Possible Issues with Our SMART Li-Ion and Li-Po

Batteries In O.E.M IMPRES and IMPRES II (tm) Chargers

 

We have to ship our batteries at a maximum 30% state of charge per Federal regulations so if the customer does not do an initial charge before storing the self-discharge rate might put the Li-Ion cells to sleep. Motorola chargers are not very friendly to deeply discharged batteries, but the cells can be “woken” up using a trickle charger, which all Endura chargers are capable of (this is all mentioned in the storage flyer data below).

 

All our smart batteries are calibrated on an Impres 2 charger with compatibility is checked on both an Impres 1 and Impres 2 charger before leaving the factory.

 

Here are my notes on Smart Battery troubleshooting:

  1. It’s possible the batteries in question have low voltage and the charger is not able to properly read the battery’s data.  On two of the batteries have them measure the voltage on the radio contacts and let us know the results.
    1. Should be in the 7 - 8 V range
  1. Also have them put a battery on a radio and check the data on the radio. If the battery is not charged, there will be no data to read. 
  2. If they have an IMPRES 2 charger, try calibrating the battery on that model.  All our smart batteries are calibrated on IMPRES 2 as part of the final test.  There are differences between IMPRES 1 and 2 chargers and how they read battery data.
  3. Could put the batteries in a different slot on the charger.
  4. Trying to manually trigger the calibration mode by pulling the battery out of the charger and putting it back in within 5 seconds.

 

These notes may also be helpful:

 

Documentation

The Recommended CADEX Battery Analyzer

Comparing Battery Chemistries 2024

Li-Po Battery Recommendations

Criticalbattery.com White Paper 2024

Motorola (tm) Battery Care Recommendations

 

Hopefully this helps but let me know if you have any questions.

Keith Clark

Sandown Wireless

USA

Office: 603-425-9876

email: keith@criticalbattery.com

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Feedback from the Technicians

(Please send us your notes so they can be published for others)

#1
  Thanks for the APX battery info!
  Concur with you 100%. My biggest issue with APX batteries is when my LEO’s run them down, and the Impress chargers don’t register them as working batteries.
  I don’t know the trip point is (it may be that 2V/cell value, or in the 3.5-4 Volt range).
  My way around this is to use a current limited (3 Amps) setting on my Astron VM-12 power supply, and work my way up in voltage. If there is enough, the battery will go up to 7 Volts very quickly, then they can be dropped into the Impress charger and charge.
  If the battery won’t come back, I slowly raise the voltage to about 12 Volts: The battery will all of a sudden come to life, and pull full (limited 3 Amp) current. I’ll back it off to around 7  Volts, charge for maybe 30 seconds, then drop it into the Impress charger.
  One trick I learned was to drop the battery into the Impress, let it start charging, then pull it for about 2 seconds, and put it back in. That apparently bypasses any battery alignment, and simply charges it.
  Yes, the Endura chargers work well! They seem to deliver about 10 watts of charge to the batteries, bringing them back  up.
  My agency uses the Enduras (they don’t like them), Parks uses the Impress.
  I had a chance to characterize the Enduras with P150/KNG series batteries this summer for a solar project, I like how they work. As long as there aren’t any contact issues, they are simple and reliable.

Tom Herman

Washington State D.N.R.

Office: 360-480-5015

email: tom.herman@dnr.wa.gov

 

#2

Our Power Products manufactured batteries are showing only a 10-15% charge when they are delivered. Motorola O.E.M. IMPRES chargers (tm) seem to have issues with batteries that are extremely discharged. Customer reports that two out of 12 packs failed to charge when placed in the IMPRES II chargers. If those packs are then placed in the IMPRES charger, they come up to 100% and function perfect. Customers should be aware that our batteries are being shipped following Federal regulations that restrict us to a 30% charge maximum so you could possibly run into this issue when using your O.E.M. IMPRES and IMPRES II Chargers with our packs on their initial charge.

Another issue is the radio display. If you drop the new uncharged battery into a radio it will not show the amount of charge in the pack. That is because the battery must be cycled at least once so the firmware in the pack can store the information for the radio display.

Jeff Reynolds

Radio Systems Coordinator, Pueblo County CO Sheriff's Office

Office: 719-583-6237

Cell: 719-821-5748

email: reynoldsr@pueblocounty.us