Charging Entel VHF

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Swg

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Got one if these handhelds. It's about 2 yrs old, rarely used and charged maybe 10 times. Start of season it was dud and although sits in charging cradle doesn't seem to want to charge. Switches on in cradle- with mains power- only. Any ideas ?
 
Swg said:
Got one if these handhelds. It's about 2 yrs old, rarely used and charged maybe 10 times. Start of season it was dud and although sits in charging cradle doesn't seem to want to charge. Switches on in cradle- with mains power- only. Any ideas ?
Click to expand...

Assuming the charger is working, check it with a multimeter, the battery is probably knackered. Guessing the battery will be a Ni-Cad and being allowed to go flat and only charged a few times will not have done it any good. Can you buy a replacement battery?
 
The entel battery is unlikely to be dud as it's a Li-ion. Will the set turn on when not in the cradle? You should get a red light if it's charging I think. My charging cradle failed last year and the company were very helpful when i called them and supplied a new noe at a reasonable cost.

Yoda
 
Nothing wrong with the charger or battery: its corrosion on the contacts.

I've had one of these Entel handhelds for a few years, which had the same problem until I figured it out.

Its all down to light corrosion on the contacts, which you can actually see if you peer properly.

So I use a bit of wire wood (a scrap of fine finishing fleece is better as it doesn't shred bits) to regularly but lightly abrade the contacts on both the unit and the cradle, then wipe a light film of vaseline on them. Hey presto! The unit charges fine.

The solution was told me by a retired policeman - who used to have the same issues on his service radio.
 
Hello,
Last year I was just about to renew the charger on my Entel and then out of desperation I pushed it down hard into the cradle and it clicked into place and off it went charging. It nees a good push down to engage woops.
Mine is the one that has waterproof written across it in red letters.

Col.
 
pissativlypossed said:
Assuming the charger is working, check it with a multimeter, the battery is probably knackered. Guessing the battery will be a Ni-Cad and being allowed to go flat and only charged a few times will not have done it any good. Can you buy a replacement battery?
Click to expand...

I realise the battery in question is Lithium ion
However regarding NiCad and NiMH. These batteries do not mind being left discharged or fully discharged. It is the overcharging that hurts them.
With large wet NiCad batterie son aircraft a standard maintenance procedure at least every 6 months is to individually discharge each cell and leave shorted out for 24 hrs before recharging. It is actually good for them. Completely different to lead acid. However note the individual cells are shorted. Discharging a battery of cells in series causes problems because if one cell goes flat first it can be charged in reverse by remaining cells (discharge current)which is bad for them. So it is bad to run a battery of cells too low. olewill
 
Sorry to drag up an old thread, but did the OP ever find out what the problem was with the Entel battery or charger?
I now have the same problem.
Bought new in 2009, has been charged no more than a dozen times since purchase.
Its always been kept dry, stored in a dry bag when not in use, never immersed in water and is always brought home when not on board Zara.
Even with a low charge, the battery used to last ages when not in use.
But now when its put on the charging cradle, the LED on the cradle front glows green only ( I'm sure it used to start off red then change to green when battery full?) and the battery doesn't seem to receive a charge.
When fitted in the cradle and turned ON the radio works fine, shows a full battery and works as it should. As soon as its removed from cradle it shuts down?
A bit disappointed if the radio, battery or charger has failed after what is essentially very minimal use.
Have tried cleaning contacts on radio, battery and charging cradle with a fibreglass pencil (designed for cleaning PCB tracks) but this hasn't worked.
Any one with a charging or circuit diagram for these radios?
 
Since my last post on this thread I have had a second charging cradle fail and it was replaced FOC by entel. They do seem prone to failure which is indicated by the light not turning red when the VHF is placed in it.

Yoda
 
Mine lasts ages on a charge (at least 2-3 days if not heavily used and switched off at night), BUT the charge quickly dissipates if left off for a week or so.
 
yoda said:
Since my last post on this thread I have had a second charging cradle fail and it was replaced FOC by entel. They do seem prone to failure which is indicated by the light not turning red when the VHF is placed in it.

Yoda
Click to expand...
Same thing happens with icom handhelds , slight corrosion of the contacts.
 
Weird.
The charger is outputting 7.5V DC from its contact terminals within the charging cradle ( the two outer contacts)
The battery is showing 0 volts on its output contacts (the 2 that connect onto the radio set)
Connect the battery into the cradle on its own, without being attached to the radio and I see 7.5V DC from the same output contacts as above.
Put battery on the radio and into cradle and the LED stays green, doesn't glow red (as it used to)
Turn the radio on whilst in the cradle and the radio works fine. Initially the cradle LED glows red when the radio is first turned on and then goes green once the LCD backlight of the radio goes out. Press transmit on the radio and the LED glows red then back to green when the PTT switch is released.
So does the battery pack contain any electronic components to prevent charging? The charging cradle has 3 separate contacts (marked +, T and -) so would it be safe to assume that the T contact is some kind of thermal cut out/monitoring terminal?
As said, the radio worked fine about 2 months ago and was stored away in a fully charged state. Went to use it yesterday and nothing at all from the battery and the switch was in the OFF position.
So possibly a faulty battery pack. Ideally I'd like to try another in the radio before I replace the existing one, so does anyone have an old battery I can try?
 
Last edited:
mickywillis said:
Weird.
The charger is outputting 7.5V DC from its contact terminals within the charging cradle ( the two outer contacts)
The battery is showing 0 volts on its output contacts (the 2 that connect onto the radio set)
Click to expand...
I just put a meter across my icom, the contacts on the outside at the bottom of the battery read 0V but if you take the battery out and meter across the contacts at the top inside it's 7.7V
 
OK, now looking for a battery, dead or alive, to test my Entel HH with.
Have placed ad in Wanted section.
Or if anyone has one that I can borrow temporarily or visit you to try, please let me know.
Thanks
 
We had similar problems with all our Entels which we bought for the fleet. Partly bad contacts, partly not clicked in and twice had to be supplied with new cradles.\

I would not buy another as VHF HH has to be reliable. Go back to Entel in ? Hamble
 
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