New Batteries Flashing

[FD8300]

About 18 months ago we bought (6) VHF XTS2500 1.5 with (6) WPLN4114AR v3.40 chargers and (12) NTN9857C batteries for our Volunteer Fire Station. (6) of those batteries were spares that we just opened for the first time since they were purchased. Whenever we placed them in the charger the charger flashes yellow about half dozen times, goes solid red for about 5 seconds and then starts flashing red continuously. All (6) do the same thing. I even tried a couple of them in different chargers with same results. I read that these batteries have undervoltage protection circuitry which protects the cells against excessive discharge. Could this be our problem and if so, how do you fix? Is it possible that all (6) went bad sitting in a box for (18) months? Thanks in advance

[com501]

The charger is telling you the batteries are too low to charge.

Try putting them in and out of the charger a half dozen times or so (after it cycles to flashing red) and see if they eventually start to charge.

Were these batteries initialized when you bought them, or did you just throw them on the shelf without charging?

Remember, new battery chemistries self discharge much faster than nickel-cadmium and require upkeep, even if never used.

[escomm]

Better yet, put them on a non-Impres charger for about 30 minutes and then put them on the Impres charger. Impres doesn't like batteries with very low voltage.

[RFguy]

Have you tried putting one of the batteries in the IMPRES charger for at least 16-hours?

Version 3.4 and above charger firmware has additional code to deal with the under-voltage protection circuit that the that the NTN9857C has in it.

[FD8300]

@com501.. No initial charge was done to my knowledge. The dealer that set up all the handheld and vehicle radios did not mention that they needed one.
@RFguy.. No to I just started the charging process today so have not tried that.
@escomm.. I do have a couple of vehicle chargers for those radios that I could plug a couple into and try for a bit.

[com501]

All good suggestions, we'll wait and see what happens. (Not responsible for loss of smoke...)

[FD8300]

Ok, Thanks to all who responded!!
I tried com51's suggestion first "Try putting them in and out of the charger a half dozen times or so (after it cycles to flashing red) and see if they eventually start to charge"...
It took about (4) times each and then stayed steady red.
About 3 hours later they were green. I figured that was not a tru reading for first time charge so I left the first pair on overnite still green this morning.
Started second pair same results so I think issue is resolved!!
Thanks again to everyone for the input.

[com501]

Do you have a display charger? If you did, you could actually see what the battery capacity truly is after they charge.

You can add one or more displays to a rack charger. Its quite easy, the display costs about $100 and all you need is a screwdriver. Check with your dealer, they can order you the displays or someone here on this board can also.