Bendix King Batteries

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Jim1348
Posts: 44
Joined: Tue Aug 17, 2004 1:06 pm

Bendix King Batteries

Post by Jim1348 »

I have both a VHF and a UHF Bendix King that I keep in my horse barn for monitoring. Earlier this week I noticed that when I put them in the drop in charger that the indicator stayed green even though the battery was dead or dying. Normally it would display red until the charging cycle was complete. Is that consistent with a worn out battery pack or should I check to see if my charger is bad? I do also have a second drop in charger and it behaved the same leading me to believe that I have two bad batteries.
mancow
Posts: 71
Joined: Tue Jan 22, 2002 8:00 pm

Re: Bendix King Batteries

Post by mancow »

I believe that's the result of a common failure of a transistor in the charger. If I'm not mistaken there is some info on the yahoo BK and bendix king groups posted about it.
Jim1348
Posts: 44
Joined: Tue Aug 17, 2004 1:06 pm

Bendix King Batteries

Post by Jim1348 »

Thank you very much for the reply. That is consistent with what I have learned since making the original post. I have two chargers and both behave the same way. I ruled out the batteries as being a problem, so I had pretty much started focusing on the chargers. I will also see if I can find the yahoo BK and bendix king groups and read through those.
Two way repair man
Posts: 83
Joined: Mon Apr 05, 2004 12:36 pm
Location: Melbourne, FL

Re: Bendix King Batteries

Post by Two way repair man »

For nearly 25 years I worked at the Regency/RELM and then the RELM/BK factory. I spent 18 of those years in the Customer Service department working on new and field returned radios and accessories. Also, I spent a great deal of time on the phone providing technical support to users, dealers, and sales representatives. Between my experiences and research here is what I know:

The problem could be related to the way that you charge the Ni-cad battery packs. If you are charging them without allowing them to get to the point of failure, then they have built up a chemical memory. To prolong the life of any Ni-cad battery or battery pack, you should allow it to get to about 1 volt per cell or to the point that the device starts to fail. In this case, your BK portable display starts to flash. The battery should not be allowed to stay in the charger for more than one 24 hour period before it is removed for storage or connected to the radio and then the radio used until it fails. Typically a 4 to 6 hour charge in a BK rapid rate charger is more than adequate. If the radio is only used to randomly transmit and receive throughout a 10 hour day, a fully charged battery pack could last you as long as 10 to 24 hours. The time will depend on the size of the battery (milliamp/hour rating).

If the radio is only used once a week or a month then the battery should be left a cool dry place, sitting on a piece of clean wood or plastic. The battery will lose about 1.5 percent of its charge per day in storage, so it may be necessary to recharge before using it.

There are some good battery conditioners that can reduce the memory on a battery pack but typically once there is evidence of corrosion on the battery terminals, the battery is garbage. Most Ni-cad batteries or battery packs will last about 1000 charges when exercised (discharged and charged) properly. I have seen many batteries come back to the factory for warranty replacement in less than 60 days when they were not charged properly.

Some transistors in the charger did burn up but that was typically caused by leaving a battery on constant charge or by inserting batteries that had shorted cells, or the radio was used while in the charger. The most of the common problems are related to the spring tension of the contacts in the charger and/or corrosion on these contacts. Either causes poor contact with the battery meaning a poor charge.

I hope this information helps.

Regards,

Bill
Jim1348
Posts: 44
Joined: Tue Aug 17, 2004 1:06 pm

Bendix King Batteries

Post by Jim1348 »

Bill,

Thank you very much for the reply. How do these chargers do when in temperature extremes? I just got two more of these and they worked well when I picked them up. About a week after putting them in the barn they no longer seem to be charging the batteries. My barn is unheated and I am wondering if that adversely affects them.

Jim
Two way repair man
Posts: 83
Joined: Mon Apr 05, 2004 12:36 pm
Location: Melbourne, FL

Re: Bendix King Batteries

Post by Two way repair man »

Jim,

Are the batteries and the chargers new? What is the approximate average temperature in your barn? If it is at or below 32 degrees F there is a good chance that the battery and charger contacts have contracted so they make poor or no contact. Try bringing a charger and battery in the house to see what happens. I doubt if there is any permanent damage. You should make sure that you do not plug in the chargers and insert the batteries until they have reached room temperature. Also, you will want to wait until they dry out if there is any moisture on them.

I hope this helps.

Bill
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rescue19
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Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2010 5:41 pm
Location: Parkersburg,WV26101

Re: Bendix King Batteries

Post by rescue19 »

I have two bendix chargers, one is a rapid desktop and the other is a mobile rapid charger.I can charger my battery for my eph5142 in the mobile charger but it wont work with the desktop charger . Is there some reason that it does this way, or is the battery conditions it self to one charger? Does anyone know an answer. Both chargers work but only charges the battery.

thanks for any help
James S.
James S.
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