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

[KR7CQ]

Well I've read through the thread but one thing isn't clear.

Is it safe to use the external charger, and simply leave a battery in that cradle fully charged until the battery in the scanner drains and needs to be swapped out? Or is this unknown at this time? This is big for those of use with the charging cradle and spare battery.

 

[KE5MC]

For now I thinks it an 'unknown'. Best practice at least for me is remove battery from charger. Unclear what the cause for puffy batteries are at this time too.

 

[KR7CQ]

For now I thinks it an 'unknown'. Best practice at least for me is remove battery from charger. Unclear what the cause for puffy batteries are at this time too.

It sure seems that way. But some are saying that simply leaving the battery in a fully charged state outside of the scanner, just sitting on a shelf, can cause the issue.

I know I'm mixing apples and oranges a touch here, but on phones, it's well known that for best battery performance and battery life, you don't want to fully discharge or fully charge the batteries. Most experts recommend staying between 25% and 85% on charge. Many experts say that a 50% charge is ideal for storage of these batteries as well. Apple ships at around 50% charge in fact.

Unfortunately the charging cradle doesn't have a charge percentage indicator, so it's either charged fully, or not. This would appear to possibly leave those of us who purchased the spare battery / charger kit in limbo. Right now my charging cradle (with charged battery in it) sits next to a like-new condition (came with original box and all contents) PRO-2006, all sitting in a wood radio cabinet. I'm sitting at work wondering if I could come to the side of my scanner melted, or maybe even something worse. I've seen videos of these batteries going off almost like a small bit of thermite so now I'm wondering what a worst case failure would be with these particular batteries. I would like to hear Uniden's take on this.

 

[darkness975]

Isn't this a Uniden thread?

I was asking about why they used the battery in the sds100. I quoted that guy because I was addressing him. He mentioned both units in this thread.

 

[batdude]

if you use the lowest / cheapest bidder for your battery manufacturer ..... your $3 savings per shipped unit just reared it's head and bit you square in the ass..... this is going to be a big deal. When someone's house/car burns to the ground because of a **** battery..... the lawyers will come a knockin'

 

[mule1075]

if you use the lowest / cheapest bidder for your battery manufacturer ..... your $3 savings per shipped unit just reared it's head and bit you square in the ass..... this is going to be a big deal. When someone's house/car burns to the ground because of a **** battery..... the lawyers will come a knockin'

And since the potential problem with the battery is out side the unit everything you posted is completely incorrect. Do you have inside information that the battery they chose was by the lowest bidder? If you do please let all of us know.

 

[KR7CQ]

if you use the lowest / cheapest bidder for your battery manufacturer ..... your $3 savings per shipped unit just reared it's head and bit you square in the ass..... this is going to be a big deal. When someone's house/car burns to the ground because of a **** battery..... the lawyers will come a knockin'

The Samsung exploding note battery saga comes to mind. I can only imagine the total cost of that fiasco, but then again Samsung can absorb costs like that. I don't want to be alarmist on all of this, but am very curious now.

I might be missing something on this question, but if a battery that is fully charged can have a catastrophic failure outside of the scanner, why couldn't it do the same fully charged inside the scanner?

 

[mule1075]

I might be missing something on this question, but if a battery that is fully charged can have a catastrophic failure outside of the scanner, why couldn't it do the same fully charged inside the scanner?

It seems that the battery is not fully charged and sitting dormant and is failing in the cases I am reading. Now if one fails while charging it is a brand new ballgame. Hopefully it will shake out correctly. I have 6 sets of rechargeable batteries doing nothing now with the exception of the beard trimmers. Guessing I don't need the Maha charger and batteries for that! I say let's see how everything shakes out and go from there.

 

[FoeHammer]

It just another reason I hate proprietary battery packs , that I cannot use my own smart charger on with balance leads

 

[budevans]

I might be missing something on this question, but if a battery that is fully charged can have a catastrophic failure outside of the scanner, why couldn't it do the same fully charged inside the scanner?

You know the answer. It can.

Along those lines. If it does swell while in the radio, it would put pressure on the back cover. If that happens, how do you open/remove the back cover without breaking the clips?

 

[KR7CQ]

You know the answer. It can.

Along those lines. If it does swell while in the radio, it would put pressure on the back cover. If that happens, how do you open/remove the back cover without breaking the clips?

I would think that the moment you hit that release the whole cover would come springing off of the chassis. The breaking of tabs would either occur or not occur while the cover is fully latched down, that's my thinking.

If the worst this battery can do is swell up, then worst case you are out a battery, and possibly a rear cover if it happens while inside the scanner. I wonder if the worst the battery can do is just swell, or if it can "go nuclear" like some of these batteries have been known to do...that's my greater concern really, damage to other things including the scanner itself, and much worse, becoming a potential fire hazard. Imagine this happening:

Either way I'm going to continue keeping the spare on the charger and watch this closely. I absolutely love swapping out the used battery for a topped-off battery every morning before leaving. I would hate to give that up unless it's really warranted.

 

[jjbond]

Look at the bright side kiddies, at least when your new SDS100 causes your house to burn down, you'll have a scanner to listen to the fireground channels.... provided you've found the right filters, attenuator etc settings before hand.

 

[budevans]

I would think that the moment you hit that release the whole cover would come springing off of the chassis. The breaking of tabs would either occur or not occur while the cover is fully latched down, that's my thinking.

If the worst this battery can do is swell up, then worst case you are out a battery, and possibly a rear cover if it happens while inside the scanner. I wonder if the worst the battery can do is just swell, or if it can "go nuclear" like some of these batteries have been known to do...that's my greater concern really, damage to other things including the scanner itself, and much worse, becoming a potential fire hazard. Imagine this happening:

Either way I'm going to continue keeping the spare on the charger and watch this closely. I absolutely love swapping out the used battery for a topped-off battery every morning before leaving. I would hate to give that up unless it's really warranted.

Here's a link regarding the difference between Li-Ion and Li-Po. Lithium Ion vs Lithium Polymer Batteries - Which Is Better?

Bottom line, Li-Po is less likely to catch fire, leak or exploded than Li-Ion.

 

[KR7CQ]

Here's a link regarding the difference between Li-Ion and Li-Po. Lithium Ion vs Lithium Polymer Batteries - Which Is Better?

Bottom line, Li-Po is less likely to catch fire, leak or exploded than Li-Ion.
View attachment 70709

Interesting, and strange that the two main pluses to Li-Po don't seem to be happening here. These aren't turning out to be very robust, and are pretty far from "low profile". Think about the power vs. size in this battery vs. the battery in of one of the new flagship smart phones. At least these are supposed to be less likely to leak Electrolytes and are apparently less likely to combust. The fact that they are less likely to go up in flames is worth the other negatives to me in any case. It would seem the primary risks here are just the swelling of the battery, and possibly a broken battery compartment door.

 

[radio3353]

Uniden begins with You 'n I (UNI).

As does UNIcation...now that we know you are here monitoring this traffic do you have any useful advice to those users with swelled batteries? Is it a hazard, should UNIden be notified, is UNIden investigating (maybe you can't answer that), etc? Thanks.

 

[buddrousa]

My small battery was stored fully charged the same as my RC batteries out of the scanner on a desk where the temp is a constant 68 Degrees.

 

[MrThompson]

If you hang out at your local hobby shop I think you will find out that LiPos in the hands of people who are trained, motivated and anal retentive about using them properly are much more volatile than the lithium ion batteries in our phones. Even the high end RC LiPos puff.

 

[wb4sqi]

It seems that the battery is not fully charged and sitting dormant and is failing in the cases I am reading. Now if one fails while charging it is a brand new ballgame. Hopefully it will shake out correctly. I have 6 sets of rechargeable batteries doing nothing now with the exception of the beard trimmers. Guessing I don't need the Maha charger and batteries for that! I say let's see how everything shakes out and go from there.

I'm with Mule, it's too early with this new issue to begin sensationalizing like the news media. Let's see how things shake out. In the meantime just keep an eye on your batteries and act as if this problem never happened. I will keep my three batteries in a rotation and not worry.

 

[KK4JUG]

It seems that the battery is not fully charged and sitting dormant and is failing in the cases I am reading. Now if one fails while charging it is a brand new ballgame. Hopefully it will shake out correctly. I have 6 sets of rechargeable batteries doing nothing now with the exception of the beard trimmers. Guessing I don't need the Maha charger and batteries for that! I say let's see how everything shakes out and go from there.

I still occasionally use my 436 and HP2 so I'll still use the rechargeable AAs a little.

 

[seth21w]

If you have a lipo battery that is not in use store at 3.8v per cell, do not leave stored fully charged or depleted! Upman is the internal charger of the sds100 balance charging when plugged in i am assuming it is?!