Portable nav/com battery life

nddons

nddons

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Stan
I purchased an Icom IC-A24 two years ago at AirVenture. It has a Ni-MH battery pack. I use it a few times per year, but it often sits for months at a time in my flight bag.

Tha battery pack is now dead, and won't take a charge. This is frustrating. I assume it's a goner. How should I be managing these batteries? I'm glad I picked up a spare pack that holds AA batteries, but that could prove expensive too. But a replacement Ni-MH battery is $65-$70.

Any advice on how to manage these batteries is appreciated.
 
Buy a lithium ion 3rd-party battery and appropriate charger for it, and never look back at NiMH ever again.
 
nddons said:
I purchased an Icom IC-A24 two years ago at AirVenture. It has a Ni-MH battery pack. I use it a few times per year, but it often sits for months at a time in my flight bag.

Tha battery pack is now dead, and won't take a charge. This is frustrating. I assume it's a goner. How should I be managing these batteries? I'm glad I picked up a spare pack that holds AA batteries, but that could prove expensive too. But a replacement Ni-MH battery is $65-$70.

Any advice on how to manage these batteries is appreciated.
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Rechargeable batteries are designed to be used and used often. You'd be better off just using the AA pack. Buy a Costco brick of AA cells, and wrap some up in an old sock and tie it up with a rubber band.

I used to keep a rechargeable screwdriver at the hangar, and it would go dead and need replacement every two years or so. Switched to a AA-powered screwdriver ten years ago and haven't had a problem since.

Ron Wanttaja
 
39.99 on Ebay for Li-ion. After buying a charger, you'll probably be better off buying a rack of AA's... especially if you don't use the radio often.
NiMh batteries "self-discharge" over time... maybe 10-15% per month. If it sets for 6 months, you've got a worthless charge. And you can overcharge them, shortening their life. It's best to get an intelligent charger, or just put the charger on a 12-hour timer. NiMh batteries have some "memory" problems, but less than the older NiCads.
 
As Ron says, almost all of the recharchable technologies self discharge. Alkalines will keep indefinitely. Since I have a pile of AA's in the plane anyhow for various other things. I'd recommend however NOT keeping the batteries in the battery pack if you're going to leave the thing in the plane. I had a pair leak and seriously corrode the battery pack guts. It still worked, but I was happy when the guys at the Vertex Standard booth just gave me a replacement when I commented that it had happened.

I had to use a dying King handheld (someone else's) when I was observing a IPC in someone else's Arrow. The batteries were dead enough that ATC only heard the pilot's first flubbed call (which was when the instructor told the student to just give me the radio). Subsequent transmissions on my part could be heard neither by approach nor the airliners that they were trying to relay through. Amazingly, Dulles Approach managed to radar identify us on the primary target and give us some turns and we got back into IAD pretty much NORDO.
 
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My Vertex has worked for almost a decade being charged here and there and used about once a year.
 
I replaced my Ni Cad pack with a Ni MH a few years go and it seems to be charging and holding a charge OK. I use it to check ATIS and call the FBO on arrival to make sure it is working OK.

However, I also keep my handheld's AA pack in the flight bag with Lithium primary (non rechargeable) batteries installed. The lithium primary cells are expensive, but supposed to have a shelf life of ten+ years with no / little loss of charge. I rotate the lithium batteries out into flash lights and headsets when those devices need new cells.
 
NiCd - Decent power density, sucks for self discharge and don't last very long. NiCd cells are really obsolete.

NiMH - Better than NiCD in all respects, but still have limited life and do NOT like being stored for long periods without charging. Their only real advantage is, they're cheap and can be charged by a cheap, simple charger.

Alkaline - Self-discharge is way slower than NiCd or NiMH, but not rechargeable (in any meaningful way).

Lithium (polymer or ion) - By far the best choice, IF you have an appropriate charger. Self-discharge is very slow, and the power density id very good. I'd also want at least one window in the plane that can open, just in case... they are capable of self-ignition.
 
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