Baofeng uv5r battery life
- Thread starter madmax718
- Start date
pugslyyy
Expedition Vehicle Engineer Guy
I've been using mine periodically on hikes the past 2 weeks and have yet to need to charge it. It is just a secondary that I use when out of the vehicle and is not on for long periods of time (maybe an hour or two).
I have been very impressed with the unit. (I added the hand mic and better antenna)
I have been very impressed with the unit. (I added the hand mic and better antenna)
The standby time is fine. It just dies after a few hours of constant receiving. The local repeater has chatter pretty much all the time... So I listen in. Once I tried to tx after 2 hours and the radio shut off. Wouldn't turn back on without a charge.
I didn't think it should eat my battery so quickly as Rx should not be power intensive.
I didn't think it should eat my battery so quickly as Rx should not be power intensive.
DaveInDenver
Middle Income Semi-Redneck
I think he's talking about listening to commercial broadcast or the like. That will drain the battery faster than listening to intermittent 2-way traffic but should be significantly more than an hour.
My experience is with Yaesu and Kenwood HTs. I can go a week almost with the radio on just listening to occasional transmissions. If I tune into a broadcast station the charge in my VX-7R will still last a day or two.
Lithium batteries do not develop a memory per say. All batteries take a few cycles to fully burn in. Do a full discharge and charge a couple of times and see where the condition of the battery ends up, but my guess is you have weak cells. When I get a new battery the additional capacity I get from conditioning is marginal, they work pretty much fine right out of the box.
My experience is with Yaesu and Kenwood HTs. I can go a week almost with the radio on just listening to occasional transmissions. If I tune into a broadcast station the charge in my VX-7R will still last a day or two.
Lithium batteries do not develop a memory per say. All batteries take a few cycles to fully burn in. Do a full discharge and charge a couple of times and see where the condition of the battery ends up, but my guess is you have weak cells. When I get a new battery the additional capacity I get from conditioning is marginal, they work pretty much fine right out of the box.
DaveInDenver
Middle Income Semi-Redneck
Depends on if the squelch is open or not. Most current HTs typically consume around 250mA while actively receiving, this is the RF circuits active, audio amp driving the speaker, etc. When in RX but not active that will go down to about 75mA, sometimes quite a bit less if the radio has a good power saving algorithm. When turned off most radios draw about 250uA (e.g. 0.25 mA). Batteries are generally about 1500mAh. So that means in active RX you should expect to get 6 hours and in standby 20 hours. My VX-7R has a pretty decent power saving feature, consumption drops to about 25mA so in low power standby RX it lasts almost 60 hours by the numbers.
yes, with the squelch constantly on. I think the baofeng is 1700mah. if the 250 number is accurate, then Im not really that far off. speaker, light, receiving, 3-4 hours seems reasonable.
I know your not supposed to deep discharge lithiums, but I found a way to do this: drain it until dead, then drop it in the charger for a few seconds, then it will drain some more down. Seems to be helping in increasing my battery life.
Even after a full drain, it is charging way too quickly it seems- nowhere near the 5 hours as the manual describes.
I know your not supposed to deep discharge lithiums, but I found a way to do this: drain it until dead, then drop it in the charger for a few seconds, then it will drain some more down. Seems to be helping in increasing my battery life.
Even after a full drain, it is charging way too quickly it seems- nowhere near the 5 hours as the manual describes.