IMPRES battery system? Tell me about it...for Astro/Sabers.

[Elroy Jetson]

Tell me about the IMPRES battery system, please. I don't really know anything about it, but as I'm going to need
to buy a new battery for my VHF ASIII soon, I might as well learn about it so I can upgrade if there's any point to it.

Is the IMPRES charger "universal" or will I have to get a specific version for Saber batteries?

I understand there's a Li-Ion battery available for Sabers, too. Does it need an IMPRES charger?


Elroy

[Grog]

The Li-ion battery needs a charger rated for it. The saber Impress charger will charge it, as well as nicad * NimH batteryies. It charges Jedi & XTS series as well.

Search for Impress on the board, it's the :o !!! I plan on gettong one soon as I already have the charger....

Basics, you don't really have to think about charging correctly, conditioning, etc. Toss the battery on the charger, take it off when you need it, done. If used 100% on an Impres charger, you get an extra 6 months warrenty for a total of 2 years (at 80% cap) on the nicad saber Impres batteries.

Escomm sells them for around $60

[Rayjk110]

I'll second escomm's prices. Once I have the $, I'll probably go his route for an Impres charger/Impres battery for my XTS5k. Looks like there's an option on the screen for "SMART BATT DATA", but I guess that does me no good without Impres.

[Grog]

Yep, if I had kept the 5000, my next step was going to be a 4150mAh

[fire_master_21]

they are nice

[escomm]

Thanks for the kind words guys

As for the specifics of the system, the basic difference between Impres and legacy (Motorola's buzzword for non-Impres) batteries is the chip in the battery that communicates with the charger. The charger is able to sense the battery's current capacity and act accordingly. Legacy batteries just charge up, trickle from about 90% on, and never actually stop juicing the battery (whereas the Impres system can see the battery is full and won't juice it once it's full). This is especially nice for NiCDs as the charger will actually drain the juice down to near zero and then zap it full. NiMH and LiIon also benefit from this feature as well but by far the biggest impact is seen with NiCDs.

In addition to sensing capacity, the charger can also initiate a conditioning of the battery automatically from time to time. Regular battery conditioning improves overall battery lifespan by keeping crystals out of the battery chemistry.

Having a display connected allows you to see your battery's total capacity while in reconditioning mode, in fact my six-month old HNN9033 is still at 124% of rated capacity I've seen HNN9033 with up to 145% rated capacity, putting the battery damn near 2700mAh. And a two-year warranty to boot!

As mentioned for the XTS series, there is a 4150mAh LiIon battery that seems to last forever and a day. On top of that, it weighs only five ounces... a benefit best observed by those who carry a radio on their hip for 8-12 hours a day

Impres chargers will charge non-Impres batteries, and you can use Impres batteries in non-Impres chargers. However in these cases they will act like the legacy chargers and you will not get the benefits of the system.

[Elroy Jetson]

So what are the Li-ion battery options for Astro Sabers? Capacity? I want one that's at least equal to the standard high capacity nicad.

And what do they cost, and what's the cost of the Impres charger as well?

Will I need a specific version of it, or an adapter or charger pocket, for Saber batteries?

Elroy

[Grog]

I think it's WPLN4111 (or close), escomm probably has them for $125ish. Sometimes they are cheaper used, but not much. That charger fits sabers, jedis, and XTS without any adaptors. I know because I charged one of each a month ago within 12 hours

[fire_master_21]

the WPLN4114AR impress charger will self adjust to any of the jedi, xts, saber batteries, so no adapter cups are needed.

[escomm]

No, there are no LiIon Impres batteries for the sabers... no NiMH Impres batteries either... only NiCD... the biggest drawback is that the batteries weigh about a pound... but if you're going to be carrying a brick you might as well go all out....

[mt1000ff]

Is there any advantage using the impress charger versus using a regular battery conditioner? Will I harm the impress function inside the battery? I thought I read somewhere if an Impress battery is charged in a regular (legacy) charger the Impress functions will no longer work.

I did not know that the same charger that charges my XTS5000 would also charge my Astro until I read the above. The part that engages the battery on a Jedi pivots out of the way and the red light comes on.