Replacing the NiCads with Li-Ion's in a HT

[wa2ise]

The NiCad battery pack in my ICu2AT HT wouldn't hold a charge anymore, as NiCads often fail to do... But I had a Nikon camera Li-Ion battery pack that is rated for 7.2V and charges up to 8.4V, at 1500mAH. And the rig seems quite happy running off of a Li-Ion battery, so I removed the NiCads and its charge circuit from the rig's battery case, and stuck the Li-Ion in there instead, with room to spare. Of course, I need to make use of the Li-Ion battery charger that goes with this battery, which has 3 contacts to the battery, so I have to change the battery pack's charger jack. So I can connect the 3 leads to the battery inside the Icom's battery pack. I thought of using a mini stereo jack (3 contacts) but I think the charger and battery would get unhappy with the momentary shorts one gets when plugging in and removing the stereo jack. So I used a 3 pin in parallel jack and plug, the sort used on circuit boards in consumer equipment like VCRs, and soldered inside the Li-Ion charger wire leads from this new connector.

When selecting a Li-Ion battery to use, you need to pick one that produces a supply voltage the rig will operate off of. That's obvious, and less important but still worth looking at is the mAH rating, 50% tolerance should work fine, and of course a battery that will physically fit inside the rig's battery case. That and some solder and hot melt glue and similar ham radio construction techniques should get you back on the air.

[ChrisW6ATV]

Nice idea. Isn't that the Icom HT that has a built-in battery as well as the external clip-on one? At least, I think my 125cm Icom (IC-u3AT?) is like that.

[kc8adu]

sounds fine if you kept the protection board from the li-ion pack.they can get nasty if you overcharge them.
i just use modern nimh cells and rebuild the pack.
and it is the s/sat series with a tiny pack inside.its not useful enough to accept the risk of it leaking and eating the rig.i took it out of my 3sat.
have seen several trashed by leaking nicads.

[wa2ise]

Originally Posted by kc8adu

sounds fine if you kept the protection board from the li-ion pack.they can get nasty if you overcharge them.

Canon appears to have this protection board inside the battery pack, and it seems most li-ion packs also have protection boards inside.

Also have heard that li-ion batterys won't last more than a few years. Even just on the shelf

[Jeffhs]

I replaced the NiCad batteries in my Icom IC-T22a handheld a year and a half or so ago with NiMH cells. Worked very well and they still work quite well to this day. One thing I like about NiMH cells is that they have no "memory" effect as do NiCads. I don't recall the brand of the NiMH cells now in my handheld, but I got them at Amateur Electronic Supply in Milwaukee for a fraction of what I paid several years ago for a NiCad pack for my Yaesu FT-207R. When the 4-cell NiCad pack in the 207R goes West (I don't expect it to fail for quite a while, as I don't use that HT very often), I'll replace it with an identical NiMH pack. The results I'm seeing with the NiMH AA cells in my Icom HT have sold me for good on this type of rechargeable battery. I won't go back to NiCads again.

73,