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 Wouxun Battery life
I got a wouxun handheld six months ago with the 1400mAh Li-ion
battery pack. in fact I bought another a month later. Neat radio.
Two weeks ago the battery stopped taking a charge and would
only last about 10 minutes. Much to my surprise the second radio
did the same thing yesterday. Both battery packs failed after only
about 6 months use. I have ordered replacements but was wondering
if i just got lucky or are others having battery trouble.
Jim - W8DRZ
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Are you sure the charger is ok?
I have a few Li-ion batteries for my VX-2R that are 3 or 4 years old which I use and charge all the time and they are still fine.
"Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to receive."
-Otto Watt Sept. 5 1925
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I haven't seen any issues with the batteries, but I have with the charger. There are a few on ehams reviews of this radio.
http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/8524
I got mine last month. No problems so far...
"America's quiet warriors are the legion of ham radio operators, 700,000 of them, who are always at ready for backup duty in emergencies – amateur, unpaid, uncelebrated, civilian radio operators, during and after floods and fires and tornadoes. After the 9/11 attacks, hams were indispensable in reuniting friends and families. Most recently it was they who expedited the search for debris after the Columbia Explosion , and right now, at this moment, they are involved in homeland security to a greater degree than you would want me to make public."
— Paul Harvey News and Comment, ABC Radio, March 19, 2003
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Wow, thanks for the hint. CHARGER FAILED!! Since i have two radios I have two chargers,
one WAS still new in the box. The one I was using is kaput.
The green light in on all the time even with no battery in the slot.
When charging the red light flashes all the time, well for a long time anyway,
overnight I have seen it green again BUT the battery would die after only a few
minutes.
Now with the other charger, steady red while charging, green when done.
I never paid much attention to the led light until I had the second charger set up
next to it other than I thought my battery was bad because of the blinking red.
Cool, well now I have two 1700 battery's coming as extra's.
What I need is a spare charger!
Thanks for the help.
Jim - W8DRZ
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Jim, there is a pretty good review on youtube if you can find it. I was going to post it here, but I can't seem to find it. There is also a guy who describes the nature of the charger failure on youtube. I can't find either of them.
You should be able to find the video on how to turn the audio up if your TX audio is low. I didn't have that problem.
"America's quiet warriors are the legion of ham radio operators, 700,000 of them, who are always at ready for backup duty in emergencies – amateur, unpaid, uncelebrated, civilian radio operators, during and after floods and fires and tornadoes. After the 9/11 attacks, hams were indispensable in reuniting friends and families. Most recently it was they who expedited the search for debris after the Columbia Explosion , and right now, at this moment, they are involved in homeland security to a greater degree than you would want me to make public."
— Paul Harvey News and Comment, ABC Radio, March 19, 2003
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Are they still under warranty? If so send it in for a replacement I would.
73 de Fred N0AZZ
_____________________________________
The License is Only Your Starting Point in Radio!
MVDX/CC of SW MO., DX Hogs, OARS, NARC, NCDXF
ARRL member, ARRL and W5YI VE
DX the thrill of the chase
""D-STAR making use of the 2/ 440m repeaters for real world Digital Voice usage around town and around the world""
" Not one of us can do what all of us can do " ** Max Lucado
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 Originally Posted by N0AZZ
Are they still under warranty? If so send it in for a replacement I would.
That's worth finding a US dealer and talking to them about a replacement charger, Jim.
"America's quiet warriors are the legion of ham radio operators, 700,000 of them, who are always at ready for backup duty in emergencies – amateur, unpaid, uncelebrated, civilian radio operators, during and after floods and fires and tornadoes. After the 9/11 attacks, hams were indispensable in reuniting friends and families. Most recently it was they who expedited the search for debris after the Columbia Explosion , and right now, at this moment, they are involved in homeland security to a greater degree than you would want me to make public."
— Paul Harvey News and Comment, ABC Radio, March 19, 2003
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Originally Posted by W8DRZ
...What I need is a spare charger!
Sounds to me as if that's ALL you've got now! 
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73, Steve
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41 years in Amateur Radio
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I picked this up off a Wouxun yahoo group:
Flashing LED
My charger also had the flashing LED issue. In my unit after some charge time the LED started to flash between red and green for very long time. Also, 'wiggling' the radio in the charge stand/cradle did have some effect on the flashing LED and sometimes it did stop.
After taking the charger apart and additional investigation it appeared that the charger's spring contacts did not make reliable contact with the battery terminals. A slight modification to the bottom of the charge cradle and spring contacts fixed the problem. After this modification, the battery charged properly and the flashing LED work as it is supposed to. Red during charge and green when fully charged. Now it is possible to just insert the battery alone into the charger and charges without a problem. This is handy if one has more than one battery.
If there is interest in this modification, I can upload a written description with applicable pictures.
73,
Mort, NA6MA
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I also picked this up off a yahoo group written by KD0FD:
A couple of days ago, I was charging my kg-uvd1p in the car and I thought it
flipped to green "charged" awfully early.
The radio's battery was dead the next day. (It really hadn't charged the day
before.)
I came home and the charger's LED was flashing red with no radio mounted.
Plugged in the radio. charger kept flashing. Put just the battery in the charger
and confirmed with a volt meter that the battery was not charging.
Charger is adapter part: KG-HN-2
Took apart the charger and the power transistor just to the right of the DC
input jack looked pretty burned.
The NEC SB722 transistor is a little different than the 2SB546 transistor
specified right there on the board, but they are the same wattage.
Off to radio shack. The choice was easy. They only stock one PNP power
transistor and it is rated a lot higher than the SB722. It is also a larger
package, but the lead spacing is identical which is not a bad thing. The Radio
Shack transistor is a TIP42G.
The diagram on the board also shows a heat sink so I found a low profile video
card RAM heat sink in my junk pile. I cut it in half, but I think you might be
able to fit it full size too. Drilled a hole in it and found a tiny nut and bolt
in the RC Car junk box and I used permatex #27100 thread locker on it because I
couldn't find my low yield blue 242.
Plug it in and...blinking red light. Well shoot! Oh wait this is a PNP
transistor. Duh! Spun it around and soldered it on crooked this time (bummer)
and there ya go. Solid red.
Plugged in the battery and watched the voltage on the battery start to climb.
Noting was getting hot, so I put it back together.
Tips: The lettering on the radio shack transistor should point to the BACK of
the unit.
There is enough room for a low profile heat sink to help the
transistor junctions stay cool. Computer video card RAM heat sinks are about the
right size and they are easy to cut and drill.
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