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Hi Folks,

Was using the 8R - 1st charge, and noticed about 30 minutes ago
it had 'full bars' on the battery charge.

Then I happened to look at it, and it was off, and would not turn on.

I hooked it up to the charger, & it's charging ok, and will turn on.

I guess the li-ion battery pack is dumb.... no charge meter kind of
thing, because all bars were lit, then it fell off a cliff.

Gee, reminds me of Ni-cads!!

Is this typical (since this is my 1st charge, I have no clue).

Just curious.

Thanks,

Tim W5FN

Tim,

How long did you let the first charge go for? I had the same issue at first, and then a friend told me that his battery out of the box was deader than a door nail, and that I should let mine charge for at least 5 hours. At first I only let it charge for 2 hours because it said fully charged, but apparently it wasn't. So I did just that, (charged it longer) and now have no problems. BTW, I also bought the extended battery and I love it. I've used it for 3 days now on the same charge. It is amazing and well worth the money. I also like the feel of the radio with the extended battery because it is a bit heaver, and also holds better in my hand. So now I use the original as a backup.

The battery indicator on the radio is not very good. The one that indicates the battery status when the radio is off (and charging) is a little better than the one that displays when the radio is on. Charge it for a night with the stock wall charger and it will be good for about 8 hrs, they come pretty dead out of the box. When your TX'ing and the battery is getting about dead, the battery will fall off a cliff like you said (and possibly shut off) especially if you TX at full power.

Had the same experience myself. Sounds everyone has had the same experience with the batteries at first.

Thanks guys,

Yes, when I got it, the battery was almost dead, and it did take quite
a while to charge. Probably close to the 5 hours.

Looks like the 1st 'peripheral' that I'll get for the 8r will be the larger
battery!

Thanks again,

Tim W5FN