Batboard

Hi All-

I am looking for new batteries for my Systems Sabers. I know the pros and cons of NiCad and NiMh. I am looking for a good non-M supplier. I have tryed W&W and not been happy. Any experiances or suggestions?

These would be used almost daily for about 4-8 hours at a time.

Thanks for the input.

Ken - N7QQU

http://www.alohabatteries.com

She's a board member- Jeanne

I e-mailed her several months ago about getting some Saber packs and if she'd ship them to Canada.

Never got a response.

Hmmm....

Did you do it through here or the website?

Jeanne wrote:EMAIL me or PM me or contact me back AIM or MSN Messager. Call me at 800.797.9750. Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover and Pay Pal accepted. I will also accept Money Orders or Checks if contacted first and mailed within 3 business days.

Thanks,
Jeanne Wahine
_________________
________________
Jeanne Prestin - [email protected]

That is from a recent posting, she doesn't always keep up with the board.

What turned you away from W&W? Just curious cause i have had bad experience with them as well.

The last batteries i bought new were either from Kendoo or some of the aftermarket sellers on eBay, even those were a LOT better than W&W's crap.

I picked up a few 2700 mah ni-mh's from fleabay not too long ago.. 30$ EACH shipped to my door.. have been using them for the past yr I guess... NO problems whatsoever... on the analyzer I get between 28** and 29** mah on discharge/analyze cycle. battery is made by "ProStar" part # PSM-4592JH 7.5VDC 2700mAh Ni-Mh Battery(Cell from Japan) Made in China.... other than the info on the bottom of the plate.. they look EXACTLY like factory..even that little dimple on the top where the green "IS" sticker is on "IS" batteries...



found http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-MOTOROLA-ASTRO- ... dZViewItem

but thats about 40$....

We've had good experiences with http://www.batteryzone.com/ Good prices and not one bad Jedi or Saber pack yet.

We have had the opposite results with battery zone. We had recessed contacts and poor spot welds. We cut a deal with Motorola and have gone back to the genuine battery for our Sabers.

I deal with NABC, North American Battery Company.

These batteries are direct replacements for a wide variety of circle-M batteries, including the Saber, MT/HT series as well as the XTS and many more.

These packs have given me excellent service and they last the entire day, and not just a few hours of transmission/reception.

I have 4 of these and one for mt HT600, and I can leave the radio 'ON' for well over 24 hours in receive alone and the battery still has enough reserve to hold a good conversation, same goes for my NTN4595 Saber packs.

Pricing on their products are well within the limits of reasonable to low cost for often purchased packs.

I was not yet able to obtain packs for the STX radios when I was placing my order, but they may have those available by now as well.

They have NiCd as well as NiMh packs in differing capacities too, but of course, the prices differ as well between the chemistries.

Since I can't post offers to sell here, so I'll simply state that I am a dealer for this company(which shouldn't violate site rules) and I am not offering to sell these, simply posting one more outlet for you to pursue.

73!

kb0nly wrote:What turned you away from W&W? Just curious cause i have had bad experience with them as well.

The last batteries i bought new were either from Kendoo or some of the aftermarket sellers on eBay, even those were a LOT better than W&W's crap.

I have bought two batteries from them. Both NiMh. They both have a bad cell. They last for a few minutes and then the voltage drops by 1.2 volts. I have ran them on a charge/discharge cycle 5 times. Stil with the same problem. I bought them direct from them at a hamfest.

Thanks for all the replies.
Ken

Boy, I asked this same question about Saber Batteries but got no response.....Anyway heres one that i found but not purchased ....yet

They are from HoneyWell

http://www.amerizonbatteries.com/sabradrepbat.html

n7qqu wrote:

kb0nly wrote:What turned you away from W&W? Just curious cause i have had bad experience with them as well.

The last batteries i bought new were either from Kendoo or some of the aftermarket sellers on eBay, even those were a LOT better than W&W's crap.

I have bought two batteries from them. Both NiMh. They both have a bad cell. They last for a few minutes and then the voltage drops by 1.2 volts. I have ran them on a charge/discharge cycle 5 times. Stil with the same problem. I bought them direct from them at a hamfest.

Thanks for all the replies.
Ken

Been there done that with W&W. Their packs have been total crap in my opinion. Went through a few bad packs for some amateur gear, and then a few made for commercial gear. Finally i had enough after the battery charger had a battery blow up in it.

Their W&W Master Charger, supposedly a smart charger, overcooked a battery. The charger and the battery were both brand new from them! I came home one night and it was like "what the heck is that smell". I went to the radio room flipped on the lights and saw a horror movie unfold in front of me. The battery in the charger was swollen so much that the top of the master charger was bowed and it was cooking off some nasty smoke. I unplugged the power adapter from it quick, no it was not hooked up to the wrong one, and grabbed the charger and ran for the door. Something about moving it, the jolt of getting grabbed, set something off and holy crap that thing blew. The cells started popping as i tossed it out the door. They sounded like shotgun blasts, the neighbor ran over to see what the heck happened.

We waited until they all cooked off and things calmed down. I contacted W&W but they wouldn't replace the battery or the charger, they claimed that it must have been operator error for such a "tremendous thing to happen unexpectedly like that". So i just wrote it off and moved on. Should have fought them but had better things to do with my time back then.

I will dig through my archives here and find the pictures from the incident. I recovered the remains after sitting outside for the night and took pictures. I didn't want to go near it or move anything until i knew it was safe so i put a garbage can over the pile of pieces and waited.

Wow, talk about catastrophic failure. Amazing those mutts woudn't make good after almost setting your house ablaze. Operator error ? Yup, very complicated task to plug a charger in and insert a battery.

I raised heck with them for a while, sent pictures of the scorched remains, they just kept arguing that it must be something i did wrong, etc.

They were willing to "look at it just in case" if i paid for shipping, but they insisted that i send it insured using FedEx and the quote from the local shipping store was $13.50. But i was told that the warranty wouldn't cover the battery and that i would have to pay labor to have the charger repaired, yada yada...

I just said the heck with it, i know, the cost of the charger and the battery was more than the shipping. But, i didn't think i could ever trust their equipment again at that point and chaulked it up as a learning experience.

I actually had two of their Master Charger 1A units originally. A used one that i got off ebay, and the new one that blew up. After that experience i sold the used one, which when i got it had a problem and i had to replace a few components, and the person i sold it to hasn't said anything about it and i believe he still uses it regularly. Probably will last forever after i repaired all the flaws with better quality components.

Ken,
From http://www.twowayshopper.com

"Have large quantity of batteries for the Motorola Saber radio 1800mAh. They are Jabro model JB4595. New in boxes @ $20.00 each
Jerry Howard <[email protected]>
Toledo, Oh USA - Tuesday, August 30, 2005 at 12:16:00 (EDT)"

I bought one from him a couple weeks ago. So far so good

Have had good service from "Multiplier". Have used ones that "keep going and going". Blitz

I too, have given up with W&W. Lousy batteries, lousy service. Bought some at Dayton and at local Hamfest with equally poor performance.

I have had good luck with Multiplier batteries. I usually source through Tessco. The 1100 mAh are about $31 and the 1800 mAh are about $38.

My best find was an older Cadex 2-bay conditioning unit for $125 at a local Hamfest last year. It has already paid for itself many times over.

Dan

Same thing here with W&W. We tried buying some for GE radios. Had several leakers, and many that just plain had no capacity. These were charged using the real GE multi-radio charger. Alexander, and Multiplier - no real problems.

Wobbley and Wobbley?
I won't buy a pack from them either!! When i had my 2 SS3'S Ineeded batteries so i bought from them too... they did not ever fit right and did not hold a full charge I basically sold them to a buddy "as is" and went to my local MOTO shop and got fresh batteries...
you get what you pay for.....
Gig

I just reread this thread while looking for something specific and it
reminded me of my latest experience with W&W:

I bought one of their fancy new single-unit chargers with the snap-in,
instant change battery cup. Seemed to work fine but the LED only
showed red while charging; never showed green when completed.
After several months I sent them an e-mail and on the second try they
replied, saying I would hear from "Peter" in their manufacturing shop.
After several weeks I heard from him; he said I would be receiving a
return authorization. I never heard another word. Now when I see their
table at a hamfest I just keep walking. There's obviously something
seriously wrong with their approach to service and warranties.

Typical of their Master Charger series, absolute junk.

Blitzbug2u wrote:Have had good service from "Multiplier". Have used ones that "keep going and going". Blitz

I can give another glowing endorsement for Multiplier. We use these on the the FDNY without problems, and we really use our stuff. Yes we still have a few Sabers out in the field.

I have also had good luck with Alexander.

Battery Zone does have good customer service, I recently sent a battery that about two years old completely shot in to them and they replaced it no questions asked, even though they only warranty them for a year.