitting while in charger (well I guess some handshaking going on). I’ve always assumed this would be tough on batteries but maybe I’m wrong. A little battery abuse may be worth the gain in some circumstances. So just how bad is it and are some chemistries better than others?
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Portables left in charger?
- Thread starter otobmark
- Start date
It cuts the battery life quite a bit. We had several come in for their shift never turn the radio on for the entire 24 hours get ready to leave at the end of the shift and put the radio on the charger and leave it for 48 hours and ask why their batteries did not last as long as mine did.
I work in IT for a school district and often see this in offices and classrooms. Wouldn't surprise me if they kept it in the cradle and tried to transmit some folks there are that absent minded
I think back to vehicle repeaters with charging slot which would activate repeater when radio was pulled (Tait). From memory— it seemed NiCad survived the abuse much better than NiMh batteries. The capacity of the NiCads was reduced but they didn’t burn up and die. They spent so much of shift in charger that troopers didn’t notice loss of capacity. Same with streamlight flashlights— they seldom were used more than a few minutes before going back into charger. When burn time got down to 10 or 15 minutes the troopers would finally notice and come for replacement.
I will admit while I don’t deliberately abuse gear including batteries, I do take the attitude that the gear is there to serve me not me serve the gear. I have too much gear in my car and drain down the battery more than average. Knowing this I replace my car battery every year or whenever I sense any weakness/hesitation starting car, whichever comes first.
I will admit while I don’t deliberately abuse gear including batteries, I do take the attitude that the gear is there to serve me not me serve the gear. I have too much gear in my car and drain down the battery more than average. Knowing this I replace my car battery every year or whenever I sense any weakness/hesitation starting car, whichever comes first.
mmckenna
I ♥ Ø
The battery chargers are often designed to recharge the battery at a specific rate. That rate is usually tailored to the battery chemistry and capacity. Usually a medium or slow rate that brings the battery up to capacity slowly without generating too much heat.
When you leave the radio turned on in the charger, the radio itself is using up some of that charge current. Depending on the capacity of the charger and the current draw of the radio, the battery may never fully charge, or take a very long time.
Usually it's best to turn the radio off while in the charger so they can properly recharge.
As for those "desk queen" radios, it usually results in a poor lifespan of the battery since the charger isn't able to do it's job correctly. Most people don't understand and/or don't care. Trying to get them to change their habits is usually pointless.
When you leave the radio turned on in the charger, the radio itself is using up some of that charge current. Depending on the capacity of the charger and the current draw of the radio, the battery may never fully charge, or take a very long time.
Usually it's best to turn the radio off while in the charger so they can properly recharge.
As for those "desk queen" radios, it usually results in a poor lifespan of the battery since the charger isn't able to do it's job correctly. Most people don't understand and/or don't care. Trying to get them to change their habits is usually pointless.
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I found that I'm able to listen while the radio is in the charger but at least 3/4 charged.
Basic rule for those in charge of rotation is to.. rotate.
It was terrible, of course, for NiCd because of the memory effect. Li-ion seems to vary, depending on the charger and specific battery make/model. Some end up getting cooked to where you have to pry them off the radio after only a couple of years.
I was at hospital in the Richmond, VA area delivering and when went into the security office sure enough they a Motorola HT turned on in the charger. Some hospitals once and while do have mobile radio in the office to use.
I always turn my radios off when on charger, but there is rare time may need to listen with radio on charge. This mostly occurs when at the hotel for work without having the amount of radios that I do at home. If do have to leave on charge.will use one of my older batteries.
I always turn my radios off when on charger, but there is rare time may need to listen with radio on charge. This mostly occurs when at the hotel for work without having the amount of radios that I do at home. If do have to leave on charge.will use one of my older batteries.
mmckenna
I ♥ Ø
I —strongly— encouraged some of my users to do that. Mobile radio, power supply, RF power turned down. Most have a desk mic. It's worked out well, and paid for itself by not having to purchase batteries for a user that does not need them.
Plus the audio is a hundred times better.
+1 on what many have said above, battery life will be impacted, but is sometimes necessary. I have experienced Lithium-ion batteries and AN/PRC-148 MBITR radios lock up and sometimes destroy the desk charger by being left on and charging (something Thales did not like me making public many years ago), to being just something that drained a batteries life quicker (Motorola HT-1250's and their batteries for example).
Some radio have battery eliminator AC/DC charger/battery adapters for desk and long term monitoring use, such as the Motorola HT-750/1250/MTX8250's.....sometimes it is necessary to monitor and not have to switch batteries all the time, or carry the radio around. It may be cheaper/easier to use a handheld radio instead of a "mobile" base station as well.
My current employer has many sites where portable radios are kept powered on in chargers for "emergency operations" use.....which means they are just "cooking" batteries and get very little actual use. Even with the warning s on this type of use/abuse, they continue to buy more batteries when needed and just roll with that policy.
Some radio have battery eliminator AC/DC charger/battery adapters for desk and long term monitoring use, such as the Motorola HT-750/1250/MTX8250's.....sometimes it is necessary to monitor and not have to switch batteries all the time, or carry the radio around. It may be cheaper/easier to use a handheld radio instead of a "mobile" base station as well.
My current employer has many sites where portable radios are kept powered on in chargers for "emergency operations" use.....which means they are just "cooking" batteries and get very little actual use. Even with the warning s on this type of use/abuse, they continue to buy more batteries when needed and just roll with that policy.
MTS2000des
5B2_BEE00 Czar
Directly from MSI's portable radio battery care leaflet circulating since the IMPRES 1 system came out years ago:
- Charge a new battery after it is fully discharged (Lithium Ion batteries can be recharged at any time).
- DO NOT use the battery charger as a radio stand; continuous charging will shorten the battery life.
- Keep spare batteries for swapping out when your battery needs to be recharged. This is the most cost effective solution for users requiring longer operating time.
- Batteries that are in storage for more than two months need to be recharged:
- Nickel Cadmium or Nickel Metal Hydrive: Charge 14-16 hours
- Lithium-ion/Polymer: Charge 1-2 more hours after the charger light turns green.
Everytime the XYL purchases a new electronic gizmo from Amazon with rechargeables, she always asks me how often she should recharge it. I tell her to check the owner's manual. which she never does, so it falls to me 
. If lucky, the manual actually has useful info, not always in perfect English though. Life's tough .
. If lucky, the manual actually has useful info, not always in perfect English though. Life's tough .
flametamer
Member
That's what we do. Mobiles in offices and at our remote bases tied to homebrew alert intercoms for paging.
Dt
flametamer
Member
It not only degraded battery life, but experience has shown that reception can be impacted as well with some radios.
Dt
I have a VHF & UHF XTS5k that are on 24/7 in their own XTVA. A used Ni-MH battery finally could not provide the power for TX on the VHF radio while in the XTVA. I’m unsure of the battery age, but at least three years since I had it running like that. I don’t expect a long life operating like that, so I have spare batteries when I use them portable. Even some time in an Impress charger will finally not bring them back and flashes Red/Green.
With an APX7k, I use a 12v battery eliminator at home and vehicle.
With an APX7k, I use a 12v battery eliminator at home and vehicle.
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rf_patriot200
Active Member
When mine are Fully charged, I pull them and put them in the charger Backwards, so they're no longer in cycle.
A couple surprises there.
Re: the 2-month shelf, for IS or Smart batteries, I think MCE/PowerProducts says 4 months and Motorola has elsewhere said 6 months. I don't recall the charging advice for non-IMPRES/Smart batteries, aside from pretty restrictive max temperature (at least for warm climates) of 30°C/86°F.
Green+2 hours is surprising too. I thought that was the point of the flashing green at 90%.
What do we think about the idea, for day-shift desk queen radios, putting a timer between the wall-wart and the AC mains that is only on for 2-3 hours at night (or whatever the normal dead-to-full time is)? This way, the battery gets normal cycling as though it were being carried. Have another charger without timer, bypass switch, and/or spare available for contingencies.
MTS2000des
5B2_BEE00 Czar
FWIW the IMPRES 2 MUCs have a "long term storage" mode which will protect the batteries from shallow discharge.
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