No more FM batteries!
As of 31 December 2020, Motorola Solutions will no longer accept orders for replacement batteries used on FM approved radio.
FMRC stopped certifying radios and accessories against the FM3610_88 standard in 2015. At more or less the same time, Motorola Solutions transitioned to TIA 4950 which is similar to FM 3610-88, in that it does not require a reduction in transmit power among other things.
All MOTOTRBO radios are available with a TIA4950/UL battery option.
FM3610_88 was replaced by FM 3610_10 which is designed to harmonize FM with IEC Ex (ATEX). I am not aware of any FM 3610_10 certified two-way radios on the market. Customers requiring a higher degree of intrinsic safety will generally go for ATEX (blue) radios.
Meanwhile, certain critical components used in all FM batteries are now obsolete. Although a redesign; to make use of currently available substitutes; is possible, such a redesign would require recertification. And, since FMRC will not certify a product against FM3610_88 anymore, any redesigned battery could not get approved.
Most may think that this is an opportunity for non-original batteries to fill the gap. The trouble here is that only Motorola original (genuine) batteries are (were) FM approved. Using a non-original "FM" battery will invalidate the intrinsic safety of that radio (apart from being unsafe).
The majority of FM approved radios in the field are more than eight years old by now, and so this is another motivation for those customers to switch to MOTOTRBO. The current generation of radios all have
I have two posts which go into more detail on this topic:
There may also be some useful information in some other posts on related topics, so also check here.
If you are a Motorola Solutions channel partner in EMEA, you can read the official notification here.
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