Disposable Handheld radio??

[John T1594]

So I have this perfectly good ICOM IC-M1 handheld radio. It is about ten years old and I replaced the battery pack about five years ago. The current battery won't hold a charge for more than 30 minutes. I contacted ICOM and they don't make the battery any more.
Any suggestions?

 

[RonRelyea]

google "ICOM IC-M1 BATTERY" there are a bunch of online battery suppliers ...

 

[Benny]

This could be your opportunity, if you have not already done so, to install a 12V outlet in the cockpit. Thirty minutes of battery storage capacity will allow the radio to work for hours when plugged to a 12V charging source. Handhelds are mostly used in the cockpit so you could still get the most use out of it and besides have a power outlet for other electronic gadgets. Or you could try and find a fleamarket or internet electronics vendor that may still have a replacement battery in stock. Good luck.

 

[wonkodsane]

Most batteries are either cobbled together from existing packs or form factors, so you can often fill the bill with something off the shelf at Radio Shack.

Crack open the battery pack (no loss, right, since it is useless anyhow?), depending on whether you have the high capacity pack or not, you'll probably see six or seven cells shrinkwrapped together inside it. Judging by the fact that the battery packs have differing output voltages, the voltage regulator in the radio is probably pretty robust.

Looking at the drawing it is probably just a bunch of AA or AAA-size rechargable NIMH batteries. You could probably just solder them together and build a new battery pack, glue it inside the old plastic case, and you'd be set.

However, what would really do it for you is this google search for "ICOM IC M1 battery pack" where I turned up a bunch of results for purchasable packs. More expensive than homemade, but probably more dependable. (-:

 

[Johnb]

That is old enough to possibly have Nickel Cadmium in which which case you should not rebuild with Nickel Metal Hydride.

 

[Steve Dion]

John:

Take your radio battery pack to a Batteries Plus location. They can repack them with high quality batteries.

There are 4 locations in NJ. I have had several different products repacked and they work better than new.

Mt. Laurel NJ 1215 Route 73 856.638.0778
Succasunna NJ 276 Route 10 West 973.584.7000
Union NJ 2200 B Route 22 East 908.686.2005
Whippany NJ 569 Route 10 East 973.781.9090

 

[kloudie1]

Obsolete Battery Rebuild

I had a battery rebuilt back in '05 by a guy at Battery Outlet Inc. The battery is in an old (20 years old or so) Standard Horizon HX 220 handheld.. The battery is still great and has more capacity than the original. The craftsman opened up the battery case and expertly installed appropriate new cells .. The cut in the battery housing is around the bottom .. cost was about $40 if I recall correctly..
http://www.batteryout.com/page.home

 

[Don12364]

My Solution to Same Problem

Yup.
My battery failed too because, fed up with the radio never being charged up when I needed it, I had mounted the charging shoe on my steering console and connected the 12V so it was always on charge when we were aboard. I knew this would eventually kill the battery but was shocked when I found out the price of a new one.
So, undefeated, I took a craft knife to my battery intending to replace the NiCads with standard AAs. Unfortunately they were 3/4 length AAs and I couldn't get any of these as they were special manufacture.
Then I built the circuit below into the existing box and superglued it back together. I already had a curly cord in my scrap bin, put a cigar lighter plug on it and this completed the job.
Now it NEVER runs out of battery.
It's not too clever for calling the coasties from a liferaft though!

Sorry about the dreadful quality but uploading shrinks my 132kB .jpg to 11.8kB.
If anyone needs a more legible copy then PM me via this site.

 

[KD3PC]

google the "nicad lady" excellent work, timely and great price...just had her do one for a ham handheld and an older marine unit...both make great backups

 

[chuckwayne]

Don't try to solder to a battery unless you know what you're doing! let a pro do the connections-rechargeable packs use welded tabs because the heat from soldering can cause the cell to explode.

 

[wonkodsane]

Don't try to solder to a battery unless you know what you're doing! let a pro do the connections-rechargeable packs use welded tabs because the heat from soldering can cause the cell to explode.

While it pays to be careful, it takes a lot of heat to make a NiCd or NIMH blow up. Li Ion not so much. With the Nickel based batteries, you're way more likely to damage the cell than cause a pop or a boom. Here's a link with a good bit of info on soldering rechargeable NiCd cells in-line.

Probably the easiest way to negotiate the problem of building a battery pack is finding an appropriate form factor using off the shelf cordless phone batteries. Someone earlier mentioned needing the fractional AAs, (I think they're usually 1/2 length) you can get three as a unit already soldered together with a pigtail at RadioShack for ten to fourteen bucks.

 

[wonkodsane]

Donalex, did you mean to put this under MS's AIS post? (-:

 

[Don12364]

Oops!
Thanks Wonkodsane. How did I manage that? Would have thought it was impossible to do. Must have hidden software talents.
Original posting now gone and is in Re: Matrix 2100 AIS - Update where it should be.

Ta.
Don

 

[catsailor]

google the "nicad lady" excellent work, timely and great price...just had her do one for a ham handheld and an older marine unit...both make great backups

2nd Nicad Lady. A bit slow, but in the time they projected and has been working for several years.