I just got some of the eneloop batteries, AAA's to use in our walkie talkies. The Walkie Talkies are Motorola TalkAbout MH230R that have the rechargeable batteries and charger. We were getting a decent charge, but we were hoping for more so we bought the Eneloop batterie, but for some reason after only a few days the battery indicator will go from 3 bars down to 1 bar and beep telling me it needs recharging. Along with the Eneloops I bought the LaCrosse BC700 charger, and when I put the supposed low batteries on the charger is shows they are in the range of 194 to 197, what gives?
Eneloop in walkie talkies show low charge when not so
- Thread starter slhayes
- Start date
justadad1957
100 W
you have to help us guys out some
do you have a volt meter and can you measure volts per cell
it would sure help us understand your problem
you may just have 1 cell thats bad
lowering the overall voltage
showing a low bat condition
do you have a volt meter and can you measure volts per cell
it would sure help us understand your problem
you may just have 1 cell thats bad
lowering the overall voltage
showing a low bat condition
My husband measured them at a little under 1.5 volts per cell on his radio, mine went completed dead while I was out with the walkie talkies and could not get back to the computer until tonight. So I didn't catch this to see what was posted. His still showed 3 bands on his radio which was the one he measured. The batteries that went dead once they completed charging came in at a little over the 1.5 volts.
With no load on them they may show a higher voltage than they do when running the radios, so unless you can test the voltage with them in the radio with it on, then you may have to trust whatever the charger says. If you can put a resistance across the set of batteries equivalent to the radio and then test with that load on them, you could get a more accurate reading, but you'd need to know how much current the radio draws, and calculate the resistance needed to create that load.
You say they work for a few days; it is likely the standby power needed for the radios is high enough to drain the cells.
A quick google search shows yoru eneloop AAA would probably be NiMH and 750mAh rated, and based on my experiences with AAA NiMH you get at most 50-70% of that rating depending on the useful voltage the device requires from them. Flashlights get maybe 70% and a screwdriver less than 50%. Let's go with 50% just for giggles, that your radios will take from the AAAs before they're too low to keep working. That's about 375mAh.
I can't find anything at the Motorola site that shows what the operational or standby current requirement is, but if you can test that or you can find out from Motorola, it'll help you figure out how long 375mAh might last.
Another thing to keep in mind is that even LSD (low self discharge) NiMH is still likely to lose 1% of it's charge per day, even if it just sits there doing nothing, at room temperature. When warmer, it might happen faster.
You say they work for a few days; it is likely the standby power needed for the radios is high enough to drain the cells.
A quick google search shows yoru eneloop AAA would probably be NiMH and 750mAh rated, and based on my experiences with AAA NiMH you get at most 50-70% of that rating depending on the useful voltage the device requires from them. Flashlights get maybe 70% and a screwdriver less than 50%. Let's go with 50% just for giggles, that your radios will take from the AAAs before they're too low to keep working. That's about 375mAh.
I can't find anything at the Motorola site that shows what the operational or standby current requirement is, but if you can test that or you can find out from Motorola, it'll help you figure out how long 375mAh might last.
Another thing to keep in mind is that even LSD (low self discharge) NiMH is still likely to lose 1% of it's charge per day, even if it just sits there doing nothing, at room temperature. When warmer, it might happen faster.
I will try this, but when my husband went to take the batteries out of the walkie talkie, he found that it wasn't totally secure in the compartment so he tightened it up and the bar went up to 3 bars we will see if they are still giving us problems, whatever happens I will post back. Thank you
