Anyone on here maintain a fleet of or personally use 'InterState' batteries on their portables? I've got one on one of my JT1000's, and it seems to do OK.
Any likes or complaints of their batteries? I have not heard much of them.
Interstate Batteries
Moderator: Queue Moderator
Re: Interstate Batteries
I have seen some new units fail after a few charges, and I have never seen one in service for more than 18 months. For an aftermarket battery they seem cheap. Every Interstate radio battery I have seen were for Kenwoods.Rayjk110 wrote:Anyone on here maintain a fleet of or personally use 'InterState' batteries on their portables? I've got one on one of my JT1000's, and it seems to do OK.
Any likes or complaints of their batteries? I have not heard much of them.
Jim
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motorola_otaku
- Posts: 1854
- Joined: Tue Jan 13, 2004 7:03 am
The Port Terminal Railroad here seems to like 'em, but from what I hear their main concern is cost (i.e. why should we pay $50 for a Motorola when we can get these for $20? 
) Personally, I don't use anything aftermarket but Multiplier.
Definitely don't get Honeywell batteries. Those things are crap.
) Personally, I don't use anything aftermarket but Multiplier. Definitely don't get Honeywell batteries. Those things are crap.
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HLA
- Posts: 2334
- Joined: Mon Jul 11, 2005 8:15 pm
- What radios do you own?: HT1550's, X9000's, CDM1550's
i've had good luck with them in my cars and trucks but not radios, like was mentioned above, they don't last.
HLA
I never check PM's so don't bother, just email me.
I won't reply to a hotmail, gmail, aol or any other generic free address, if you want me to reply use a real address.
STOP ASKING ME FOR SOFTWARE OR FIRMWARE, I JUST FORWARD ALL OF THE REQUESTS TO THE MODERATORS
I never check PM's so don't bother, just email me.
I won't reply to a hotmail, gmail, aol or any other generic free address, if you want me to reply use a real address.
STOP ASKING ME FOR SOFTWARE OR FIRMWARE, I JUST FORWARD ALL OF THE REQUESTS TO THE MODERATORS
We use them exclusively with our XTS-3000s. Here's my list of complaints:
Poor/intermittent contact:
We are having a problem with poor & intermittent contact between the contacts on the battery & the contacts on the radio. We use ACT chargers at the stations. It appears that the contacts on the ACT chargers are slightly longer than the contacts on the radio. The contacts on the Interstate batteries are very thin & flimsy and the contact housing on the batteries stick out further than the contact housing on OEM batteries. The contacts are getting mashed flat, losing their "springiness".
Another poor/intermittent contact issue is the clips that hold the battery to the radio. On almost every battery I have seen, the housing around the clips is either cracked or malformed. When this happens, the clips don't hold the battery tightly to the radio. Coupled with the mashed flat contacts the radio receives no power from the battery.
We can use a pin or knife to pry the battery contacts back up, but they just get mashed back down again.
People are taping the radio to the battery to hold it tightly on the radio which actually works real well.
Battery mount clips:
An issue with the clips is that they are warping. When this happens, one side of the clip gets caught on one side of the radio frame, and the other on the other side of the frame. When this happens, you can't get the battery off without having to really work on it. This makes the warpage worse.
Compared to OEM, the Interstate batteries appear to be made from lighter weight plastic. This contributes to the warpage & cracking, esp. when a radio gets dropped.
Battery life:
Our batteries are 4 Ah and should last a long time, but they don't. I don't know if it is a charger issue or something with the batteries themselves, but they do not last more than 8-10 hours. You would think that 4 Ah is 4 Ah regardless of chemistry. I have a Lion 4 Ah (OEM) that will run a radio for a couple of days, but not these Interstates.
Save yourself some misery, stay away from Interstate. I'm not too sure that ACT chargers are all that good either.
RG
Poor/intermittent contact:
We are having a problem with poor & intermittent contact between the contacts on the battery & the contacts on the radio. We use ACT chargers at the stations. It appears that the contacts on the ACT chargers are slightly longer than the contacts on the radio. The contacts on the Interstate batteries are very thin & flimsy and the contact housing on the batteries stick out further than the contact housing on OEM batteries. The contacts are getting mashed flat, losing their "springiness".
Another poor/intermittent contact issue is the clips that hold the battery to the radio. On almost every battery I have seen, the housing around the clips is either cracked or malformed. When this happens, the clips don't hold the battery tightly to the radio. Coupled with the mashed flat contacts the radio receives no power from the battery.
We can use a pin or knife to pry the battery contacts back up, but they just get mashed back down again.
People are taping the radio to the battery to hold it tightly on the radio which actually works real well.
Battery mount clips:
An issue with the clips is that they are warping. When this happens, one side of the clip gets caught on one side of the radio frame, and the other on the other side of the frame. When this happens, you can't get the battery off without having to really work on it. This makes the warpage worse.
Compared to OEM, the Interstate batteries appear to be made from lighter weight plastic. This contributes to the warpage & cracking, esp. when a radio gets dropped.
Battery life:
Our batteries are 4 Ah and should last a long time, but they don't. I don't know if it is a charger issue or something with the batteries themselves, but they do not last more than 8-10 hours. You would think that 4 Ah is 4 Ah regardless of chemistry. I have a Lion 4 Ah (OEM) that will run a radio for a couple of days, but not these Interstates.
Save yourself some misery, stay away from Interstate. I'm not too sure that ACT chargers are all that good either.
RG
Wyrd bið ful ãræd, Fate is inexorable...
aftermarket
Interstate=trash
Honeywell=trash
W&W=trash
Jbro=trash
You get what you pay for. I've routinely had oem and multipliers run years beyond expected lifespan, with little to no maintenance. Although the stock pack that shipped with the 3000/5000 before Impres was crap. Good thing there is a factory delete battery option! Iden batteries as of recently have also suffered from problems. /\/\ has lost some ground on quality that made AAD products shine.
Use whatever you wish on play radios, put some thought into using these in critical situations.
I could only reccommend /\/\ or Multiplier.
Honeywell=trash
W&W=trash
Jbro=trash
You get what you pay for. I've routinely had oem and multipliers run years beyond expected lifespan, with little to no maintenance. Although the stock pack that shipped with the 3000/5000 before Impres was crap. Good thing there is a factory delete battery option! Iden batteries as of recently have also suffered from problems. /\/\ has lost some ground on quality that made AAD products shine.
Use whatever you wish on play radios, put some thought into using these in critical situations.
I could only reccommend /\/\ or Multiplier.
