Cordless phone battery

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qwerty7

434 posts

Ultimate Geek
Inactive user

# 120881 17-Jun-2013 08:05

I have a undien cordless phone with a 3.6v 500mah ni-cad
I cant find the model number (bt-905s)on the dse or jaycar websites
Is it safe to use a 3.6vni-cad phone battery with a different mah rating e.g 800 or 1000mah

also I see they are allot cheaper on trademe? e.g $5 as opposed to $30 should those ones be avoided?

Also should i stick to ni-cad or could i use ni-mh?

robjg63

2979 posts

Uber Geek

# 837924 17-Jun-2013 09:06

Pretty hard to find the 'exact' replacement battery without paying more than a new phone isnt it?

I looked into this a while ago for a phone with a dodgy battery - someone can(and will) correct me if I am wrong, BUT, dont swap battery types - from memory the Ni-mh and ni-cads have different charging requirements and you could cook the battery if you change types.

You should be ok putting a larger capacity battery in the phone though - Might take a little longer to charge initially - but then they just get small top ups from then. Also - you would have longer talking time.

Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it himself - A. H. Weiler

Goosey

1848 posts

Uber Geek

Subscriber

# 837941 17-Jun-2013 09:39

Pop into DSE or Harvey Norman, they usually have a range of these batteries.
If all else fails, Uniden NZ website sell batteries.

As someone else mentioned, battery price vs new phone...
Im sure you could find a non branded option on trademe

qwerty7

434 posts

Ultimate Geek
Inactive user

# 837951 17-Jun-2013 10:02

am aware that new phones are not much more expensive but my phone has an inbuilt answering machine which means new battery is definitely the cheaper option

ubergeeknz

3344 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Vocus

# 837953 17-Jun-2013 10:04

I got some from dx.com for a few bucks to replace the batteries in my old uniden, I needed 2 sets and ordered 3 which was good as one didn't work (I never investigated). These are likely the same ones you would order from Trademe.

Just watch out for the dimensions, the capacity stated will be different in most cases from your factory battery (and fairly meaningless in terms of actual capacity).

It should be OK to swap them out for NiMH if you can find a pack the right size, you will get more capacity and the charging requirements are very similar. I have seen people say you're not supposed to trickle charge NiMH but in reality a low current trickle doesn't seem to do them any harm, and if you actually use your phone regularly it's unlikely that they will be sitting in a full charged state very much.

qwerty7

434 posts

Ultimate Geek
Inactive user

# 839165 19-Jun-2013 11:28

Cr*p I took the case of the phone off to grind a bit of plastic out so the battery would fit. Decided to plug in the battery with the case off. Apparently the plug fits just fine in the reverse polarity position. I don't think the smoke is going back in.

HowickDota

408 posts

Ultimate Geek

# 839182 19-Jun-2013 11:43

There are a ton on ebay,
I've bought battery packs myself from ebay before for a uniden phone and never had any problems with them really.

ubergeeknz

3344 posts

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Trusted

Vocus

# 839203 19-Jun-2013 11:50

qwerty7: Cr*p I took the case of the phone off to grind a bit of plastic out so the battery would fit. Decided to plug in the battery with the case off. Apparently the plug fits just fine in the reverse polarity position. I don't think the smoke is going back in.

Oh yeah, uhh, watch the polarity...

qwerty7

434 posts

Ultimate Geek
Inactive user

# 839215 19-Jun-2013 11:58

The case clearly labeled what side was red and black but I had it off. The plug had bumps in to the plug could only fit one way, it thought I had it right, apparently not, turns out it fits both ways. Stupid.