New Jedi batteries show <500mah on the conditioner. ???

[nmfire10]

I'm opening up a box of new Jedi batteriers (OEM /\/\ NiCad 1200mah). I put one on the W&W conditioner and set it to cycle the battery 3 times and report the milliamp hours.

Well, I have run two of the brand new ones through it an they are all showing between 250 and 450 Milliamp hours. Shouldn't they be reading in the areas of 1200 at least???? What gives, these things are brand new and still in their boxes. Maybe I am just missing something.

[Al]

Matt, tell us the date code on the batteries.....(new in the box could also mean new old stock!).

[nmfire10]

Not sure what the Date code is but here is the random jumble of letters and numbers....

342 AU52 1

That is just one of them, I am not in a position to go check any more at the moment.

[HailStorm]

34th week of 2002, correct? That'd be....Sept?

[Monty]

HI:

That means 42cd week of 2003

Also, sometimes new batteries need to
be excersized before they will reach full
capicity.

Try in a radio for a week, then repeat the
analizer Cycle

Monty

[Nand]

Forty-second week in 2003.

Conditioning new batteries may not be a good idea. Most need at least a full charge and preferable a slow charge for 16 to 24 hours depending on what the manufacturer suggests.

http://www.allegromicro.com/techpub2/cadex/index312.htm

http://www.buchmann.ca/Chap4-page3.asp as Monty suggests.

Nand.

[nmfire10]

Well, I took one of them and put it on my radio. I'll give it some time and then run it through again.

[HailStorm]

My bad, was looking at a battery stamped 639, and 1996 seemed too old...of course, the 63rd week wouldn't've made sense...

[RKG]

I agree with Nand. A NiCad fresh from the box has suffered a fair amount of shelf discharge, and the sort of "shock treatment" that most conditioners employ is not the best thing for such a battery. Better bet would be 16-20 hours on a "slow" charger, followed by use in the field till the radio shuts down, followed by another long slow charge.

[RadioSouth]

Yup, agree with Nand and RKG. Motorola (and probably others) refer to this first 16 hr. charge as initializing the battery and is an important step.

[thgiz]

We had purchased new batteries from motorola. all with a recent date code. batteries were for HT1250s. the MAh came back low after we ran it through the conditioner so we gave the big /\/\ a call they said anything that rated 75% or better of listed capacity can be considered "WNL" (with in normal limits) you ask me 75% is not all that great for a brand new battery

[Nand]

We had purchased new batteries from motorola. all with a recent date code. batteries were for HT1250s. the MAh came back low after we ran it through the conditioner so we gave the big /\/\ a call they said anything that rated 75% or better of listed capacity can be considered "WNL" (with in normal limits) you ask me 75% is not all that great for a brand new battery

http://www.allegromicro.com/techpub2/cadex/index312.htm

The first two paragraphs in the above link should give you some insight into this problem. Is not like filling a glass of milk or blowing up a tire.

The date code on Motorola batteries is not the final word. At one time we received cell phone batteries that were over a year old but still considered new with full warranty when we inquired about this. You will also see batteries come in with a date code several weeks newer than the actual date. What really matters for the warranty is the customer’s dated bill of sale that also shows the battery date code.

We return batteries that are found to be below 80% capacity when nearing the end of the warranty period.

Nand.

[thgiz]

Very helpful!!! Thank you very much!!!

[elkbow]

I picked up some NOS batteries off of ebay for $11 each for the Jedi. Date code is 848. They work perfect, but I did charge them in my Motorola charger for 16 hours each first. Been running them through my Aloha charger/conditioner and they're all holding around 1200 mah......so.....make sure you charge the 12-16 hours as listed above, especially on NiCads.

[RadioSouth]

I've gotten the same results on the NOS batteries 1200/1400 capacity
not bad. But, 6 mos. ago I charged up some NOS Genesis batteries (525), out of 6 samples they were 102-121%. Don't make 'em the way they used to !

[MTS2000des]

That is true about the Genesis batteries, still using an NTN5447B from 1992 and it is 100 percent, have several others from 9520 to 9839 and they all are 100 percent or near it.

Just got some 200401 NTN7144's in, and thus far they have been fine, but I always charge them overnight (for 16-20 hours) uninterrupted and cycle them several times before putting them into service.

I have had Jedi batteries die within warranty more than any other, just sent back a bunch of 312 and 322 date coded 7144's- most were only reading like 700mah or less after analysis.

[Susan157]

YES YES Yes

The Slow Charge Over Night Is The Only
Way To Go.

Like It Was Stated Here By Other
Great Radio Users
16 Hours On Slow Will Give You
The Maximum Life Out Of A Ni-Cad Battery.

[nmfire10]

Would a date code of 545 mean the 45th week of 1995? Also, how many Mah should the following batteries have when new:

NTN7144CR
NTN7143CR

[wavetar]

Would a date code of 545 mean the 45th week of 1995?

You betcha.

Also, how many Mah should the following batteries have when new:

NTN7144CR
NTN7143CR

The values have changed slightly in the most recent version of the Motorola dealer accesory catalog, as compared to earlier versions and printed values in other Moto literature, but I'll give the values most are familiar with:

NTN7144CR - 1400mAH
NTN7143CR - 1300mAH

Todd

[wavetar]

Sorry, my bad. I thought the NTN7144 was the intrinsically safe battery, but that would be the NTN7149 (1400mAH). It should have read;

NTN7144CR - 1500mAH

Todd