[Icom] T81 and charging battery

[John Geiger]

I have a question that I hope the reflector can
answer.  I have an Icom T81 and love it.  The only
drawback is that the battery life is kind of short.  I
bought my used, and the BP200 that came with it is
serial number 6, so I assume it is getting pretty old.
 

I thought I had figured out a way to get much better
battery life.  I bought a 6 cell battery case, not
from Icom since they don't make one-only a 3 cell, but
from another manufacturer.  This does not have the
charging terminals on it, but that should not be a
problem.  I have a MAHA C777 charger(actually the
radio shack version, but I used to have the MAHA with
my T8) and you can use this charger to charge the
BP200 using the inner terminals where the battery
contacts the radio.  WOrks great that way.

I bought 6 High capacity (1800 mah) AA NIMH batteries
to use with the battery case.  They came already
charged, and worked great.  It was a little lower
voltage, but the battery worked for 5 straight days of
hard use.  That is unheard of for a BP200.

Now here is the problem.  When I try to charge the
battery using the inner terminals, some problems
occur.  The charger only flashes twice, saying that it
thinks the battery is a 6 volt one.  The battery was
completely dead, at least according to the radio, but
the charger will only charge it for a couple of
minutes before it says that it is fully charged.  It
will last for a little while, but not the 5 days like
it did before.

So, what am I doing wrong?  How can I get a full
charge into the AA cells?  Any suggestions?

73s John NE0P

=====
John Geiger
Assistant Professor, Cameron University
Ham Call NE0P, active 160-23cm
Kenwood TS2000, Kenwood TH31, Icom T81A
Now on RTTY, PSK, Hellschreiber, JT43, and HSMS with WSJT
SMIRK 5768, 10X 67581, 6 club 497
5BWAS, DXCC, 2 VUCCs on 50 mhz (Iowa, Illinois)

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