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

[paramedic228]

Then I asked:
Thank you very much for your reply. If I could ask for a bit more of clarification though.

I seem to have read somewhere that there is circuit protection of some kind that allows for the battery to be charged in the unit safely. Assuming that is the case, it is probably NOT a case of overcharging the battery that caused, or is causing the swelling?

Perhaps, because my scanner rarely leaves my desktop and goes mobile, this is the reason for the battery failing? If I were to have cycled the battery more often then maybe the failure would have been less likely?

They replied: "
While you are able to charge your battery in the SDS100, it is not recommended to have it always remain on its charging cable with its battery still in it. We do recommend that after charging the battery, you remove the device from the cable and only reconnect when you need to charge it again.

Thank you,
Uniden Customer Support"

 

[paramedic228]

I did ask them one last question about the chemistry of the batteries. They replied:
"Thank you for your response.

The SDS100 batteries are lithium ion.

Please let us know if you have any further questions or concerns.

Thank you,
Uniden Customer Support"

 

[doc62]

Found one of mine starting to swell today when I took it out of the external charger. I’ve only used the external charger with them so it lasted since 2019.

 

[Ubbe]

When googling for info the result says: "A Lithium-Ion battery's average life span is 2 to 3 years or 300 to 500 charge cycles, whichever comes first."

It's counting full charge cycles. So if you charge from 75% to 100% it will be counted as 1/4 of a charge cycle.
Like milk it goes bad after a certain time period without even being used.

/Ubbe

 

[buddrousa]

Ubbe that is not what a Motorola Engeneer told me in a class. We were told 10% or 99% are the same 1 charge cycle. I have found that to be true with Kenwood Li batteries charging my walkie less than once a week I got 7 to 8 years of 100% service life.

 

[JoeBearcat]

Assuming that is the case, it is probably NOT a case of overcharging the battery that caused, or is causing the swelling?

Preventing overcharging (not charging to more than X volts) vs constant charging
(forever slightly discharging and charging to X volts) are two separate issues.

Constantly being on charge is not recommended for any battery and may cause premature failure.

 

[oldcowboywildbill]

I also have an SDS100 with factory battery and it swelled up in the radio. I ordered a new uniden battery and external battery charger.
My unit is only around two years old.
Go figure !

 

[Ubbe]

Constantly being on charge is not recommended for any battery and may cause premature failure.

Yes, that's a problem when wanting the battery to have a full charge when you take the scanner with you and if that time cannot be planned. Unidens battery self discharge quite rapidly. I have a constant power to its micro USB port so it doesn't take any power from the battery but still loose its charge over a short time.

I used to rent out radios for events and those had NiCd batteries and when I charge those and take them out of storage after a year they still have a full charge. I use a lot of LiPo batteries for different R/C models and when I put a battery away for the season and take it out again the next season it still has at least half its charge left in them. Li-Ion probably have better power size/weight ratio but needs them to be constantly topped up, or perhaps the battery quality that Uniden receives are not the best.

/Ubbe

 

[tvengr]

NO NO NO I know what happens when lithium and water mix saw that in hazmat class.

I remember the same results with sodium and water from chemistry class. The violent reaction releases hydrogen gas which can be ignited and burst into flames. To my knowledge, there haven't been any heat or fire problems associated with the swelling of the Uniden batteries.