What is the best way to care for my battery on my handheld?
A. Ni-Cad and Ni-MH batteries should typically be re-charged after every use so that you have maximum talk time available. Alkaline batteries, unless they are the rechargeable type, get used until they are dead and then thrown away. If Ni-Cad batteries are used only briefly and then recharged again (typical volunteer fire dept use) then they should be discharged to nearly dead once a month to avoid a “memory effect.” It is unnecessary to do this if you use your radio 8 hours or more a day (typical business use or police/sheriff use) and unnecessary with Ni-MH batteries as they have no “memory.” If you are using a slow charger, always make sure that your radio is shut off when recharging overnight or you may not have a fully charged battery by morning (to get you through the next day). Also, batteries are not meant to be left on the charger for extended periods of time without being used. If you do, the battery can get warm/hot and can shorten it’s useful life.
