About this replacement
Roberts Sports DAB1 / Solar DAB 1 — 3.6V Ni-MH Replacement Battery (210HCB3BMX)
This is a 3.6V, 2200mAh Ni-MH replacement battery for the Roberts Sports DAB1 and Solar DAB 1 portable digital radios. It replaces OEM part numbers 210HCB3BMX and GPRHC212B. Physical dimensions are 51.10 × 43.00 × 14.60mm — measure your original before ordering if unsure.
- Sports DAB1 and Solar DAB 1 compatibility: Both models share the same battery bay dimensions, voltage rail, and connector layout. The same 3.6V Ni-MH cell works across all variants in this family without modification.
- Bench tested on actual hardware: We cycled this cell through charge and discharge on DAB radio hardware. The battery accepted a full charge without thermal event, and the radio's low-battery indicator triggered at the correct voltage threshold.
- Station list recovery after swap: After installing this battery, let the radio complete a full auto-scan before tuning manually. DAB radios store station lists in volatile memory — any power interruption resets that list, and a fresh scan rebuilds it correctly.
Radio cutting out mid-station at low battery
The DAB decoder in the Sports DAB1 requires a stable voltage to process the OFDM stream. When cell voltage sags under load, the decoder loses lock on the multiplex signal and the audio cuts. This is not an aerial or signal issue — it is a voltage floor problem. If dropouts increase as the battery indicator drops, the cell is at end of life and needs replacing.
Reception noticeably worse than with the original battery
The RF front-end in a DAB radio draws more current when signal strength is low — it increases search power to lock onto weaker multiplexes. If the replacement cell cannot sustain 3.6V under that elevated draw, the radio reduces RF output and reception degrades. Check that the battery has completed at least two full charge cycles, as Ni-MH cells do not reach full rated capacity on the first charge. If reception remains poor after two cycles, the cell voltage under load may be sagging below 3.2V.