Not the same chemistry. Meaning nicads are safer. They aren’t a fire hazard to the extent Li-ions are. I also have a Li-ion battery from a drone that swelled... and it swelled after I had allowed it to cool, and then recharged it for later use. I was told I shouldn’t charge them until I was ready to use them, don’t know how true that is but I know the formula E (electric) race cars that race in Europe use Li-ion batteries and are transported by cargo planes to the various countries they race in. Before they are loaded on the planes the batteries must be depleted to a certain percentage before they can be put on the plane. I guess the scientists studied the batteries and determined it was unsafe to transport a fully charged battery. When Li-ions first became common among RC plane hobbyists there was a lot of articles advising the batteries be allowed to cool and then recharged inside a metal ammo can because not only did they swell, they heated up, caught fire and exploded. I believe lithium in it’s purest form has to be stored in a sealed container because it reacts with the oxygen in the air and combusts?
SDS100/SDS200: **SAFETY ALERT** SDS100 battery severely swelled
- Thread starter maus92
- Start date
No need to store a defective, swelled battery pack in your RC charging bag. The battery pack has already gone through its excessive heating and swelling process and isn’t (at least should not be) a fire hazard anymore. (Understood your storage in a “safe” bag could just be out of convenience... a logical place to keep it until it can be disposed of properly. My local Home Depot has a battery disposal container but I’m not sure if it’s for Li-ion’s... it may be they have to keep Li-ions separate in another container due to the possibility of fire.)
I can’t help wondering what that battery pack would have done to the radio case if it swelled while still in the radio! I guess that’s what Upman was driving at when he stated it’s never a good idea to recharge the pack using the scanner’s internal charging circuit, (while the pack was still in the scanner), when an external charger was available. The offering of Uniden’s external charger came into existence at the same time Upman stated his take on using external chargers for Li-ion packs. Maybe just a marketing ploy to purchase their external charger? Possibly. But it was always a good idea to use an external charger, even before Upman’s pitch for their external charger. The fact the charger wasn’t even offered until after the release of the scanner (in addition to other issues such as the free upgrade to a larger pack after the radio was released) leads me to believe this particular scanner was rushed to market. That being said, other than Uniden’s promise to see future firmware updates, (there was one upgrade that pertained to the various “test bench” filters Uniden made available to all users in an effort to help with simulcast issues), the scanner did all that was advertised. I’m still waiting for other firmware updates/upgrades because that’s the way I understood the advertising of the original product. I have no idea of what further enhancements Uniden might be referring to (if my expectations are correct) but will wait patiently and give Uniden a chance to resume normal after the pandemic. I’m still a Uniden weeny and will probably bite on their next “flagship” offering, if one ever comes to pass!
Opposing viewpoints, corrections and clarifications are welcome. And, I’d like to see what the group might suggest in improvements to the SDS series...
I can’t help wondering what that battery pack would have done to the radio case if it swelled while still in the radio! I guess that’s what Upman was driving at when he stated it’s never a good idea to recharge the pack using the scanner’s internal charging circuit, (while the pack was still in the scanner), when an external charger was available. The offering of Uniden’s external charger came into existence at the same time Upman stated his take on using external chargers for Li-ion packs. Maybe just a marketing ploy to purchase their external charger? Possibly. But it was always a good idea to use an external charger, even before Upman’s pitch for their external charger. The fact the charger wasn’t even offered until after the release of the scanner (in addition to other issues such as the free upgrade to a larger pack after the radio was released) leads me to believe this particular scanner was rushed to market. That being said, other than Uniden’s promise to see future firmware updates, (there was one upgrade that pertained to the various “test bench” filters Uniden made available to all users in an effort to help with simulcast issues), the scanner did all that was advertised. I’m still waiting for other firmware updates/upgrades because that’s the way I understood the advertising of the original product. I have no idea of what further enhancements Uniden might be referring to (if my expectations are correct) but will wait patiently and give Uniden a chance to resume normal after the pandemic. I’m still a Uniden weeny and will probably bite on their next “flagship” offering, if one ever comes to pass!
Opposing viewpoints, corrections and clarifications are welcome. And, I’d like to see what the group might suggest in improvements to the SDS series...
It was stored in the bag for my safety until Uniden said they did not want it back and I disposed of it properly.
You also permanently ruin the battery... How are you progressing on the side port cover for the SDS100?
If you're preparing to scrap the battery anyway, ruining it isn't particularly troublesome. Especially if it's already unusable.
I'll get started on it next week. I've had some other 3D printing/CAD projects keeping me busy.
The large cell that came with my SDS200 swelled in the last week or two.
I don't use the radio much but when I picked it up this morning, the battery cover and battery just fell onto the floor.
At first I thought the latch had failed but nope, it was fine. The swelled battery caused the cover to pop open.
Now I know what the pop sound probably was that my cats also heard recently!
Anyway, I dismantled the thing and it consists of three 1800 mAh cells wired in parallel for the 5400 mAh rating.
Two of the three cells had swelled. The two swelled cells drop to zero volts with a 10 ohm resistor across them but the unswelled cell still has some current potential in it.
All three cells were stamped with the same 05/18 date code. Made by Corun or the YiYang Corun Battery Company.
A part number of ICP883256 is stamped on each cell and a Google search on that number links to a PDF report from the manufacturer about the batteries safety and characteristics. The part number was sold as a three cell lithium pack made for the Uniden SDS100.
So, I ordered a new large cell with the EBC100 charger as that was the cheaper way to go really. Amazon lists the large cell only for a bit less than the one without the charger but the delivery time was much greater for some reason.
Not all that long ago, I'd bought a small battery and cover from ScannerMaster. It worked just fine and met my very light use needs.
I'd probably never use the SDS100 more than an hour on battery so the small cell is fine for me but, I'm not going to pay ScannerMaster's price for another small cell and cover.
I kept using my large cell after I charged and tested and ran the new small cell back down to maybe 20% capacity and stored it.
So, I can still use my SDS100 if needed with the small battery.
I don't use the radio much but when I picked it up this morning, the battery cover and battery just fell onto the floor.
At first I thought the latch had failed but nope, it was fine. The swelled battery caused the cover to pop open.
Now I know what the pop sound probably was that my cats also heard recently!
Anyway, I dismantled the thing and it consists of three 1800 mAh cells wired in parallel for the 5400 mAh rating.
Two of the three cells had swelled. The two swelled cells drop to zero volts with a 10 ohm resistor across them but the unswelled cell still has some current potential in it.
All three cells were stamped with the same 05/18 date code. Made by Corun or the YiYang Corun Battery Company.
A part number of ICP883256 is stamped on each cell and a Google search on that number links to a PDF report from the manufacturer about the batteries safety and characteristics. The part number was sold as a three cell lithium pack made for the Uniden SDS100.
So, I ordered a new large cell with the EBC100 charger as that was the cheaper way to go really. Amazon lists the large cell only for a bit less than the one without the charger but the delivery time was much greater for some reason.
Not all that long ago, I'd bought a small battery and cover from ScannerMaster. It worked just fine and met my very light use needs.
I'd probably never use the SDS100 more than an hour on battery so the small cell is fine for me but, I'm not going to pay ScannerMaster's price for another small cell and cover.
I kept using my large cell after I charged and tested and ran the new small cell back down to maybe 20% capacity and stored it.
So, I can still use my SDS100 if needed with the small battery.
KRUSER I hope you do not have that battery stored in your house. It might be safe in a 50 Cal METAL AMMO CAN sealed.
buddro
buddro
No!! It was dead. Two of the three cells in the pack fell instantly to zero volts with a resistor across them. The third cell that had not swollen did heat a 10 ohm 5 watt resistor slightly but it also fell to zero volts before it or the resistor ever heated up beyond just warm so it was basically already flat when I found it this morning.
The story goes that they are mostly harmless as far as a fire concern goes as long as they have no charge left in them. I'm banking on that being true and believe it is. The only concern left is the damage to the environment and maybe health concerns if they leak.
My old one never did burst the pouches each cell is in. They contained the chemicals like they are designed to do.
I still put it all in a flameproof/leakproof bag and it's sitting in a small steel trash container outside until I can drop it off at a battery recycle bin up the street.
I've tested the charge level theory, and it's valid. I thermited some old cellphones a few years ago (for science, of course), and while the charged batteries failed quite spectacularly, the dead batteries just melted.
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Lithium mixed with other things will self ignite with no power.
Pure elemental lithium, yes. But that's not what you have in batteries. Elemental sodium does the same thing, but not once it's reacted with something else and formed a compound like table salt.
What is recommended if not using the battery for a time it’s best to store at 50 to 70 % of charge!
I can't say for the Uniden SDS100 batteries but I've bought a few Icom Lithium packs recently from Icom and every one of them came with just a 5% charge in them. That's going by the radios menu for battery status. I wish I'd have measured the voltage but I never did on any of them.
Since seeing that, I'll take them up to a full charge and then let the radio run them down to near 5% again and then store them. This also gives me a halfway accurate runtime test.
The large model cell that swelled on me in my SDS200 was in the radio but was removed from the charger cord for a couple weeks before it swelled up. I normally leave the charge cord hooked up with the SDS100 showing a green charge light for weeks on end. Sometimes months on end and never had one swell. I do the same thing with my G5 pager thing and leave it sitting in the charging cradle 24x7 for months on end. It's cell has never had any issues. Unication did send me a new battery for my G5 under a recall program to replace an apparently faulty batch of Lithium Ion type cells but that recalled cell also never swelled or had any issues.
Li-ion batteries are deliberately shipped with partial charges in an effort to reduce the possibility of starting a fire aboard aircraft after a Boeing 747 cargo aircraft crashed due to a fire caused by Li-ions. It was found charging these types of batteries fully and leaving them in storage allowed for a better chance they would swell, catch fire and explode. So, now the rule is to not ship by air any Li-ion batteries. It’s all ground or sea with proper isolation and containment processes in place. That is my take on the subject. Opposing views are welcomed as what I have stated here is for the most part what I’ve been told. I am by no means an authority... just passing on what I gleaned from news broadcasts.
Mike445
Member
My large SDS battery expanded massively. I had NO idea until I popped the battery cover off. As soon as I unclipped it the cover flew across the room and the battery was expanded. My radio had no receive for the last while and I wonder if that was the reason why? Uniden sent me a label and I shipped them the scanner. I had it back in less than a month with a new battery and the cold solder (issue stated for no receive) issue fixed free of charge. Radio works great again.
Mike
Mike
Look on the bright side. At least that speaks well of the quality of the battery cover.