SDS100/SDS200: **SAFETY ALERT** SDS100 battery severely swelled
- Thread starter maus92
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wtp
Member
this is the original battery for our 100.
after replacement i put it on a shelf and forgot about it.
cleaning the desk a month ago this is how i found it.
after replacement i put it on a shelf and forgot about it.
cleaning the desk a month ago this is how i found it.
I have wanted a SDS100 to go along with my SDS200. But until this battery issue is fixed, no friggin way will I buy one. My Icom R30 doesn’t have this issue at all. WTF is causing this. I do have a drone with similar batteries that swell too.
This is a problem that's most certainly not specific to the SDS100, but endemic to a specific kind of battery substance, namely lithium polymer, or LiPo, as it's sometimes known as. Basically, it's the reaction between the lithium and the polymer that holds it. While you get good rechargeability, often LiPo batteries (not all lithium batteries, mind you) tend to expand. This has long been an issue with dedicated laptop batteries for decades. The solution is to design a rechargeable battery that fits existing equipment that doesn't use lithium polymer. (Lithium itself is a problem, with the tendency to catch fire.)
Right now, the only practical solution is to simply replace the battery when it does swell, and dispose via lithium disposal methods. Each battery can give you several years' usage, with many recharges, basically paying for itself after a while.
(I also use nickel metal hydride batteries for standard universal rechargeable battery use, some may be useful for months, and some, oddly enough, have lived for almost 20 years! My point is, there's no "perfect battery", and at least be thankful for batteries that do work at all!)
Ubbe
Member
Because it isn't a safety issue. No battery have exploded, caught fire or leaked chemicals. They only swell and that makes them unusable.
/Ubbe
Ubbe
Member
Interesting that amateur and professional radios don’t have this swelling problem… time for Uniden to up its game and provide a battery pack that is built to the same standards.
Hit_Factor
Member
thats what they said about the ones in the cell phones so they waited untill they started blowing up then they did something remember mmmm never do anything untill it cost the company money we shall see at least we can give them some press about it a known defect because this is a defect and doing nothing about it and when not if someone gets hurt it will be a bigger paydaay then they will want to pay because they knew about it and did nothing
AB5ID
Member
The Samsung Galaxy Note7's battery defects were due to design and manufacturing flaws. Battery swelling was not a defect for the Note 7.
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Chris0516
Active Member
I am inclined to agree with this. I have had my SDS100 since 2023. I have never experienced a battery swelling on me.
I had one, but it was one of two, and the one that looked iffy to start with. I've since replaced it.
I have had my sds100 for a couple years never had a swelling problem. I use it only in my car and it stays in the car most of the time it is shut over night or a few days. I figured that I dont need the lower port to charge so I just took the battery out put it in the console compartment and used the upper charging port to use the scanner, works fine. I pulled the battery out of the console to use the scanner away from a charging source and the the battery swelled like my pregnant cat. What do I do know, just buy another one and leave in a climate control area?
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No Rhyme or Reason with the swelling which first popped up with the flat battery that had the flat battery cover when the radio was first introduced.
The battery just did not last long, the chassis for the sds-100 was a repurposed marine radio in unidens line, hence the water resistance. Once Uniden realized that it just didn't last long enough, they came out with the nip it in the bud campaign, they produced the larger battery with the big butt battery cover. That eventually was standard issue but those who signed up got the larger battery with the big butt battery cover and got to keep the original flat cover and battery.
There really was no Rhyme or Reason or cause or action that people took to cause swelling. There was nothing to blame except the individual battery. I just checked now, every once in awhile I charge the thinner battery and use it on the radio with the flat back, I then charge it in the radio and put it back in the drawer. Never any swelling.
I don't use the radio that much and at home I keep it plugged in to use it. I never charge it while it's running.
I had one of the first radios in early June, 2018 and my serial number is 4XX off the line.
Never any swelling on either battery.. I used an apx back then and really didn't use the 100 that much so no need for swapping out batteries or charging externally, however my battery clip did disintegrate in my hands for no reason. Have to press your thumb up against the battery cover on unclipping.
Never had csj but consider it a time bomb that could go off anytime. The Uniden product manager Paul Opitz- rip did the right thing by initiating the "nip it in the bud" campaign even though the big butt battery doesn't have that much longevity either. There was no knowledge of batteries swelling at that time and I blame it on the vendor they were using that supplied the batteries.
From what I could see, just was no Rhyme or Reason why sometime batteries swell and others never do. If you use your radio a lot you need to buy a new battery, maybe buy a few and use an external charger and then carry a few extra batteries with you. You won't have the problem of running out of juice when you need it, I couldn't believe Uniden after Paul Opitz passed away as to whether various problems were fixed or not, so be careful when opening the battery cover, press your thumb as hard as you can on the cover and carefully unclip the battery.
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TrentBob has it right. Every point he has made is spot on! If you are concerned about bad clips on the battery compartment cover, or swelling batteries, get yourself a larger external battery pack and run the radio off that with the programming cable. You’ve got the extended run time that comes with the external L-I battery and whatever battery cover you use won’t have any latch problems if or when a battery swells. (Those latches don’t seem to need a swelling battery to cause breakage either, they can fail for no reason other than the clip isn’t made from a stronger material, which may just be by design… consider this; if a battery does swell, the clip fails and allows the pressure to go outward, not inward, where it could cause problems with the battery compartment or radio itself.)
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The clip for the battery compartment broke on my 100. I rubber banded the now battery-less 100 and just use it on AC power.
Within 3.5 months of the battery sitting on a table by itself it swelled up like the others in this thread. It was fine all these years (never replaced it, came with the 100 when I bought it from ScannerMaster).
So odd that this can happen even when it is not in use.
Within 3.5 months of the battery sitting on a table by itself it swelled up like the others in this thread. It was fine all these years (never replaced it, came with the 100 when I bought it from ScannerMaster).
So odd that this can happen even when it is not in use.
Same thing happened with one of mine. Charged it and set it on the desk to use and it wouldn’t close. It is swollen about 1/4th size. I guess Uniden gets to sell another one 🥹💰
Those are lithium ion I believe. You might want to check and make sure. You might not want to keep the swollen ones inside your house. Don't throw them away in the trash or dumpster either. They self combust violently if heated or compressed. I am on one of the state regional Hazmat Response teams. If they are not lithium then disregard but once one of the cells starts to burn, they give off their own hydrogen and rapidly go up in seconds. NIMH and Nicads don't do that. That's why I own a 436 and use NIMH batteries.
Ubbe
Member
I'm a bit concerned when users buy extra strong clips from Ebay. If you look at a cartridge for a gun there's a casing filled with gunpowder and if you pull the bullet off it and pour out its gunpowder and set fire to it it will only burn up and not explode. But if the bullet are letting the pressure build up inside the cartridge it will then explode with a bang and shoot away the bullet.
Letting a battery expand freely should be of no concern but having it trapped that will let the pressure built up could rip the seams open of the plastic bag that holds the chemicals and I don't know what could happen then.
/Ubbe
