[Yaesu] Re: [Sbarc-list] FT-50RD Batteries

[Jay Hennigan]

On Tue, 7 Jan 2003, Dennis H. Morales wrote:

> Hi Folks ..
>  
> I have an FT-50RD that is about 4.5 years old and it came equipped with
> the FNB-41 battery and I purchased the FNB42 battery at that time.
> After light usage over those years both batteries now will not take a
> charge.  I tried the desktop charger and the 12v car charger with the
> same results.  
>  
> 1.	Is 4 to 5 years all I can expect from these batteries?  

If they're nicads, that's doing well.

> 2.	Is there a way to 'condition' them to extend their life a little
> longer?

Maybe, depending on the failure mode, but not much longer.  Hitting them
with a high-current charge spike can remove "whiskers" that grow to short 
out cells.  Not a long-term fix and if the pack is internally fused you 
run the risk of toasting it.  On the other hand you don't have much to 
lose.  I've used a fat computer-grade electrolytic charged to about triple 
the battery pack voltage for this.  YMMV. 

> 3.	Has anyone tried a different brand of battery with a better life
> span?
>  
> These guys are not cheap.  41 goes for $59 and the 42 sells for $63 at
> AES.

Best bet is to get a AA pack and load it with NiMH cells.  You can also
use it with alkalines in the event of a prolonged outage.  The high cost 
of proprietary battery packs is both due to the molding cost of the case
and because of lower sales volume compared to raw cells.  Buy a reloadable
AA-cell case once, and replace the readily available, often discounted 
cells as needed.  You'll need to get a charger that will do the raw cells,
of course.  It looks like the FBA-15 is the AA pack for this rig, holds 
four cells.

Alternatively, if you're careful you might be able to pry open the old
packs and replace the cells.  Usually they're solvent-glued together and
difficult to get open, and you might find that the cells are an oddball
size.  

-- 
Jay Hennigan - CCIE #7880 - Network Administration - jay@west.net
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