[Yaesu] Re: handheld battery packs for cell replacement

Wed Jul 16 12:34:32 EDT 2008

Hello Mike, et al
 I've not had good luck using NiMh cells in applications originally
designed for NiCads. The current density of NiMh cells is considerably
less than NiCad and they will stress and rapidly lose capacity in
high-current circuits that NiCads handle with ease. They also like to
be charged slower than NiCads. Yes, NiCad cells provide less amp-hours
for a given cell volume, but they will deliver more power with ease.
I'm not sure what the FNB-41 is used on, but if it's a typical 5-watt
HT I think you might be asking too much of AA sized NiMh cells to
provide ample power for transmitting without harming the battery. I
have a commercial 5-watt portable radio (Bendix King CMD) that uses a
NiCad pack. I thought I'd replace it with a higher amp-hour NiMih pack
made by one of the after-market battery makers. The battery didn't
last 6 months. They dutifully sent me a free replacement thinking it
was a defective battery. Same result. The normal B.K. nicad packs
last for years.
Dennis,
> Mike:
>> First of all, nickel metal hydride require a rapid charger to charge
> them while nicad batteries can be charged with either a slow charger
> or rapid charger. Also, the price of ready to go battery packs is so
> reasonable in price now that why would you want to fool around with
> attempting a repack if you've never done it before?
> Cheers from Fern
>>>>> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "K6QD" <K6QD at cox.net>
> To: <yaesu at contesting.com>; <yaesu at mailman.qth.net>
> Sent: Tuesday, July 15, 2008 2:21 PM
> Subject: [Yaesu] Opening Yaesu handheld battery packs for cell replacement
>>> Does anyone have any recommendations for opening subject NiCad packs
> (specifically FNB-41's & 42's) for cell replacement? Has anyone attempted
> replacement with NiMH cells? Thanks de Mike K6QD
> _______________________________________________