XG-100P Battery Life

[rkumetz]

We have 4 XG-100P's. After waiting for months we found out that Harris has discontinued all batteries for that portable so we went
to Power Products and bought their 2500ma batteries. After a few hours they are down to half and none lasts a full 8 hours. They
are rarely used to transmit and the channel is silent most of the day. These radios have a history of sitting on the shelf because
even with the Harris batteries the battery life was pretty pitiful.

Are there any battery saver sort of options that I am not seeing in RPM but should be selecting?

Thanks!

 

[BMDaug]

I have a 100P but I also have a bunch of P7100s. The batteries are interchangeable between these models.

I have great luck with these with one caveat that I’ll explain momentarily:

USHMA2104-LIP Product Page - Global Technology Systems - GTS

USHMA2104-LiP is dimensionally identical to the Harris BKB 191 210/36 battery, weighing significantly less (190g compared to 275g) & has 33% more capacity.

www.gtspower.com

The caveat is that these particular batteries do not have “the chip” that Harris uses for their smart chargers so you can’t use this battery with a genuine Harris charger. I use them with power products or GTS chargers and they work great!

I get about 12 hours before the radio goes to RX only mode. I too use my 100P almost solely for RX. I’m sure if I was TXing a lot, the run time would be reduced significantly.

-B

 

[rescue161]

In RPM, change the battery type to NiMH and not Lithium. That should allow smart batteries to continue to function and will actually give you more use out of your aftermarket batteries.

 

[rkumetz]

In RPM, change the battery type to NiMH and not Lithium. That should allow smart batteries to continue to function and will actually give you more use out of your aftermarket batteries.

Thanks. I will give that a try.

 

[TDR-94]

With the XG-100P, anything less than 3200mah isn't going to give you much runtime. Multiband radios are more power hungry to begin with and the XG-100P is especially so. It's a power pig like it's tactical radio cousins.

 

[prcguy]

With the XG-100P, anything less than 3200mah isn't going to give you much runtime. Multiband radios are more power hungry to begin with and the XG-100P is especially so. It's a power pig like it's tactical radio cousins.

I see two current batteries for its tactical cousin, one is 4,000mah and the other is 7,000mah.

 

[TDR-94]

I see two current batteries for its tactical cousin, one is 4,000mah and the other is 7,000mah.

The 4100mah battery option, that also fits the P7100/5100/P7200/5200 radios, was made primarily for the XG-100P to have longer runtime over it's standard and "smart" 3200mah batteries.

 

[wa8pyr]

I see two current batteries for its tactical cousin, one is 4,000mah and the other is 7,000mah.

Is that through Harris or an outside vendor? I need to find one or two of these batteries!!

 

[W4KRR]

The caveat is that these particular batteries do not have “the chip” that Harris uses for their smart chargers so you can’t use this battery with a genuine Harris charger. I use them with power products or GTS chargers and they work great!

-B

When you said "can't use", do you mean the Harris charger won't charge the battery at all, or not properly, or danger of damage/smoke/fire? ;-)

BTW, I see that GTS makes a retrofit kit to adapt Harris chargers to be able to charge all battery types; NiCad, NiMh, Lion, and LiPo.

 

[BMDaug]

When you said "can't use", do you mean the Harris charger won't charge the battery at all, or not properly, or danger of damage/smoke/fire? ;-)

Not at all. It just faults and stops charging.

-B

 

[samsonite888]

Not at all. It just faults and stops charging.

-B

Shoot. I just bought an aftermarket 4100mAh Li-ion battery and sure hope it charges on the OEM charger!

Otherwise it's back to the alkaline pack and rechargeable AAs for me haha

 

[BMDaug]

Shoot. I just bought an aftermarket 4100mAh Li-ion battery and sure hope it charges on the OEM charger!

Otherwise it's back to the alkaline pack and rechargeable AAs for me haha

If it’s Harris or Power Products, it’s fine. Only the aftermarket batteries from GTS for Harris P7100/100P lack the chip… other GTS batteries all have the chip so I’m not sure why that specific range of batteries doesn’t.

-B

 

[wa8pyr]

Shoot. I just bought an aftermarket 4100mAh Li-ion battery and sure hope it charges on the OEM charger!

Otherwise it's back to the alkaline pack and rechargeable AAs for me haha

I checked with our Harris shop yesterday; if it's a Li-Ion battery (or LiP), it should charge on the Harris charger. So I bought one of the 4100 mAh jobs. We'll see....

 

[W4KRR]

Depends on the model of Harris charger. I have three:

12082-0312-01 (Branded Harris)
CH-104560-026 (Branded Harris)
BML 161 78/20 (Branded M/A-COM)

I think the last one will only charge NiCad and NiMh, but not Lithium types. The second two look the same physically.

 

[BMDaug]

I checked with our Harris shop yesterday; if it's a Li-Ion battery (or LiP), it should charge on the Harris charger. So I bought one of the 4100 mAh jobs. We'll see....

This particular issue has nothing to do with chemistry… if it’s GTS, and it’s designed to work with the 100P/P7100, they just didn’t put a chip in it, so it doesn’t handshake with the charger the way Harris wants. I’ve tried three chargers. I can’t remember the model numbers but I’ve tried the older metal six bay, the newer plastic six bay, and the single OEM that came with the 100P. None of those will charge those particular GTS batteries.

The GTS charge fine in GTS chargers and in PP Endura chargers. I use those exclusively anyway, so it makes no difference to me.

If your battery doesn’t charge, I have a spare Endura I could probably unload.

-B

 

[TDR-94]

Is that through Harris or an outside vendor? I need to find one or two of these batteries!!

He was referring to the military handheld, FALCON, tactical radio batteries.

 

[TDR-94]

BMDaug is correct. The L3HARRIS chargers will only charge the chip based batteries. They will not charge the GTS non-chip 'dumb' battery.

 

[BMDaug]

BMDaug is correct. The L3HARRIS chargers will only charge the chip based batteries. They will not charge the GTS non-chip 'dumb' battery.

Funny enough, the GTS XL series batteries do have the smart chip. I believe most other GTS batteries also have the chip… It’s basically just the P7100/XG100P batteries that have issues with Harris chargers. The GTS and PowerProducts Endura chargers all work perfectly!

I’m using hicap GTS batteries on my XL200P with the newest version of the L3H two-bay charger and it loves the GTS…

-Brian

 

[TDR-94]

I was referring only to the GTS 2104-LIP model batteries. The other batteries that fit the P7300/5300/5400/5500/XG-25/XG-75/XL-200P/185P etc... are all chip based and will work in either brand chargers.

 

[splinter34]

Just a little FYI. The wvbandcoms.com/ 4100 lithium battery ($85) will charge just fine in a Harris lithium charger (104560-016). Makes for a pretty economical battery solution.

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