Midland GXT 1000

[WSHH887]

So, while I wait for my DB20 to arrive, my wife reminded me that we had a pair of Walkie Talkies in our bag of earthquake stuff.  I had completely forgotten about them and other than taking them out of the package I hadn't even looked at them.  Turns out they are GMRS capable.  Heck when I bought them I hadn't even heard of GMRS.

So, I've been playing with them and learning their functions and menus (who write these things).  I've learned a couple of things here but I have a question.  Back in the dark past of the late 60's and 70's I was a USAF firefighter.  We had a few radios in all of our rigs, and a few had units that allowed you to slip a portable into the base.  I seem to recall these were Motorola radios.  Big, heavy but they worked reasonably well.  We never shut these off.  They would charge in the base in the vehicle or in recharging bases kept in the office.  

Back to my question.  Can I leave these Midland radios on while they are in the charger?  The teeny tiny owner's manual doesn't address this, and that with using a magnifying glass to aid my 71 yo eyes.

[TDM827]

When I got a couple Midland GXT1000s I wondered the same thing. The owners manual kind of addresses the matter when using a NiMH battery pack. The manual does not specifically say you cannot do this. It basically says...

  "For maximum battery life, we recommend charging the battery pack when the low battery icon comes on."  And to "remove the radio from the charger when the charge time expires."  Their recommend charge time is 12hrs with the radio "off."     

So while they do not directly address if this will harm the radio, they do say you may not have a fully charged radio if you have the unit on while it's in the charger. They also recommend removing them from the charger when fully charged, but stop short of saying it will damage the radios or the battery packs.

Personally, I don't know if the Midlands are up to long term continual monitoring while the radio is in the charger. So I avoid doing it. I do leave them in the charger and simply unplug the charging cord at the base of the charging unit. I plug it in ever few days for a few hours to "top" them off. About once a month I fully drain the batteries and recharge them fully.   

Here is the link to Midland radio manuals:   https://support.midlandusa.com/hc/en-us/articles/25312693396375-Midland-Walkie-Talkies-Owner-s-Manuals

I would file this under "at your own risk."

 

[OffRoaderX]

4 minutes ago, WSHH887 said:

Can I leave these Midland radios on while they are in the charger?

Unless the user-manual specifically says not to, I often do.. A few radios won't turn-on while charging, but most do..
HOWEVER -  I would not leave them on for very long at a time and I would check them often to make sure they aren't overheating or burning the house down.

[WSHH887]

11 minutes ago, OffRoaderX said:

Unless the user-manual specifically says not to, I often do.. A few radios won't turn-on while charging, but most do..
HOWEVER -  I would not leave them on for very long at a time and I would check them often to make sure they aren't overheating or burning the house down.

Thanks.  Those old Motorolas took quite a beating but seemed to hold up well.  Didn't like water though.

[OffRoaderX]

1 minute ago, WSHH887 said:

Those old Motorolas took quite a beating but seemed to hold up well

I leave my old/big Motorola XTS5000 in its Impress charger all the time, but the engineering, components and overall quality of that old Motorola is a tad-bit better than the Midland or any of my "cheap Chinese radios"

[WSHH887]

I read this same manual. Thus my confusion. I suppose a lawyer had a hand in writing the manual. This of course always results in much ambiguity. 
 

I'm doing the initial 24 hour charge and will likely do the unplug thing you mention. 

[TDM827]

5 hours ago, WSHH887 said:

I read this same manual. Thus my confusion. I suppose a lawyer had a hand in writing the manual. This of course always results in much ambiguity. 
 

I'm doing the initial 24 hour charge and will likely do the unplug thing you mention. 

You hit on the head. I believe when it comes to large companies creating user manuals the legal department has as much influence on the content, if not more, than the engineers. So we get these often ambiguous and confusing user manuals.   

[WSHH887]

In my pre retirement I dealt with a lot of computerized control systems. Even in instructions written by professionals for professionals ambiguity wasn't uncommon. Add in it not being the first language of the writer and you'd get the "put slot A into tab B, oh happy joy" type instructions.  So you called tech support and got someone with such a thick Indian subcontinent accent you couldn't understand them. 
 

Here I thought I was done with that and now I am tinkering with radios, most, if not all made off shore.