(9 August 2013, 15:21)Binnie Wrote: [ -> ]it indicates charging, but try letting the battery go dead, put the unit in the cradle and turn it on.
if i do that, leave it a few hours, and take it out the cradle whilst turned on the unit turns off, and the battery is still flat
mines is a +plus too 
Gotcha. Yes, my other similar HT has the same issue. That's the one that I left on charge in the car on the road trip and the damaged its power pack. On that one if I let the pack completely discharge it takes forever for it to get enough voltage to activate the smart charger circuits. Leaving it turned on results in zero recharge.
Sounds like you have the same issue.
OK Binnie,
I've just checked mine and its now fully charged. Simple monitoring test starts today Friday 9/8 at 16.10h
I'll let you know how it fares.
TTFN
Hi Binnie,
30 hours since the start of the RX test and my little radio is still going strong.
I still have two blobs of power on the meter, although this is non linear, it still means that we have a good few hours life in the radio yet.
Actually the test is more than fair as I had to use the radio for transmitting a couple of times last night, so this will have consumed a lot moore power than on straight receive.
I'm continuing the test and will updateagain when the pattery finally fails.
OK My little 5r managed approx 45 hours monitoring on a full charge
This is using the standard, power 1800mAh power pack.
45 Hours is quite impressive considering how compact the standard battery is!
many thanks!
(12 August 2013, 08:25)Binnie Wrote: [ -> ]45 Hours is quite impressive considering how compact the standard battery is!
many thanks!
Yes, so by also having a couple of extra batteries that could be charged separately from PV say, it should be possible to have very extended monitoring capability.
(12 August 2013, 10:16)Lightspeed Wrote: [ -> ] (12 August 2013, 08:25)Binnie Wrote: [ -> ]45 Hours is quite impressive considering how compact the standard battery is!
many thanks!
Yes, so by also having a couple of extra batteries that could be charged separately from PV say, it should be possible to have very extended monitoring capability.
Actually, when I think about it, my portable emergency solar charged 12v power pack (Hilka model 83-6060-12) has a 17AH battery in it. Plugging in the battery eliminator into its 12v cigarette lighter output power socket will give me in 17 days monitoring time in theory....and that's without recharging the thing at all.
BTW that power pack seems to be the cheapest way to buy 17 AH of sealed portable 12v battery and smart charger. It also has car jump leads, a flourescent lantern and fused power output for 3v 6v 9v and of course the 12v cigarette lighter socket.
where did you buy the power pack from? i've looked online but can't see it anywhere?
i did spy 12v solar charger that might come in handy in halfords, depends how much discount i get from my trade card though!
love it,
i always forget about amazon!
many thanks!