Icom V80, AA Pack

[Taigrr]

I was looking into buying an Icom V80. I recently passed my Tech exam.The Icom V80 "Sport" uses an AA tray, but says Alkaline.

Can I use lithium AA's in this, with the radio?

 

[russellmaher]

Hello Taigrr, and congrats on passing the exam. I am considering the V-80 for a portable unit and I believe that you can use rechargeable AA's in the unit (that's what I plan to do). The radio has a 7.2V DC power requirement and there is the optional Lithium-ion rechargeable battery pack that is available for it, so why not use 6 rechargeable AA's in the tray instead of the Alkalines which will eventually run down and become useless. That's my thoughts on it.

Russell

 

[Taigrr]

I think rechargeable AA's will not produce enough power. It has been awhile, but I thought rechargable AA's had a lower voltage than standard AA batteries.

At any rate, that is not what I am looking to accomplish. I would still like to use disposable-type AA batteries, just Lithium one's.

 

[russellmaher]

OK, I understand what you're asking. I went off on a different tangent before...sorry about that.

It's my belief that a AA battery has a typical power output of 1.5 volts (or a little less) and if that's accurate then 6 AA's would give out about 9 volts (or a little less) which would be enough to cover the 7.2 volts that the V80 requires. At least, in a perfect world, that should be how it will work.

I still think using the ultimate lithium batteries in the V-80 will be acceptable and they will allow you to run the unit for a longer period of time as opposed to the regular alkalines.

I ran across a very informative article while researching the subject of lithium batteries and I'm adding the link to it below for you to read and see what you think.

4x, 8x, huh? How much power do Lithium batteries actually have?

Russell