Is Motorola IMPRESS Technology Proprietary?

[dsheli]

I recently put in a request to purchase 4 of the Genuine XTS5000 Li-ion batteries from our county government. Well I received the batteries the other day and was pissed off that they were 3rd party batteries. Since we are spending county equipment money I have no say, I get what I get. Well I put one on the charger this morning and low and behold the charge light was amber. When it was done reconditioning/charging I placed it on a XTS5000 and the radio read the number of charges, remaining capacity and what ever the third variable is (can't recall right now). So does this non-Motorola manufactured battery have a "3rd party" impress chip in it or what? I was always under the impression that If I wanted to take advantage of impress features I would have to buy a genuine Motorola impress battery.
Regards,
Dsheli

[MTS2000des]

that is interesting. AFAIK, IMPRES is a proprietary Motorola system. What brand of aftermarket battery did your agency buy?

[escomm]

W&W has a reader for the Impres batteries. For what that's worth.

[Al]

IMPRES technology probably is proprietary, but that doesn't necessarily mean that M didn't license others to use the technology. I would guess that if a battery company felt that the market existed allowing them to recover licensing fees + cost of production + profit, then they'd probably buy a license from M.

[MTS2000des]

I'm dying to know what the battery in question is. Who made it, part number and price.

[dsheli]

MTS, sorry for my delay, I will PM you with the info tonight when I get home. I did not want to post it on the board since I have not figured out what if they are legally doing it yet or not.
Dsheli

[MTS2000des]

copy that.

[Pj]

If they are sale to the general public, really doesn't matter. Motorola prob knew about it long before you ordered it

[RFguy]

MTS, sorry for my delay, I will PM you with the info tonight when I get home. I did not want to post it on the board since I have not figured out what if they are legally doing it yet or not.
Dsheli

Share it publicly. If they are selling it, there should be no fear of it being legal. If they are not legit, it's not a reason to keep it secret.

[kf4lhp]

OSI batteries sells 'em. Their 4435 knockoff shows up as something like ADSM4435, I seem to recall.

[Tom in D.C.]

OSI is showing NO Impres batteries on their site at this time.

[MTS2000des]

They don't call this an IMPRES battery, but it is called a "Smart" battery...

http://www.osibatteries.com/p-8348-moto ... -nimh.aspx

At that price, it would be a better bargain to get the IMPRES Lithium Ion version which sells for about the same if you know where to shop around.

[dsheli]

Ok, what ever in the long run I really don't care haha. The batteries were purchased through batteries plus, but the actual manufacturer on the label is "Power Products" and its is the Li-Ion version XTS:5000 PN: BP6034 the serial number is a single digit so I guess these are some of the first batteries????? Who knows, I have not cracked one open to see if they use ribbon's or "soldered wires" but they seam to be well made. When I say "seam" you really never know until you crack it open.

[dsheli]

http://www.powerproducts.com/ It seams as tho the price for the Li-Ion battery is fairly close to the price of the Motorola Branded battery. So if it was my choice I would probably buy the Motorola battery but o well.

[MTS2000des]

thanks for the info. Batteries Plus is pretty high, I've actually found the local MSS to sell genuine Motorola batteries for much less than they wanted for their aftermarket versions.

[N4KVE]

For the last 2 years I have been using a couple of Power Products Ni Mh Jedi batteries. I purchased them from someone on this forum, I don't know how they look inside, or who makes the cells, but they fit very well, & can sit on the shelf for 2 months & still last a long time. I have no idea how well their "smart" battery works, but the batteries I have from them are a great alternative, & in my case last twice as long as the factory 7144. GARY N4KVE

[escomm]

For the last 2 years I have been using a couple of Power Products Ni Mh Jedi batteries. I purchased them from someone on this forum, I don't know how they look inside, or who makes the cells, but they fit very well, & can sit on the shelf for 2 months & still last a long time. I have no idea how well their "smart" battery works, but the batteries I have from them are a great alternative, & in my case last twice as long as the factory 7144. GARY N4KVE

Well, 7144s aren't NiMH, and since NiMH is more energy dense than NiCD it stands to reason that the aftermarket last longer in this case. Certainly not an indication of performance on the aftermarket end. NiMH self discharge at about 10% per month.

[N4KVE]

This is true. I'm basically trying to say the Power Products battery for the Jedi fits well & works great & is a dependable low cost alternative to a genuine battery. People who put their life on the line should use a "M" battery, but I think a building inspector, or plumber would be happy with the Power Products battery. GARY N4KVE

[MTS2000des]

This is true. I'm basically trying to say the Power Products battery for the Jedi fits well & works great & is a dependable low cost alternative to a genuine battery. People who put their life on the line should use a "M" battery, but I think a building inspector, or plumber would be happy with the Power Products battery. GARY N4KVE

FWIW I know of one metro Atlanta agency that bought a round of Power Products batteries for their MTS2000's (this was back in 2005 so things may have changed in terms of quality). Their reasoning was the agency was about to migrate to a new Astro 25 DTRS and didn't want to invest too much money into the old fleet so they opted for aftermarket batteries. Long story short, about 60 percent of the Power Products 7144's failed in 3-6 months of use, most of them were physical defects, cases separating, and many were not holding charges for a full 8 hour shift. They ended up buying OEM Motorola batteries anyway.

[N4KVE]

My batteries were marked 2/07 & work great. Possibly they changed vendors. Probably because I paid for these batteries out of pocket, & I treat them like gold, only charging them when radio beeps etc. So they must be good for private use, but not for rugged "police type" usage. But I have a box of "M" Impress 9029's [int safe 7144 size] that are barely 1 year old, came from the state power company,look new, & they all have 1 weak cell. Only 2 from 30 actually work correctly. But, my life doesn't depend on them, & they were free. GARY N4KVE