PSR-800 firmware update and battery life?

[scosgt]

I did the 1.8 firmware update tonight because I was having a problem getting "set location" to work. My SD card may have been corrupted.
Anyway, now my battery life is suddenly like 15 minutes, the meter just runs right down, and the unit shuts off.
I had changed the battery values in EZ Scan which had worked previously. Is there something about the new update that eats the battery? I mean, literally 15 minutes with the same batteries I had been using before the update.

 

[jackj]

My 800 has the latest firmware installed and I've had no change in battery life. I suspect that you have another problem that has just appeared, like a shorted or high resistance cell. Some suggestions:

1. Do you charge you battery in the scanner? If so, are you sure the charge option in EZScan is turned on? If not, are you sure your charger is working?

2. Have you tried another set of cells?

Good luck.

 

[davidzimmerman]

How I Use My GRE-800

Its Now a BASE scanner i was tired of batteries not lasting i did buy the 396XT used the same batteries and the scanner would last 4-DAYS so i'm happy to say the GRE-800 is a great base scanner lol

 

[scosgt]

I give myself the award for dumb post of the month.
Turns out I had my four position battery charger set to only charge two batteries.
PSR-800 does not last long on only two batteries!

 

[KevinC]

I give myself the award for dumb post of the month.
Turns out I had my four position battery charger set to only charge two batteries.
PSR-800 does not last long on only two batteries!

But you know what? You were big enough to come back and admit it.

That goes a looong way!!

 

[scosgt]

I bought some NiMH batteries at Harbor Freight. $4.99 for 4, 2200 MaH. Charged all four this time. Shut off in slightly less than 2 hours.
I hope other batteries do better than this. My originals, now all four charged, have been running one hour 23 minutes, the gauge has not moved off full (but it did revise it to the lower values).

Of course, anything sold at Harbor Freight is absolute junk, so I really did not expect much.

 

[Sportster77]

Of course, anything sold at Harbor Freight is absolute junk, so I really did not expect much.

I just used a set of those batteries in my PSR 800 from 6:30 this morning untill 6:00pm this evening, constantly on and monitoring the Cleveland Clinc's LTR system and University Hospital / CWRU's frequencies.

I have been very pleased with the life I have been getting out of these batteries since I bought them a couple of months ago.

 

[scosgt]

Strange. I went back and dug up some fairly fresh name brand batteries. Running tests now. The two sets I tired tonight only ran two hours.
I have some Rayovac Platinum in there now. 1.5 hours and just a very slim band of white on the meter.
But those other batteries behaved somewhat similar, when they started to go down they faded FAST.

 

[scosgt]

A freshly charged set of energizers was still going strong at 8 hours when I changed them out.
I guess this radio is really really picky about batteries.
And some batteries may not charge as fully on a particular charger as others.
Trying the Harbor Freight batteries after topping off in a "smart" charger, just curious to see if it makes any difference.

 

[jaspence]

PSR 800 battery life

HF batteries seem to vary greatly in quality. I had one in each of two 4 packs refuse to charge in a smart charger, but when I got 4 good ones on the guarantee, the life has been acceptable for the $4.99 price. A good charger with both voltage and temperature control will get the best out of NiMH batteries.

 

[scosgt]

Reporting back.
Harbor Freight NiMH batteries. 2200 (supposedly). Charged in an Energizer "smart charger". Full charge is 4-5 hours, so it charges at a lower rate than rapid chargers, supposedly "better".
Running the PSR with the LCD ON level 5, scanning four very busy systems (receiving something probably 90% + of the time) I got 6 hours 15 minutes before the warning beep. I did not try to run all the way down, just took them out.
I am pretty darn happy with that run time out of $4.99/4 batteries. Not too shabby.
I think Energizers do better under the same conditions, and of course I could change the settings to get a lot more run time - backlight off, LED off, scan less systems.
But overall, that is fine run time. No complaints.