Anybody hae experience with a battery conditioner?

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n9gik
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Location: SE IL

Anybody hae experience with a battery conditioner?

Post by n9gik »

As the local VFD "radio guy" I have been given the responsibility for care and feeding of about 30 Kenwood TK-272g handheld radios. It's been 2-3 years since we got them and suddenly we had an epidemic of battery failures. I now have a box full of ni-cad radio batteries to do something with. I've heard mention of a battery conditioner for ni-cads. Has anyone had experience with them and a recommendation?
I don't know much about 2-way radios but I'm over 50 and can't remember not having one around. Everything from Buddy and Citi-fone to Icom and Kenwood.
k2hz
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Joined: Sun Jan 30, 2005 1:02 pm
Location: Rochester, NY

Re: Anybody hae experience with a battery conditioner?

Post by k2hz »

The ITECH battery analyzer/conditioners can be a useful tool for testing and preventative maintenance but they are not a magic cure for worn out batteries.

If you have radios that are not regularly used or are used briefly without regular significant discharge and recharge, this is a useful tool for testing and conditioning a few times a year, as part of a scheduled preventative maintenance program, to insure full performance when needed.

But, a three year old battery is probably due for replacement, especially in the fire service where you want peak performance. The analyzer can help weed out the bad batteries and somewhat extend the life of the others but I am not sure it is the best solution for you.
fineshot1
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Joined: Tue Jun 27, 2006 8:20 pm

Re: Anybody hae experience with a battery conditioner?

Post by fineshot1 »

We use the Cadex 7000 with the charge cups for our particular portable batts(MTS2000, XTS2500/5000, HT1250)
and it works fantastic. I have to agree with k2hz that for NiCads & NiMH batts the absolute max you could expect out of these is about 2 years(especially for pub saftey use). You may get 3 years out of them but that would be a stretch & only if they were properly and regularly cycled....dan n2aym
fineshot1
NJ USA
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