SDS100/SDS200: SDS-100 Li-ion battery question

[KB3BRI]

My SDS100 is back at Uniden for repair but I think the voltage minimum alert is 3.3V.
Letting the Li-ion cell's voltage fall lower will actually damage the cell.

I did a test run early on with my SDS100 and its battery.
You don't lose much operational time if you set the minimum at 3.6V since the voltage is dropping fast at that point and going lower does stress a Li-ion cell so doing this will extend the battery's useful life.

Plenty of information on Li-ion cells and other cell chemistries here:

Battery University Homepage

Battery University™ is a free educational website offering hands-on battery information.

batteryuniversity.com

Good info, Ty. Mine was already set to 3.5 so I bumped it up to .6. So far I’ve been running it off micro usb power nearly all the time, and when I have to charge the battery to full, I’ll let it work off the battery until it gets to about 4 volts, then I’ll run off AC power.

 

[mc48]

Adjusting the voltage only adjusts the alarm setting, it does not change the shutdown voltage of the radio.
The best operation is to only charge the radio when it is turned off, this lowers the number of charge cycles on the battery.

 

[Ubbe]

Adjusting the voltage only adjusts the alarm setting, it does not change the shutdown voltage of the radio.
The best operation is to only charge the radio when it is turned off, this lowers the number of charge cycles on the battery.

Battery life are counted in full cycles. If you charge from 90% to 100% 10 times it will count as one charge cycle. That safety document Corun published for the Uniden battery says it recommend to top off the battery each 3 month to make it have a full charge if you do not use it. So it seems that the battery manufacturer recommends to keep the battery at a fully charged state.

/Ubbe

 

[KB3BRI]

Battery life are counted in full cycles. If you charge from 90% to 100% 10 times it will count as one charge cycle. That safety document Corun published for the Uniden battery says it recommend to top off the battery each 3 month to make it have a full charge if you do not use it. So it seems that the battery manufacturer recommends to keep the battery at a fully charged state.

/Ubbe

If anyone else wants to look at the data sheet :

http://sds.staples.com/msds/24418669.pdf

Weird thing is they list it as a lithium ion battery, not Lipo.

 

[W5ATX]

That is not my understanding… the USB cable will power the radio and allow the record feature to work… and all other aspects of the radio. Now, if you were to remove the memory chip after the radio has been turned on and allowed to boot up, there would be no place to store your recordings. But I do not use the record feature so others here that do can verify for you.

my radio will not allow quick playback nor will it allow you to begin recording when powered via USB with no battery installed.

 

[fxdscon]

my radio will not allow quick playback nor will it allow you to begin recording when powered via USB with no battery installed.

I don't know where the other poster got his information, but your experience is the expected, normal behavior. Any recording/playback and some other functions that access the SD card will be disabled while the scanner is powered by USB and no battery is on board, or the battery charge is extremely low. That has been the case since the first release of the SD card scanners in 2007.

 

[fxdscon]

That has been the case since the first release of the SD card scanners in 2007.

I’ll correct that date I stated to say late 2010, the release of the Home Patrol 1.

 

[palmerjrusa]

Battery life are counted in full cycles. If you charge from 90% to 100% 10 times it will count as one charge cycle. That safety document Corun published for the Uniden battery says it recommend to top off the battery each 3 month to make it have a full charge if you do not use it. So it seems that the battery manufacturer recommends to keep the battery at a fully charged state.

/Ubbe

Since the Li-ion chemistry is most stable at approximately the 40% charge point, if you're not going to be using the battery for an extended period of time it's best to store it at this charge level.

I've read elsewhere that's why consumer electronics powered by Li-ion batteries often seem to arrive at the consumer appearing to be around 40-50% charged. The manufacturers deliberately do this to keep the battery chemistry at its most stable during shipment to retailers, extended warehouse/shelf life storage times etc.

 

[W5ATX]

Since the Li-ion chemistry is most stable at approximately the 40% charge point, if you're not going to be using the battery for an extended period of time it's best to store it at this charge level.

I've read elsewhere that's why consumer electronics powered by Li-ion batteries often seem to arrive at the consumer appearing to be around 40-50% charged. The manufacturers deliberately do this to keep the battery chemistry at its most stable during shipment to retailers, extended warehouse/shelf life storage times etc.

True, but i've had 2 uniden batteries swell up on me in the past year. one had with around 15-20% charge, and the other was 40-50% charge (storage voltage). I had one fully charged sit for a month with no swelling. Maybe it wasn't long enough but now it's down to storage voltage and so far no swelling, I still have a few weeks to go before my testing is complete. My experience with these uniden batteries is that they are unpredictable.

both of my swollen batteries had a 2018 and 2021 date code, the 3rd 2018 battery uniden sent me for the 1st replacement is in the test trials. I haven't contacted uniden for a 2nd replacement battery because it was like pulling teeth trying to jump thru all their hoops. now it's starting to make sense why the uniden rep on the phone asked me at least 5-6 times if there was any damage, smoke damage, fire, damage to property, etc from the battery. I would think that if any scanners users actually had smoke damage or a fire they would create an account and chime in. I doubt uniden would come forward with that info unless they thought there was a significant hazard, and then i would suspect a recall of some sort would be posted. I think i'll create another thread of all of the puffy battery photos i've found on this website alone. i'm not trying to poop on uniden, but i shouldn't have to keep my battery pack stored inside a lipo bag which is in an ammo can sitting on top of a ceramic plate so that I can sleep at night.

 

[KB3BRI]

True, but i've had 2 uniden batteries swell up on me in the past year. one had with around 15-20% charge, and the other was 40-50% charge (storage voltage). I had one fully charged sit for a month with no swelling. Maybe it wasn't long enough but now it's down to storage voltage and so far no swelling, I still have a few weeks to go before my testing is complete. My experience with these uniden batteries is that they are unpredictable.

both of my swollen batteries had a 2018 and 2021 date code, the 3rd 2018 battery uniden sent me for the 1st replacement is in the test trials. I haven't contacted uniden for a 2nd replacement battery because it was like pulling teeth trying to jump thru all their hoops. now it's starting to make sense why the uniden rep on the phone asked me at least 5-6 times if there was any damage, smoke damage, fire, damage to property, etc from the battery. I would think that if any scanners users actually had smoke damage or a fire they would create an account and chime in. I doubt uniden would come forward with that info unless they thought there was a significant hazard, and then i would suspect a recall of some sort would be posted. I think i'll create another thread of all of the puffy battery photos i've found on this website alone. i'm not trying to poop on uniden, but i shouldn't have to keep my battery pack stored inside a lipo bag which is in an ammo can sitting on top of a ceramic plate so that I can sleep at night.

So you store all your batteries like that? Even the one that would be in the scanner if you were using it?

 

[W5ATX]

So you store all your batteries like that? Even the one that would be in the scanner if you were using it?

My RC car batteries are stored in lipo bags which are also inside metal cans. The sds100 battery hasn't been in the scanner for months and is stored in the same method.

 

[seth21w]

Main thing to keep in mind is if not using for more than a couple days run battery down to 3.8v I've done this for 3 years and all 3 of my batteries are still like new even the small one!

 

[KB3BRI]

Main thing to keep in mind is if not using for more than a couple days run battery down to 3.8v I've done this for 3 years and all 3 of my batteries are still like new even the small one!

Seems to me that batteries in normal use in the scanner seem to be fine vs ones stored unused?

 

[seth21w]

Nah I rarely ever use the small one but keep it at storage voltage still no swelling and still holds its normal charge it is the oldest btw!

 

[safetypro79]

One thing I’ve noticed the full charging time on both batteries is less (about 4 hours) than the original specs show. I think it said 16 hours?

since I’ve been reusing them until the 100 shuts down due to low voltage. But that a good thing as it makes them more readily available.

 

[Ubbe]

One thing I’ve noticed the full charging time on both batteries is less (about 4 hours) than the original specs show. I think it said 16 hours?

There's a limit circuit inside the battery set to 500mA charge current so that the big batteries 5400mAH will take 11 hours to charge if it's completely empty.

/Ubbe

 

[JoeBearcat]

Wow. I'm sure @JoeBearcat is helping work on these battery situations. Since I just got my SDS100 I haven't seen any battery issues but I did get it used and it's dated 2108 I think.

I am passing along these issues to management. What is done is a decision I am not involved with.
I do know that the packs are not made by Uniden, but by a third party.

 

[JoeBearcat]

Wonder why that is…. What’s so special about that battery? Long as it’s getting the power it needs I don’t see the issue… is it maybe a setting someplace buried in the menu?

The battery provides a small amount of backup in case of a power failure. Without that, the sudden loss of power during an SD card write cycle could be catastrophic. It's akin to pulling out the AC plug on your PC off while it is writing to the hard drive. No guarantee it will be usable again.

 

[werinshades]

I am passing along these issues to management. What is done is a decision I am not involved with.
I do know that the packs are not made by Uniden, but by a third party.

I noticed my post was removed from the other thread for being off subject, so I'll ask the question here since it's under the correct thread:

Is it the position of Uniden that I/we are in danger if I/we internally charge our Uniden batteries inside the SDS100? As a Uniden Scanner Product Manager/Official Uniden Representative, you have posted that by doing so "I wouldn't take any chances". What chances are you referring to if I/we might ask? I've seen some with expanded batteries and pictures to support it, but it doesn't appear these are all being charged inside the SDS100? I would think if it's a danger, that Uniden would ask these expanded batteries be returned as well as the method (scanner/external charger), so they can be evaluated for potential hazards which could cause injury/death to Uniden SDS100 owners.

As you might know or remember, I've been stating here I've been charging my battery inside my SDS100 since I received it (June 2018). I initially started with the thin battery, but was mailed a larger battery and cover free of charge (Nov.2018?). I've never tampered with the Low Voltage Warning under the Battery Options tab, have been charging with the Uniden provided charging cord and wall wart, plugged into an outlet in my house. In addition, I have an additional Uniden cord, 2 volt cigarette lighter adapter in my vehicle if needed.

What say you Joe to your loyal Uniden customers? Are we in "danger"? Have you checked with "those in the know" to find out if any batteries have "blown up/started on fire?"

 

[jaspence]

Runing a lithium battery down too far and recharging to 100% are almost a guarantee for trouble and shorter battery life.