As discussed in most of the previous articles on walkie-talkies, your radio signal strength can be boosted by the amount of power (charge) available on your walkie-talkie.
This is why you are always encouraged to keep your walkie-talkies fully charged before programming and even before transmitting.
One major advantage of keeping your walkie-talkie charged is that sometimes, when you are out of range or in a low signal area, needing to make an emergency transmission, the charge capacity of your phone determines how fast or easy the reception will be.
It is wrong to begin using your walkie-talkie without charging and worse to leave for an unknown terrain with your walkie-talkie uncharged. How then do you charge your Motorola walkie-talkie?
If newly bought, your Motorola walkie-talkie pack should contain:
- Radio
- Lithium-ion battery
- AAA battery tray
- Swivel belt holster
- Drop-in charger with transformer
- User’s manual
- Brochure
- Warranty card
Your Motorola radio uses a rechargeable Lithium-ion battery or in most cases, 3 AAA alkaline batteries with an AAA battery tray.
To charge, you must first install the battery into the walkie-talkie. To install batteries;
- Press down the push button on the battery door and slide it off the radio
- Insert the battery into the battery section by placing the two arrow sides up and press down to ensure it is firmly placed in.
- Slide the battery door back into place.
For AAA alkaline batteries;
- Press down the push button on the battery door and slide it off the radio
- Place the 3 AAA batteries into the battery tray by following the markings inside the tray
- Insert the battery tray into the battery compartment and press down firmly in place.
- Slide close the battery door firmly
- Press MENU until ‘A’ or ‘n’ flashes on the LED
- Press + or – to select ‘A‘ for Alkaline batteries, or ‘n’ for rechargeable AAA batteries.
Now that your battery is well placed, you need to charge your walkie-talkie before you start using. To charge, please ensure that you use only the recommended radio charger supplied with the pack or in other cases, a compatible charger (Multi-Unit Charger).
When charging, do not keep overcharged for a long time as this reduces the battery life of your radio. Unplug when it indicates a full charge.
To use your drop-in charger;
- Place the drop-in charger on a flat surface
- Insert the power cord plug into the jack on the charger
- Plug the cord to a socket or AC outlet.
- Turn of your radio before inserting it in the charger. (this allows the battery to charge fully within the usual charging time.)
- Inset your radio (installed with battery) into the front charging pocket.
When using a Multi-Unit charger (MUC), it is important to note that each MUC charging pockets can either charge a radio installed with battery, or battery but not both. The MUC can charge up to 6 radios or batteries at a time.
- Place the MUC charger on a flat surface
- Inset the power cord into the MUC jack
- Plug the cord into an AC outlet
- Turn off the radio (if charging a radio)
- Insert the radio (or battery) into the radio charging pocket (if radio) or battery charging pocket (for battery)
The radio and the battery charging pockets have its own LED either on the drop-in charger or MUC charger, which indicates the charging status of your radio or battery and shows when it is fully charged. The LED lights are different and means different things.
For instance, a solid red LED indicates battery charging, while a solid green LED shows a complete charging. The battery meter is located in the upper left corner of the radio display and indicates the battery level of your radio.
For LI-on batteries, 3 bars on the battery meter indicates a full charge (that is between 100% – 85%); 2 bars for 85%- 25%, 1 bar shows a low battery (25%-10%) and a flashing battery meter indicates a very low battery power and means that your battery needs to be recharged.
For AAA batteries, a full charge is between 100%- 75% and is indicated by 3 bars on the battery meter.
Average charge is between 75% – 40% with a 2 bar signal, 1 bar indicates a low battery between 40% – 10% and a flashing meter indicates that the battery is very low and needs to be recharged. It is important to charge your walkie-talkies only when the battery is low to extend the battery life.
How long do Motorola walkie-talkies take to charge?
Whether LI-on or AAA batteries, a Motorola walkie-talkie takes up to 3 hours to charge fully in an optimal condition. Once charged, the expected battery life based on 5% for transmission, 5% for receiving and 90% standby (standard cycle) is:
12 hours for LI-on batteries
10 hours for AAA alkaline batteries. (high capacity alkaline batteries are best for optimal output.)
When you work in an extreme temperature environment for long, your battery life can be shortened.
If after charging or inserting the new battery, the battery meter still reads low, please ensure that the battery is correctly placed in the battery compartment.
If the charging light does not come up, re-insert the battery into the battery compartment or clean the charger/battery contacts. You can also confirm that the charging pin on the transformer is correctly inserted into the drop-in plug or if using AAA alkaline batteries, replace with LI-on battery.
Once the battery is low, your walkie-talkie gives a repeated loud beep tone and if not recharged, it will eventually shut down itself until when charged.
How to reset Motorola walkie-talkies
Your Motorola walkie-talkie allows you to restore to the radio’s factory default setting especially when not working properly as it should.
To reset or restore to factory settings, you turn the radio on and simultaneously hold down the Push to talk (PTT) button and MENU button for 3 seconds.
This automatically takes your radio back to the way it was set before you programmed anything into it. Once this is done, you can then start to re-program channels and other settings you might want into it.
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