ornotermes
commented
3 years ago If your seller won't replace your battery after it failed on the second charging i would recommend trying to get my money back. If you used PayPal or credit card you might have some kind of buyer protection from them. Before doing that I would check that the charger didn't fail and output a to high voltage (more than like 5.5V is too much, more than 8.5V could have damaged the radio as well if it got in to the circuits). Just be careful, if the charger failed it could potentially have lethal voltage at it's output (I always toss out the dinky USB chargers that come with cheap electronics and replace them with a trusted brand).
Yes, it is an issue that there is no replacement batteries, but it's not limited to radios. These batteries are welded or glued and can't really be opened without destroying them so a cell replacement would be very hard, and if the battery failed like yours it's not an option at all. The manufacturer obviously have batteries, but there must be a demand for spare batteries for sellers to want to buy them and the manufacturers make to make extras. We can only hope that they stick with the form factor long enough that there is an open market demand for spares before they stop making the battery.
I was very happy with my HG-UV98 until the second charge cycle... The radio was charged in normal condition (off state, 30% full, normal temperature, normal 5V USB). The charge LED lighted red. After some time I recognized the smell in the room. The battery was blazing hot. Connector and release mechanism melt (see attached picture).
I don't know if this is a design issue, or I just had bad luck.
I tried to get a replacement battery from my seller, no success until now.
I also searched the market for replacement batteries for this radio, but there seems nothing available at all!
=> So lifetime of the walkie talkie is limited to the battery lifetime. (this is maybe acceptable for toys)
=> Please provide also aftersales batteries on general marketplaces!