BCD436HP/BCD536HP: Powering The BCD436HP In The Car?

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CanesFan95

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How can you power this in the car for mobile use? If you use a USB / cigarette adapter, will it know to automatically not overcharge the batteries? When you turn the ignition and power starts coming out the cigarette plug, does the scanner automatically power itself on?
 

marksmith

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It asks if you want to charge (I always say no and charge batteries outside of the scanner).

My cigarette lighter plugs are always hot and not on the ignition.

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CanesFan95

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What if you leave the batteries out of the scanner altogether but hookup the USB to the cigarette plug to power it.
 

CanesFan95

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Well, then sounds like you can't run the radio itself off the cigarette plug?
 

hiegtx

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Well, then sounds like you can't run the radio itself off the cigarette plug?
I believe that you can. I just tried my 436. Pulled the batteries then hooked up the USB cable for power. You do get a warning on the screen,
"No Batteries", but the scanner will power up & scan. It does, as expected, first, first prompt "USB cable detected", then ask you to press "." (no) for serial (which is correct for external power), or "E" (yes) for mass storage (which is not what you want for using external power).

However, if I recall, without batteries, recording & replay are disabled. While I only use full-time recording when trying to map out a system, or looking to confirm usage on some unidentified frequencies or talkgroups, I do use the replay function fairly often. This is especially useful if I miss the first part of the transmission, and want to go back & hear the whole thing.

The other drawback to running the scanner without batteries installed, even though you are using an external power source via the USB cable, is that if that power is interrupted, the USB cable accidentally pulled loose, or the DC->USB adapter getting dislodged, the loss of power could cause errors in the memory card. With batteries installed, even though not charging, you have that backup which may save you a corrupted card.
 

sibbley

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The 436 will only charge batteries while turned off if I remember correctly. I do use a cigarette lighter "USB" port I bought through Scanner Master to power the 436 in the car. I also run my 436 plugged in to USB on my computer at work all day long. As stated in post #6, as long as you use Serial choice when you plug in to USB, you are running external power.
 

6520tkp

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Yes you can

I run my scanner with out the batteries with the usb cable and 12 volt adapter,
in my truck and at my desk,
 

marksmith

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If you run without batteries, if you make any changes, you will need to turn the radio off and on again to save them. If you just kill power via usb, it can't write these changes to the card like a normal power off with the radio knob. Also, if for any other reason the scanner is writing to the card, if you kill power, you have an excellent chance of corruption of data on the card.

I have no idea what value there is to trying to run without batteries when they are required for some options and features of the radio, and they help protect from crashing the format and data on your SD card. You can run with usb power, but I would always have batteries in there to use all the options (replay, etc), and protect data.

Mark
WS1095/536/436/996P2/HP1e/HP2e/996XT/325P2/396XT/PRO668/PSR800/PRO652
 

jonwienke

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If you intend to run the radio off USB power all the time, put a set of alkaline batteries in it just as backup power if the cable comes loose, to prevent card corruption, and never use the battery charge option.
 

marksmith

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Be Very Very Careful with the car charger, i fried my 436HP that way
Let it sit for a few days and it will drain your car battery too.

Never charge scanner batteries in the scanner and always unplug GPS, scanner, or other stuff in your car.

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ShyFlyer

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If you use a quality car charger and quality cables, you should be fine. I've had my 436 since January and have used it extensively in my vehicle. No issues.

Personally, I use a Scoshce USB 12v adapter (USBC242M) and some spare USB cords that came from another Scoshce product. Belkin products are also of great quality.
 

kandrey89

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Here's my experience,

I use Anker car USB charger to power my radio, don't know what other people are doing to fry their radios, first I've heard of it.

I use my radio daily.
I have it setup to AUTO POWER ON, this is a trick and not a feature. This radio lacks features for in car use, for example, no auto record function, no auto power on.

How to setup AUTO POWER ON for vehicle use:
1. run the radio on the provided rechargeable batteries until radio dies
2. now the battery voltage is sufficient to allow recording of transmission but battery power is not sufficient to run the radio
3. use the USB cable to power the radio
4. set the volume and squelch settings, power cycle the radio to remember those settings (they do not get saved if the radio runs out of power and does not shut down properly)
5. the radio will auto turn on if it has been on the last time you turned off the ignition, meaning never power down your radio, allow the car to do it for you, unless you need to power cycle to remember new settings, in that case turn the radio back on before turning the car off

This way when I get into my car and turn it on, my radio turns on by itself, I am asked whether or not to set the Mass Media Storage mode because the USB cable is connected, I click no or let it sit for 10-15 seconds at which point it continues to main screen. I then press Function+Record to start recording. It appears that the scanning/hold/avoid modes are remembered and do not require power cycling to remember the settings, so that helps to go to your previous settings when getting back on the road.

I never had card corruption! I would say anyone claiming card corruption because the radio messed up simply has a crap card and should get a different one.

I have run with depleted batteries for more than a year and have had no issues with card corruption, multiple times per day of cutting power to the scanner.

The depleted batteries are required in order to show the scanner that there is enough voltage to use the record function. I once had the batteries deplete too much (like <3.3V or something) after 8 months of use that the record function stopped, so I charged up the batteries a bit to get the voltage up but still keep them low enough that the scanner does not stay on after car ignition has turned off and it has been working fine ever since.
 
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