Handheld Vhf And Recharging

[one4water]

Good afternoon folks. I am picking up a handheld VHF for my ditch bag and have a technical question for all the electonic gurus out there.

I am planning to make a shelf to store the ditch bag for easy access. The bag will usually remain on the boat all of the time. I was thinking that if I installed a cigarette lighter style outlet and kept the radio plugged in all of the time, I would always have the batteries at full charge. I would install it so I could grab the bag and it would pull the plug as I pulled the bag out.

Will this damage the batteries by overcharging or will they be OK hooked up all the time?

[paul h]

For ditch bag use you are probably better off just using alkaline batteries and keeping a spare set or two in vacuum pack bags, at least thats what I do.

I keep my handheald in it's stand at the helm and charge as needed with a cigarette lighter charger. Nicads ideally should be discharged occasionally and then recharged, as light top offs will create memory in the batteries and they won't hold much of a charge.

We use the handheald for shore excursions, which is why it doesn't live in the ditch bag.

[roadkill]

I keep the portable VHF charged and shut off in the ditch bag but also keep a full battery pack in the ditch bag also.

[Creekwood]

My Standard Horizon HX850 manual says you can leave it on the charger stand to keep it fully charged. So does my Uniden Voyager. When in doubt, RTFM (to coin a phrase from my tech support days).

[DJWILLIAMS]

My Standard Horizon HX850 manual says you can leave it on the charger stand to keep it fully charged. So does my Uniden Voyager. When in doubt, RTFM (to coin a phrase from my tech support days).

You can leave it on the charger 24/7, but trust me it does shorten the life of the batteries. Ever wonder why they tell you it's ok, because the manufacturer is usually the only place you can get the batteries from, and it creates repeat business!

David

[marlinchaser]

I keep mine inside to charge and check weather forecasts. Through into ditch bag (which is also inside) and head for boat.

[Sandy]

If the H/H you get has a lithium battery, it will stay at essentially full charge for a very long time stored off the charger.

[Gratitude]

If the H/H you get has a lithium battery, it will stay at essentially full charge for a very long time stored off the charger.

Very long time is right in my experience. We charge ours maybe 2x over the summer, we had 3/4 charge marked after no use this winter at spring start up.

[jigger]

You can leave it on the charger 24/7, but trust me it does shorten the life of the batteries. Ever wonder why they tell you it's ok, because the manufacturer is usually the only place you can get the batteries from, and it creates repeat business!

David

I'll back him up on this subject. NiCads do build up a memory. To the point that they will not hold a charge. When I was working on the fire dept.our Life Paks ( defibulators) had 2 very large NiCad batteries in them. If the paks were used we would change out the batteries and place the used ones in a discharge machine. If the paks were not used we would change the batteries once every 2 weeks. We would take the unused batteries out and place them in the dicharge machine. Nothing worst then trying to zap someone with dead batteries. If you want to chance leaving it on charge all the time. Be my guess it is your life not mine.

[Kamper]

I think it's lithium ion batteries that boast "no memory." Somebody on THaT other forum claimed (on a cell phone thread) to be in the business and explained li batteries do develop memory but it takes so long most people have switched phones before it's very noticable. Especially if they keep recharging every day.

This is officially one of those "a guy told me, a guy told him..." threads so feel free to take it with a grain of salt. Maybe the newer NiCads do beter but it's nothing I could verify.

Personally I'd buy a brick of alkaline batteries for the ditch bag. Most of the name brands have an expiration date so you know when to rotate them. The older batteries will be for general household use for things like flashlights and wireless doorbells.

Good luck!