Motorola Impres battery question

ScannerDan · Post by **ScannerDan** » Sat Feb 11, 2006 12:22 pm

Hi all,

I just purchased a Motorola Impres battery Charger Model No. WPLN4114AR off of E-bay for $ 75.00 and I have heard conflicting reports that a Impres battery will ONLY work with a Impress charger.

I have two Impress batteries for my XTS3000 but I don't know if they were "initialized" first in a Impress charger or not. So I guess my question is If it was NOT initialized in an Impress charger and I now charge them in a Impress charger will the features work? I also read that you would have to send the battery back to Motorola to have the memory reset on the battery.

thanks

Dan..

Post by **akardam** » Sat Feb 11, 2006 12:49 pm

I've been told that you can charge an Impres battery on a standard charger (assuming the charger will charge whatever chem the battery is), and that all that is required to "reset" the battery's smarts is to do a full charge cycle on an Impres charger. Anyone care to confirm/deny this?

Post by **xmo** » Sat Feb 11, 2006 2:07 pm

Here are a couple of things Motorola has to say on the subject:

In order for the features of Motorola Smart batteries and the Adaptive Charging System to be fully available, the data contained in Motorola Smart batteries must be initialized by the charger the first time it is charged.

AND:

PLEASE NOTE: If new Impres batteries are initially charged in a conventional (non-Impres) charger, the XTS5000 fuel gauge display will never appear. Impres batteries AND chargers must be used to enable the fuel gauge display.

Ranger522 · Post by **Ranger522** » Sun Feb 12, 2006 4:10 am

I know that is what Moto says

, but I have several Impres batteries that were initialized in the standard charger and then recharged in the Impres charger, giving back the fuel gauge display. I have done it several times, back and forth, without any problems.

Bruce1807 · Post by **Bruce1807** » Sun Feb 12, 2006 5:34 am

Something also important is the flash version in the charger.
It should be on the bottom.
I think current version is 3.1.
It's a slow job to flash the chargers though especially 6 ways where it takes about 5 minutes a slot.
But flashing the chargers solved my intermittent display problems.

ScannerDan · Post by **ScannerDan** » Sun Feb 12, 2006 8:40 am

Bruce1807 wrote:Something also important is the flash version in the charger.
It should be on the bottom.
I think current version is 3.1.
It's a slow job to flash the chargers though especially 6 ways where it takes about 5 minutes a slot.
But flashing the chargers solved my intermittent display problems.

I presently have an Impres charger (WPLN411AR) flashed at version 3.0 what would a uplift flash to v3.1 do for me?

Also, how and were would i get the charger flashed??? and how much would it cost??

Bruce1807 · Post by **Bruce1807** » Sun Feb 12, 2006 9:26 am

RLN5671A IMPRES FLD PROGMR W/NA/LA PLUG

Version 3.0 is pretty good. The older versions like 1.3 etc. had some issues so you wouldn't get much out of an upgrade.
The display upgrade for the single charger (soon to be released) will probably need the flash upgraded.

Post by Pj » Sun Feb 12, 2006 10:11 am

My WPLN4114AR is up to V3.30. Its about a two months old.

K8TEK · Post by **K8TEK** » Sun Feb 12, 2006 10:13 am

Bruce1807 wrote:Something also important is the flash version in the charger.
It should be on the bottom.
I think current version is 3.1.
It's a slow job to flash the chargers though especially 6 ways where it takes about 5 minutes a slot.
But flashing the chargers solved my intermittent display problems.

My charger is V3.30

ScannerDan · Post by **ScannerDan** » Sun Feb 12, 2006 10:50 am

Bruce1807 wrote:RLN5671A IMPRES FLD PROGMR W/NA/LA PLUG

Excellent, but would the charger need to be sent to Motorola or would a decent size shop be able to do the up flash? I like the idea of having a LCD display on the single unit =)

Bruce1807 · Post by **Bruce1807** » Sun Feb 12, 2006 10:50 am

I just checked my one at home and that was originally 2.0
but was flashed about 2 months ago to 3.3
I'll check MOL tomorrow and see if it's still the lastest version.Now that I think about it we had 10 x 6 way multi chargers that we wanted to put displays in and they were 3.1.
Some displays worked ok and others didn't. Mot was aware of the problem and sent us the update which was 3.3, downloaded it into my impress flash box and started the long and boring process of updating chargers.

ScannerDan · Post by **ScannerDan** » Sun Feb 12, 2006 12:38 pm

Bruce1807 wrote:I just checked my one at home and that was originally 2.0
but was flashed about 2 months ago to 3.3
I'll check MOL tomorrow and see if it's still the latest version.Now that I think about it we had 10 x 6 way multi chargers that we wanted to put displays in and they were 3.1.
Some displays worked ok and others didn't. Mot was aware of the problem and sent us the update which was 3.3, downloaded it into my impress flash box and started the long and boring process of updating chargers.

What's the average charge for an uplift??

Bruce1807 · Post by **Bruce1807** » Sun Feb 12, 2006 1:15 pm

Uplift???

ScannerDan · Post by **ScannerDan** » Sun Feb 12, 2006 2:30 pm

Bruce1807 wrote:Uplift???

A firmware up-lift form one version to another.

Bruce1807 · Post by **Bruce1807** » Sun Feb 12, 2006 4:43 pm

RLN5671A IMPRES Field programmer 175.00

The current software release is available on MOL.
You plug the programmer into a USB port and it goes on the internet and downloads the latest version.
You disconnect it from the PC
Open your chasrger and plug the lead into an 8pin socket inside
Press the red button and wait for the led to go green
Thats it.
The most important thing is that the charger is not powered up.
Unless you have lots of chargers it's probably not worth having one.

ScannerDan · Post by **ScannerDan** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 3:34 am

Thanks for the info. Anyone here have the programmer and willing to update my charger? willing to pay.

Dan..

Bruce1807 · Post by **Bruce1807** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 1:44 pm

Personally I'd wait until the upgrade kit that lets you add a display comes out. If you have 3.0 there won't be many enhancements

ScannerDan · Post by **ScannerDan** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 2:00 pm

Bruce1807 wrote:Personally I'd wait until the upgrade kit that lets you add a display comes out. If you have 3.0 there won't be many enhancements

OK thanks, any idea when the upgrade kit should be released?

Dan..

Bruce1807 · Post by **Bruce1807** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 5:03 pm

supposed to be 1Q06 when the XTS2500 impress batteries are released