SDS100/SDS200: **SAFETY ALERT** SDS100 battery severely swelled
- Thread starter maus92
- Start date
I haven’t had a Uniden battery go bad but I have had it happen with an iPhone. The phone’s case was forced apart by the swelling. It’s been advised to NOT fully charge the battery before storing it. UPMAN (RIP) has advised to recharge your batteries OUTSIDE the radio, (using their charger) even though the radio has the capability to charge the battery while still in the radio… his reasoning was (my guess here) the charging system may be sound but there’s really no telling when the battery decides to swell and breaks the battery cover latching or worse. As for the use of external chargers possibly causing the batteries to go bad… that may be true, but I haven’t seen any trend. And I haven’t heard of it happening when the Uniden charger was being used.
Recall? I don't think so. My solder problems were fixed and I even added Jon's internal GPS. Haven't had a problem since. I also replaced the battery latch before it broke. I usually charge externally because I have two batteries and I switch 'em out but the batteries haven't been a problem, either.
I think most of the problems have come from a vocal minority but they have a right to complain. That's a lot of money to spend on a little radio.
I think most of the problems have come from a vocal minority but they have a right to complain. That's a lot of money to spend on a little radio.
Some swelling SDS100 batteries have been reported since release. Nothing new about this at all.
You don't hear of the reports from those whom never had any battery issues.
I've owned several different brand cell phones that have had swollen batteries including Apple iPhone's, HTC and Samsung phones. All had swelling batteries. The iPhone forced its back cover partially open plus cracked its screen as it did not have a battery made for the user to replace.
My list includes several other devices that use Lithium cells with swelling issues as well.
It's the nature of the beast as Lithium technology is improved upon.
Just to add to this thread, I've had the SDS100 since around mid-2019 or so. I purchased a replacement battery (big battery) and I don't remember if I kept using the stock battery (big battery) that came with the radio or if I switched it out and started using the replacement battery, but one of them expanded a lot while in storage in my camera bag. It was stored in a small box that fit the battery comfortably, and one day I found the box was super stretched out and discovered the battery was swollen and expanding. I recycled that battery and purchased another replacement battery, only to have it happen again (not as swollen as before, but it's because I was checking on it regularly). I contacted Uniden and they're giving me a prepaid shipping label to send the scanner and the batteries back and they said they'll inspect and replace the scanner and batteries at no cost, so that's good on their part. I'll try to remember to post an update around the end of September when I'm expected to get the replacement scanner and batteries back.
ManyReason
ManyReason
As previously stated, it’s a problem. But when Samsung had this problem (widespread) with one of its cell phone models they jumped on it and the problem went away. I suspect they attacked the quality control process. What they did exactly I don’t know. But it shows the problem does have the ability to be rectified. The experts say LI-ion batteries should be stored at less than full capacity, reducing the chance of overheating, swelling and fire. While I’ve never heard of one of Uniden’s packs causing excessive heat or fire, the swelling alone is disconcerting enough. But only charging a pack to less than full doesn’t help the user who carries a spare like I do. The larger battery pack was developed to give the user a more reasonable expectation of life before needing a recharge over the original smaller pack. And replacing a depleted pack with one that is only charged to something less than full capacity defeats the reason for the larger pack! While I have never experienced a bad battery from Uniden (I have one small pack and the free replacement larger battery plus I purchased a spare pack with Uniden’s charger), it seems to me Uniden should follow Samsungs lead and request the battery supplier to up their quality control efforts. My LI-ion packs have always been charged to full capacity and rotated occasionally without issue, meaning so far, I’ve discounted those reports of swelling as something the industry (Uniden) seems to regard as an acceptable failure percentage.
Samsung's issue (with the Note 7) was (among other things) that the battery compartment was too small. It wasn't a user accessible battery so they couldn't exchange batteries and thus not only removed the Note 7 from being sold, they also bought back all Note 7s and had the cell carriers disable them. Those they bought back and/or were still in inventory were destroyed.
The SDS100 had a user replaceable battery that they provided for free.
Don't store lithium batteries at full charge. They should be about 60%. This is why Dji drone batteries have automatic self discharge circuits.
Doesn’t help if you carry a spare pack… you’d have to carry two in order to get the full usage out of one… but then again, the less than fully charged rule is for safety aboard aircraft, out of a proponderance of caution for the obvious reasons. (I believe it was a Fed X cargo plane that was lost due to LI-ion catching fire.)
I meant for extended storage times.
Understood.
- Joined
- Dec 19, 2002
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- 224
Welp, I became victim of a swollen battery today. This is the larger extended battery pack that has failed. I have purchased 4 SDS100's over the past few years and I honestly don't know the date of this battery. I almost broke the battery door trying to remove the cover. I pulled my original boxes out of the closet trying to make heads/tails out of a date code but was unsuccessful. I tried searching but kept getting hits to this thread. I remember when I purchased my first SDS100 with the slim battery and battery door, uniden unexpectedly mailed me a replacement battery kit that included the larger battery with the extended battery door in a white box, but that scanner/battery combo is long gone. So what's the latest on the swollen batteries, are the larger batteries doing this now? was there a bad batch? I always use the OEM charger, and it's only plugged in (charging if needed) while i'm sitting at my desk. Once I leave, my power conditioner gets switched off so nothing stays charging. Cheers.
I think Uniden should be looking into these chargers when people report swollen batteries. 4+ year owner, purchased June 2018, never had any battery expansion and this is the original battery (4 years old), and only charge in the scanner. I think of this like a balloon becoming over inflated and eventually pops, so I wonder if the charging threshold is set too high.
Funny that Upman (Uniden’s Engineer) (R.I.P.) recommended never charging the LI-ion battery in the SDS100, so why then does the radio allow for it? I confess, I charge my battery pack while in the radio, even though I have Uniden’s external charger. (I figure I will have to replace the closure hasp for the battery cover either way… I’ll either fatigue it by continuously removing the battery to recharge it outside the radio or break it when the battery swells and pops the cover off, destroying the hasp!
I’ve got to say, my SDS100 was purchased in the first months of availability, meaning it came with the smaller battery, which still works, as does the larger replacement battery Uniden sent me and an additional larger battery (that came with their external charger). And that’s no surprise. Most everyone (a percentage of the total) experiences no problems. (I expect that to change in a few years as the battery packs reach the end of their natural lives and start giving us problems-exactly what kind of problems is yet to be seen.)
I’ve got to say, my SDS100 was purchased in the first months of availability, meaning it came with the smaller battery, which still works, as does the larger replacement battery Uniden sent me and an additional larger battery (that came with their external charger). And that’s no surprise. Most everyone (a percentage of the total) experiences no problems. (I expect that to change in a few years as the battery packs reach the end of their natural lives and start giving us problems-exactly what kind of problems is yet to be seen.)
It is not happening during charging. My small battery and 1 large battery swelled while not in use stored with a full charge so it looks to be a battery problem not a charging problem. They are not swelling and catching on fire like the other batteries that make the news after fires.
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That seems to be a common issue, but could some of these chargers have over charged the batteries? It's like being at a kids birthday party, and the balloons start to pop even when not being played with. I've discouraged a few of my friends from purchasing this charger, but instead to charge in the scanner, and none have mentioned any battery expansion issues. What I think should happen is if you have a battery that expanded and were using an external charger, everything should be sent in and replaced.
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- Dec 19, 2002
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- 224
You hit the nail on the head, This larger capacity pack was just sitting in the radio on the desk for the last 6 months. It was left with about 3/4 charge. when you look at the silver cells, they are all puffy. Currently it is sitting isolated in the garage so if it catches fire it won't burn anything except the floor. I honestly don't feel safe with it in my house, but still retaining it in case Uniden wants it back for some reason. I'm hoping to hear back from them by Monday but i'm assuming with the 90-day warranty according to their website that i'm SOL.
Way too much to put up with this B.S. I hate the batteries. I am not fond of the radio either.
pactrpo
Newbie
unfortunately the puffed up battery has claimed me. It was out of the scanner at the time, but fully charged. Scanner only less than 6 months old. Standard battery. I can't be arsed sending the whole shebang to Uniden.
That catching fire or exploding we hear of seems to be related to larger quantities of batteries, batteries collected to de disposed of for example… it may just be a case of multiple batteries swelling and producing heat enough that when stored with other batteries, also swelling, produce enough heat to catch fire… and once a fire has caught hold, other “innocent” batteries explode, like throwing a good battery pack into a campfire? I don’t know, but that’s my guess as to why we don’t see fire or explosion, only swelling, with the Uniden packs.
