[Icom] Lithium Battery Pack..?

[Chris BONDE]

I am mixed up.  You say use lithium, then give references to NiMhd batteries.

What are the costs of lithium?  Can they be charged with the metal hydrid 
type charger?  What voltage do they give?  (I understand that all the 
different types give a different voltage.)

I am starting to change to Metal Hydrides as the NiCd batteries give up.

Chris opr VE7HCB


At 03:21 PM 2003-03-22 +0000, you wrote:
> > Subject: [Icom] Lithium Battery Pack..?
>
>You could do what I did.  I bought two BP-170 battery packs.  I put some
>1850 mah NiMH batteries in them.  The original BP-173 batteries were lasting
>me 4-5 hours at 5 watts output.  Instead of NiMH, use lithium.
>
>Here is how it worked.
>
>BP-173  5w out, 650 mah nicd            lasts 4-5 hours
>BP-170  1.5w out, 1850 mah nimh         lasts 24+ hours
>
>The lower power was a problem.  I have never done a measurement, but I
>imagine the stock rubber duck is -3dB. (Maybe worse?)  So the 5 watt output
>gets me 2.5 watts ERP. (Maybe less?)
>
>I changed antennas.  I now use the comet BNC-24.  They claim 2.1 dB gain.
>This takes the 1.5 watt BP-170 output to around 2.5w ERP.  One note, I did
>add some heat shrink to stiffen the BNC-24 a bit.
>
>So now I can hike two days on one battery pack instead of changing batteries
>every few hours.  Additionally, every item I carry on my pack, GPS, strobe,
>flashlight, all use AA batteries.  So I carry less spares as they are
>interchangeable.  Longer life, less weight, and same ERP.  It couldn't be
>better, unless they invent a battery that weighs 1 oz, and runs 5 years on
>air!
>
>Mike.  KD9KC
>El Paso, TX.