Uniden Bearcat UBC3300XLT Scanner

[tronicbinge]

The battery in my Uniden Bearcat UBC3300XLT scanner no longer holds a charge for very long anymore. My ICOM-R20 has an adapter that you can insert and use any three batteries that you desire. Does anyone know of a same type of adapter for the Uniden Bearcat UBC3300XLT? I can't even find the type of plug with lead wires so I can rig up my own four battery power pack. Can a standard 9 volt battery safely be used in the Uniden Bearcat UBC3300XLT? Thank you for any info that you can give me.

 

[nanZor]

Looks like the Uniden BC-250D handheld scanner battery packs might work. Universal Radio has the BP1600 battery in stock that might be what you need. Although today 1600mah is kind of small. A quick search on BP1600 and BP250 replacements seem to be out there as well.

 

[tronicbinge]

reply

I wanted to get away from using another battery pack as they are expensive and are part of a plot to squeeze as much money out of the scanner user as possible. ICOM makes a plastic mold that fits tightly into their scanner and holds and aligns any three AA batteries to power the scanner. Why can't Uniden do the same thing? And that tiny plug that fits onto the two prongs in the back of the Uniden? I was at Fry's Electronics and they stocked a tiny plug but upon scrutiny it did not have the grooves necessary to fit onto Uniden's prongs. See?! Even on a tiny level Uniden foils any creative scannerista's attempt to foil Uniden's plot to force the Uniden owner to buy yet another expensive battery pack.!! I am just sure that at some factory in China an employee is dilligently taking a tiny plug with the black and red wires from a HUGE PILE and soldering it onto the four batteries to make it a "serial arrangement" battery pack. Why can't I have a couple hundred of those tiny plugs?

 

[nanZor]

...Even on a tiny level Uniden foils any creative scannerista's attempt to foil Uniden's plot to force the Uniden owner to buy yet another expensive battery pack.!

I'm not sure it was a plot. More along the lines of assuring that the end-user wasn't going to stick in some bad combination of mismatched AA's in either capacity, age, or abuse.

Fortunately, Uniden no longer uses "packs" for recent models. Your 3300XLT isn't really that recent. They are to be commended for their use of pack-less AA's in their more recent models. This allows the user to pick what's best for them - however they do take the risk of getting calls about "my scanner won't scan", only to find out that the end-user is powering it up from an old 800ma abused AA from the desk drawer, and two dead alkalines from a remote control.

Oddly enough, for those that use rechargeables like I do, it is best to actually treat the cells you use as a "pack", - dedicate them for the scanner use, and not randomly use the cells in other devices and put them back into the scanner. Kind of back to square one, only we don't have a small connector to worry about.

If it really drives you nuts, just pick up a 396XT and you'll have no worries about proprietary batteries, connectors or packs.

 

[tronicbinge]

GPI and UNIDEN

The maker of the battery pack is GP industries. They are all over the world. The battery pack is made in China. I made phone calls to GPI and Uniden. I've called Japan, Australia and Singapore. At Uniden in Japan, the "administrator" (as she calls herself) who answers the phone is extremely rude. She speaks and understands english yet talks to me in Japanese and claims she doesn't speak english. She refuses to refer me to someone with a better understanding of english and she refuses to refer me to an engineer working at Uniden. She intentionally uses a thick Japanese accent when giving me their email address to the point where she cannot be understood. She plays this game until she gets tired of it and terminates the phone call. I called Uniden Japan to get a part number for the battery pack connector and information as to why that particular combination was chosen. I sent good and clear photos of the battery connector to GPI in Hong Kong and I am waiting for the employee's response. I'm starting to get worried. All I want is a couple hundred connectors yet I get no help from anyone and I may have to use my Uniden's AC adapter port. Hertzian thinks everyone is a flipping idiot and he/she refuses to acknowledge that plots to make parts and products obsolete and brand specific do not exist. Why can't they make a universal battery connector? And I'm not going to buy another scanner just because retailers want to ensure that you must buy from them and try to make portability of a scanner next to impossible. Police departments have done very well without encrytion and it makes me nervous that the public airwaves are being denied to the public who pay taxes to fund a cop's salary. Don't be fooled, all cops know that they are being monitored and use different methods to keep information off the airwaves of their radios. I sure hope that someone makes available decrypters for those of us who need to know what the cops are doing at the donut shop and in their patrol cars that we pay for during the wee hours of the early morning. ZZZZ ZZZZ ZZZZ......