cordless telephone advice

Andy

this is way ot for our forum, but there are many smart people here so i'm taking the liberty of wide angle to ask some questions...

i currently have this panasonic system in my house. it's a two line system, 2.4ghz, answering machine, etc.. i've had it for two years or so, and in general, it's been really very good. the only beef i've got is with the batteries! i've replaced the batteries 4x in two years. they end up not being able to hold a charge very well after a while.

so, my question... anybody have experience with a similar system, that has really good battery life?

tia....

patch29

I have a Panasonic too. I like the sound quality and feature, but I too need a new battery. I have not replace mine and it is a few years old, but it does not last long enough. I have tried some other phones, AT&T being the most recent, plus an old VTech and did not like the sound quality of them. I end up talking on my cell phone more these days anyway.

4labs

andy wrote:

this is way ot for our forum, but there are many smart people here so i'm taking the liberty of wide angle to ask some questions...

i currently have this panasonic system in my house. it's a two line system, 2.4ghz, answering machine, etc.. i've had it for two years or so, and in general, it's been really very good. the only beef i've got is with the batteries! i've replaced the batteries 4x in two years. they end up not being able to hold a charge very well after a while.

so, my question... anybody have experience with a similar system, that has really good battery life?

tia....

Andy I have the same system and have tried a bunch of others. The same problem exists with the Seimans system. I also find I can't find a system that doesn't produce alot of static because of all my electronics .. I find the search for a better system fruitless..

4labs

Actually I haev the 5.8 GHz system and it stinks as well as far as battery life...

Andy

i just bought five new batteries from the headset zone and i'll give it *one* more go-round with new batteries. the last batteries i tried were radio shack batteries, and they sucked eggs.

thanks guys!

4labs

Well I hope you have better luck than I. I am sitting with a bunch of those batteries(from Staples) myself.

Andy

4labs wrote:

Well I hope you have better luck than I. I am sitting with a bunch of those batteries(from Staples) myself.

crap.

gus

After several years supporting panasonics battery departments xmas slush fund... i gave up & have never looked back with this uniden.

Andy

Humungus wrote:

After several years supporting panasonics battery departments xmas slush fund... i gave up & have never looked back with this uniden.

thanks gus.

does anyone know if the 5ghz use more battery power? i'm guessing they do, and so given poor battery perf on the 2.4ghz i may stay away from the 5s

Sam

andy wrote:

this is way ot for our forum, but there are many smart people here so i'm taking the liberty of wide angle to ask some questions...

i currently have this panasonic system in my house. it's a two line system, 2.4ghz, answering machine, etc.. i've had it for two years or so, and in general, it's been really very good. the only beef i've got is with the batteries! i've replaced the batteries 4x in two years. they end up not being able to hold a charge very well after a while.

so, my question... anybody have experience with a similar system, that has really good battery life?

tia....

Good try, whoever you are, but if your gona impersonate someone online you need to do your homework.

The real Andy has never owned anything electronic as long as two years straight!

Sam

Andy

Sam wrote:

Good try, whoever you are, but if your gona impersonate someone online you need to do your homework.

The real Andy has never owned anything electronic as long as two years straight!

Sam

actually, here's the long-term scorecard:

* sony 36" wega tube tv: going on 7 years (still love it!)
* pair klipsch audio speakers - twenty-two years (since college!)
* sony receiver, amp, tuner, cdplayer: 9 years
* bose acoustimass home theater setup: 7 years

dragon300zx

Ok heres the deal (as far as it went last time I checked). Cell phone batteries and cordless phone batteries are very different. The biggest difference is how fast they develop a memory (think laptop batteries). Most people have cell phone batteries that although develop a memory last for awhile, because.... They don't leave their cell phone on the charger all the time, they talk on it till the battery is dead then plug it in just before it dies to keep talking while it charges. Cordless phones most people leave on the base charging all the time so they don't have to worry about the batteries going dead ever. What this does is creates a memory faster because you aren't cycling the battery enough. It gets used 25-50% then recharged. Same things happens to laptop batteries when you leave them plugged in alllll the time (an then wonder why it will only hold a charge for 30 minutes). Radio shack batteries suck the most normally. If you want a cordless phone batter to last longer don't leave it on the base all the time, use it till it dies, put it on to charge, take it off when it's fully recharged and LEAVE IT OFF THE BASE till it is done. "oh gary your full of it", I can hear yall saying it now however. I have several times bought two cordless phones gave one to my mom, and kept one for myself. I use it the way I said to and have the batteries last pretty good for at least 2 years. She leaves it on the base and the batteries are crap after 6 months to a year. Stop creating a memory for your battery by not keeping it on the base alllllll the time like most people do.

Andy

dragon300zx wrote:

Ok heres the deal...

gary, that's it! i've heard this before, but of course don't do it. in the base unit they go, all the time i'm gonna leave them out till they drain from now on. ...now if i can only train my d.w. to do the same thing

dragon300zx

andy wrote:

gary, that's it! i've heard this before, but of course don't do it. in the base unit they go, all the time i'm gonna leave them out till they drain from now on. ...now if i can only train my d.w. to do the same thing

DW DD DS, you have a family man your phones are screwed.:D

colourbox

dragon300zx wrote:

Cordless phones most people leave on the base charging all the time so they don't have to worry about the batteries going dead ever. What this does is creates a memory faster because you aren't cycling the battery enough. It gets used 25-50% then recharged. Same things happens to laptop batteries when you leave them plugged in alllll the time (an then wonder why it will only hold a charge for 30 minutes).

The assumptions and correct behavior for batteries depends on what type they are. There are many variables going on in this discussion: the battery type and the use pattern.

NiCad and NiMH batteries have somewhat different characteristics than Lithium-ion and have different care recommendations.

My Panasonic cordless phone batteries and many traditional rechargeables are NiCad or NiMH. They have more of a memory effect from shallow cycles. One thing I do whenever I go away for a weekend or longer is to unplug the cordless phones, remove the handsets from the bases, and let the batteries drain until dead. I then charge 'em back up when I return. They don't last as long as they used to, but on the other hand, I haven't replaced them once yet.

Laptops, iPods, cell phones, and many digicam batteries are generally lithium-ion, which have less of a memory effect and are said to last longer if you avoid draining them all the way before recharging.

More info is all over this site.

dragon300zx

colourbox wrote:

Laptops, iPods, cell phones, and many digicam batteries are generally lithium-ion, which have less of a memory effect and are said to last longer if you avoid draining them all the way before recharging.

More info is all over this site.

There is theory, and then there is practice. I have ran the test many times and doesn't matter the device. The Li-Ion's shallow memory isn't as bad, however it is still there (especially on laptops and cell phones). And on every device I have tested cell phones, laptops, etc. It keeps boiling down to the same thing. If I drain the battery to 5% before recharging vs. recharging at 50% or whenever I'm not using it, the batterys always last longer with out developing the memory faster. Try it on your own, with two cell phones (they and their batteris are cheap) and see for yourself.

David_S85

After reading this thread, I have decided not to ever buy a cordless phone, a laptop, a cellphone, a cordless shaver, a camcorder, a cordless hedge trimmer, a cordless drink mixer or any other device that depends on a rechargable battery system. :nah

Cameras, of course, are OK.

gus

David_S85 wrote:

After reading this thread, I have decided not to ever buy a cordless phone, a laptop, a cellphone, a cordless shaver, a camcorder, a cordless hedge trimmer, a cordless drink mixer or any other device that depends on a rechargable battery system. :nah

Cameras, of course, are OK.

No camera matey ?

That box of sugar there yet ?

rahmonster

I have a UNIDEN, had it for 3 years and love it Andy. It's older than the one Gus is using, but from now on, I dont even look at phones unless they are Uniden. I'm thinking of upgrading soon. Good luck...Oh after three years of phone use I have only just replaced my bettery for the first time by the way. There's nothing worse than being in the middle of a great convo and yor battery starts beeping! Hope you find some power releif soon

Mike Lane

We have the panasonic 2.4 GHz system that you can use phones without putting in phone lines in every room. Annnnywhoo ... They are the exact same phone but we (for whatever reason) decided to upgrade one of them with NiMH batteries. The one we upgraded is awesome, the other one with NiCad sucks. NiMH doesn't have the same memory problems as NiCad so maybe try switching if you haven't yet.

Otherwise, just skip it and use a cell phone. We don't even have long distance on our home phone.

colourbox

dragon300zx wrote:

There is theory, and then there is practice.

Right. That's why I linked to the site above. Their information cites maintenance regimens run by people who operate the batteries in orbital satellites, and a study run by the Dutch Army on how the troop's batteries performed in the field during the recent war in the Balkans.

That sure sounds like Practice to me!

Actually, there's Anecdotes, Theory, and Controlled Studies.

My own anecdote? I have an old laptop and a newer one. The newer one's battery gets run down rather often. The old one stays plugged in and isn't discharged often, because its job is to supply my stereo with iTunes. A little while ago, I went on a road trip. I didn't want to risk the new laptop, so I unplugged the old one and brought it along. And I was shocked (not electrically). The old laptop, with the battery that's always plugged in, has something like 30-50% more runtime than the newer laptop with the newer battery that sees a deep discharge more often.

I can't offer that as any proof; that's just my own anecdote.

dragon300zx

also depends on the power requirements of both laptops. The newer one may use considerably more power than the old one. Faster hard drive, bigger screen, better screen, faster processor, etc.