SDS100/SDS200: **SAFETY ALERT** SDS100 battery severely swelled

[Squad101]

It's only that left cell in the picture that have swelled. Cut that off from the pack and you can continue to use the battery with a less capacity.
I use a shoe string around the battery lid to keep it in place and can easily push it off and on the scanner if I want to switch battery.
I believe the latch to be a safety latch, to let the lid release by breaking the latch when the pressure builds up from a swelled battery, or it could go off like a fire cracker if you use a reinforced latch much stronger than the original Uniden part.

/Ubbe

Im not comfortable using that battery. I ordered the big battery & the cover and one of those latches off eBay.

 

[Ubbe]

As stated, there have never been any reported accidents with Unidens batteries. It seems to be a quailty issue, some cells will swell regardless of how they are handled and could also happen to your new battery. I don't know what could happen if you then use a 3:rd party extra strong latch. That would be my concern using a non standard component.

/Ubbe

 

[n1chu]

It's only that left cell in the picture that have swelled. Cut that off from the pack and you can continue to use the battery with a less capacity.
I use a shoe string around the battery lid to keep it in place and can easily push it off and on the scanner if I want to switch battery.
I believe the latch to be a safety latch, to let the lid release by breaking the latch when the pressure builds up from a swelled battery, or it could go off like a fire cracker if you use a reinforced latch much stronger than the original Uniden part.

/Ubbe

…kind of like “design following function” (or is it the other way around?), the cover latch designed to break if and when a battery swells while inside the radio. If the latch WAS designed to give way, that tells us Uniden was aware this swelling could occur… in which case, Uniden should have noted this possibility and warned against replacing the broken latch with a stronger one like the one I have, ordered online from the guy who was offering a 3D version made from a stronger material. I say “was” because I don’t believe he is still offering the latch… I haven’t seen any posts directing those with broken latches to contact this guy in a long time.

 

[Ubbe]

Uniden should have noted this possibility and warned against replacing the broken latch with a stronger one like the one I have

It's usually written in the terms of usage that if you replace any component with a non factory one the warranty do not apply and any legal matters about getting compensation for damages cannot be done if you modify your device. There must be a reason to why Uniden have their battery held together by electrical tape and not glued and not using a hard plastic shell.

/Ubbe

 

[KevinC]

Obviously I have no idea, but I seriously doubt Uniden had the foresight to design the battery door clip to be a safety device and break on purpose.. The same as the hole in the back cover isn't a cooling vent (it can't be, it's covered with foam tape). Next thing will be the CSJ issue was by design to prevent overload or some other silly reason.

I'm waiting on my cable company to tell me that outages are on purpose to give my eyes a break from watching TV.

 

[JoeBearcat]

…kind of like “design following function” (or is it the other way around?), the cover latch designed to break if and when a battery swells while inside the radio. If the latch WAS designed to give way, that tells us Uniden was aware this swelling could occur…

I have never heard of this, so I suspect it is not related.

That said, if that theory were true, can you imagine the liability of those selling stronger latches? In fact, the latch was made stronger by Uniden several years ago.

But again, I have never heard of that design being intentional.

 

[W6KRU]

Add me to the list of users with a bloated SDS100 battery. My battery had stopped charging correctly and the charge indicator started blinking about a minute after connecting charger. I decided to look into it and attempted to remove the battery. I couldn't budge the latch with my fingers and used a screwdriver to pop it loose. There was a lot of pressure on the latch from the swelled battery. I tore into the pack and the defective cell was obvious. Bum deal. It lasted ~5 years . I always attempted to charge it correctly and kept a proper charge on it.

 

[n1chu]

Just Uniden’s way of saying it’s time to buy a new battery! LoL! Happy that it did not damage the radio!

 

[paramedic228]

There are 24 pages of comments now on this topic; way too many too read through to find out EXACTLY what Uniden has to say about this subject. I think most people are aware of the dangers of Lithium Ion batteries, although some are MORE dangerous than others. Can someone pint to Uniden's commentary on this subject? I have been through two batteries and will not buy any more until some solution is found for this problem for this EXPENSIVE scanner.

 

[doc62]

Unfortunately this problem is not limited to Uniden batteries. A couple weeks ago my son had a USB power pack pop open with a swollen battery flat pack.

 

[n1chu]

Doubtful Uniden will comment officially. I believe you can power the SDS100 using the data cord attached to an external battery.

 

[doc62]

Doubtful Uniden will comment officially. I believe you can power the SDS100 using the data cord attached to an external battery.

You can power it with a USB cord. i do that in my Tacoma with no battery installed.

 

[firebell9137]

I have never heard of this, so I suspect it is not related.

That said, if that theory were true, can you imagine the liability of those selling stronger latches? In fact, the latch was made stronger by Uniden several years ago.

But again, I have never heard of that design being intentional.

Can Uniden make stronger and longer lasting batteries for the sds100? Longer than 8 hour battery life.

 

[jtwalker]

Can Uniden make stronger and longer lasting batteries for the sds100? Longer than 8 hour battery life.

https://a.co/d/3n8xe46

 

[firebell9137]

https://a.co/d/3n8xe46

I Dont wanna carry another portable charger pack around. I have enough of those

 

[jtwalker]

I Dont wanna carry another portable charger pack around. I have enough of those

Uniden not going to give you more than what they have. More battery wouldn’t fit anyway.

 

[n1chu]

Battery technology continues to grow. Who knows what NASA (where weight and size is paramount) is playing with. I imagine a smaller, longer lasting battery is a possibility, but at what cost?

Consumer products are competitive by nature, the better the battery the more the cost. As it is (and this is just me surmising what happens) Uniden provided the specifications to build its current offering to whoever makes the battery and they charge Uniden for a bigger battery, Uniden in turn passes any extra cost on to the consumer. (Yes, Uniden offered the bigger battery free of charge to those who purchased the first batches of the radio that came with the smaller battery but I expect they made up any losses the larger battery cost them by offering an external charging station, charging slightly more for it and did the same for replacement batteries.

Luckily, the chemistry makeup of Uniden’s batteries do not lend themselves to overheating to the extent they cause a fire or explosion… At least there have been no reports of this that I have seen, just swelling.

But the swelling battery problem is not large. We only hear from those who experience it, and, rightfully so. I know if I experienced it I’d be posting here also. But, knock on wood, I haven’t experienced it with the 3 batteries I own, the original small one and two larger ones. Overall, out of all the radios sold, the swelling issue is a very small percentage of the total. Again, it’s my “reasonable” assumption.