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? 2. Is there a way to 'condition' them to extend their life a little longer? 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. Thanks in advance for any and all your help! 73 de Denny AD6EZ<><
If they are typical Nickel-Cadium (NiCd) type cells, then yes, 4-5 years is the norm. I now have Nickel-metal Hydride (NiMh) battery packs by MAHA and they have lasted much longer. In my experience, the NiCd conditioners never worked for me. If there is a battery-pack that takes off-the-shelf batteries (e.g., AA, C, D) I would get one of those as well. I have them for my HT's and they've saved me. 73's, :-) neil, KE6DCJ
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 NetLojix Communications, Inc. - http://www.netlojix.com/ WestNet: Connecting you to the planet. 805 884-6323
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