Saber Batteries

[Tim]

Hi folks,

Just wondering if anyone has had any experience with batteries from 'Empire Wireless'.

I received 3 of a 'ProStar PSM-4592JH', 2700mAh Ni-MH batteries for some Astro Sabers.

Put them through our standard battery cycling regimen to establish a base line.

Only one of the batteries made it to 2700... actually, it made 2900.

The other two were at 2422 & 1434 mAh. I went through three (3) separate cycles.

They were nice about it, and sent another 2 batteries, but these are seeming to fail at about 1/2 capacity.

I did note that before charging, one battery pack had 1.7 volts on it, and the other one had 3.4 volts.

Any comments? (other than you get what you pay for)

Thanks,

Tim

[N4KVE]

While I can't test for m/ah, I do have in front of me a ProStar PSM-4592JH that I purchased Feb 07, & it's still as good as new. It lasts forever, & takes a lot longer to charge than a M battery. Probably because it has a higher m/ah rating. While I don't use it on a daily basis, it actually sits more than it's used, which in my experience can be just as bad. I only use AdvanceTec chargers for my non Impress batteries. Of course if I was a cop, I wouldn't use it, but for my hobby, I'd recommend it to anybody. GARY N4KVE

[Will]

snip>
I did note that before charging, one battery pack had 1.7 volts on it, and the other one had 3.4 volts.

Any comments? (other than you get what you pay for)

Thanks,

Tim

OLD stock. The open circuit voltage should not be less than 6 volts. Also it depends on how the batteries were charged, initialized the first time. I never use a rapid charger for the first charge.

[MRFLASHPORT]

Tim,

Try Batteryzone, They make a 3000 MhA battery that lasts for hours and the battery fits on the radio perfect.

[k2hz]

I had been buying ProStar NIMH batteries for Genesis series radio for many years and they were great up until about 2010. Since then they have consistently failed suddenly after 13-15 months of use. I have some ProStar batteries from 2007-2010 still in service that are fine but every one purchased since then has failed. These are used in the same radios and same charger. My last ProStar order was April 2011 and the last of
these batteies had failed 3 weeks ago. The older ones lasted at least 3 years in the same service.

I see problems with other aftermarket brands also. Empire Scientific used to be good quality Japanese cells and higher mAh rating than originals. I recently ordered some of the same battery and they had a new label with lower rating and Chinese cells.

I guess the only way to be safe is to order only original manufacturers batteries.

[RadioSouth]

OEM and Multiplier are the only ones that have provided good consistent results over the years as reported here on BatLabs. Someone sometimes pops up with a good report on another brand but most likely you'll see someone else reporting the opposite, just no consistency in the aftermarkets. Then there was a member years back reporting an explosion while charging a generic battery and what he thought would have turned into a house fire if he hadn't been in the area to pull the plug on it.

[N4KVE]

Then there was a member years back reporting an explosion while charging a generic battery and what he thought would have turned into a house fire if he hadn't been in the area to pull the plug on it.

I believe in that case, it wasn't so much the use of a generic battery, but the use of a W&W charger. GARY

[JustinMoon205]

W&W chargers, batteries, accessories, ANYTHING they make is cheap, low quality and USELESS.