New Li-ion Battery Charger - 3 contacts on battery?

[winston1]

Change the plug for a suitable British one and fuse accordingly.

Assuming it will be OK on 230V.

Speakercon - how come the charger came with that plug? Where did you buy this stuff?

I haven't bought anything yet. The item is a set of walkie talkies from ebay, and yes they are cheap imports BUT the reviews for the actual radio's are very good, it was just the chargers that concerned me saftey wise. It does say '100V~240V/50Hz'. My idea was to remove the psu/transformer inside and use with an external plugin psu, however I feared this may be quite complex as the psu/charger circuit may be built as one but I don't know for sure.

Are these walkie talkies PMR446, the European legal standard are are they the US standard which are illegal to use here?

 

[bernardgreen]

BUT the reviews for the actual radio's are very good,

People who get a 5 mile range will say they are good. People affected by spurious radiation from the sets will not have the same opinion.

 

[Speakercon]

OK I don't wanna get drawn into one of this forum's infamous off-topic never ending battle of opinions/legalities. However I have been a radio enthusiast for a long time and so am familiar with legal aspects of radio transmission. If these units are programed correctly (with the right frequencies ie. PMR446 & transmission power) they are perfectly kosha.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I haven't bought anything yet. The item is a set of walkie talkies from ebay, and yes they are cheap imports.

Buy Motorola - you know it makes sense.

 

[Speakercon]

I haven't bought anything yet. The item is a set of walkie talkies from ebay, and yes they are cheap imports.

Buy Motorola - you know it makes sense.

I have some Motorolas! I was looking at these to see how good they were for the £12 really and just to play about with.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

You have to wonder what kinds of conditions/hours/pay the people who make them work in, and how environmentally responsible the company is.

 

[JohnW2]

You have to wonder what kinds of conditions/hours/pay the people who make them work in, and how environmentally responsible the company is.

Indeed - but, in this day and age, I suppose one might have to ask much the same question about, say, MK accessories.

Kind Regards, John

 

[sandyn111]

Regarding the safety aspects of this product. The clues are all there to point to something you should not trust.
When you purchase cheap imports (clue 1) especially manufactured in China (clue 2), you really don't know what you are getting. Even if it has a CE sticker/marking on the back, it could be a clone of a genuine product. The fact that it is supplied in the UK with a non UK plug is very wrong!.(clue 3) Two core wire means the product is double insulated( indicated by double insulation symbol on the unit) and if genuine, you must never replace the cord there would be absolutely no need to.
This product should be supplied with a UK plug/cable or designed with some kind of multi-national adapter suitable for use in the UK without modification. (clue 4)

Unfortunately it is very easy to produce fake products and have them imported to the UK. The only products I trust are from reputable manufacturers and are CE marked and/or UL listed. For UL listing the product will have a UL listing number 'E308802' which can be checked on the UL database
http://database.ul.com/cgi-bin/XYV/template/LISEXT/1FRAME/index.htm Global products are also tested under the CB scheme for country differences. This all cost a lot of money (£5000+) AND even then the product delivered could still be a total clone.

This is the price of everyone (including me ) wanting everything as cheap as possible. Quality and safety cost money.

Regarding the batteries?? Lithium Ion technology is safe when used properly. There are millions of batteries in use, safely. The incident where the batteries on the aircraft caused a fire, will have been caused by bad design of the safety interlock/no fire suppressant. The fact that the incident happened is proof. Either the battery went short circuit, or overcharged, or a manufacturing problem. Once they find and fix the problem, it will be 'safe', but everything fails.................eventually!!

 

[ibruceuk]

I haven't bought anything yet. The item is a set of walkie talkies from ebay, and yes they are cheap imports.

Buy Motorola - you know it makes sense.

I have some Motorolas! I was looking at these to see how good they were for the £12 really and just to play about with.

Hi Speakercon,

You should be ok, just keep an eye on them. I too thought similar with chargers purchased from 'overseas'.

Can I ask which radios/where from? Reason I ask is I am evaluating a comms solutions for a response group who have next to no funds available. I am currently trialling BaoFeng 5+ but would be interested in £12 handsets!

Cheers

 

[bernardgreen]

Lithium is a high risk material. full stop.

In 2008 there was a restriction on the number of lithium batteries that could be carried in aircraft carry on luggage and a ban on them being packed in checked ( in the hold ) luggage. This was after a number of lap top and camera batteries caught fire. Short circuits were not the cause.

The "solution" on the DeamLiner is ( apparently ) to use a stronger containment vessel to contain the fire and vent the fumes to the exterior of the aircraft.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/04/23/us-ana-boeing-fix-idUSBRE93L10520130423

The 787 is the first jetliner to be fitted with lithium-ion main power batteries, which are lighter and smaller but potentially more volatile than the nickel-cadmium sources used on most planes. The batteries are mainly used for ground power, rather than functions critical to maintaining flight.

Loftis said the extra steel housing and other accessories fitted to the batteries to keep them safe weighed about 150 lbs (68 kilograms), cancelling out the batteries' weight savings.

Boeing gave some thought to switching back to traditional nickel-cadmium as rival Airbus has done, but found no reason to do so, he said.

Some aircraft industry sources say space limitations where the batteries are installed on the Dreamliner might have reduced Boeing's options.

A long comprehensive report can be read here

http://avherald.com/h?article=45c377c5&opt=3328

 

[Speakercon]

Hi Speakercon,

You should be ok, just keep an eye on them. I too thought similar with chargers purchased from 'overseas'.

Can I ask which radios/where from? Reason I ask is I am evaluating a comms solutions for a response group who have next to no funds available. I am currently trialling BaoFeng 5+ but would be interested in £12 handsets!

Cheers

I was looking at the Baofeng BF-888S, the cheapest of the range.

Which model do you have? The UV-5R?

You do need to get (if you don't have one already) the USB programming cable to allow you to set the channel frequencies.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/190837299237 (prices vary depending on seller)

 

[ibruceuk]

Yeah I've got the UV-5R+ and the programming cable (CHIRP I find is much more stable than the BaoFeng software)

I'll have a look at the model you mention.

cheers

 

[Speakercon]

Yeah I've got the UV-5R+ and the programming cable (CHIRP I find is much more stable than the BaoFeng software)

I'll have a look at the model you mention.

cheers

How are you finding the UV-5R+? I was also considering this model, for one reason the charging dock has separate psu doesnt it? So could always use an existing 12v psu if the one it comes with looks dodgy. The BF-888s has the psu built into the dock. It also seems a pretty solid construction.

 

[ibruceuk]

It seems great! Solid metal chassis construction and the quality looks pretty top notch. Yes the charger has separate 12v PSU

TX and RX is damn good quality and battery life is pretty good.

We are looking at using VHF so I guess the UV-5R's are the cheapest we're going to find.

 

[Speakercon]

Yeah, the 888s is only UHF. I might give them both a go, I found the UV-5R+ for £25 each, can't really go wrong! Thanks