Icom BC-192 Trickle Charger Issues

[cbehr91]

I received an Icom IC-V80 as a Christmas gift from my parents. Among the accessories I purchased for it was a cigarette lighter cord that plugs into the trickle charger that came with the radio. Every time I would take the radio mobile with me I would swap cords from the stock AC charger to the cigarette lighter plug.

After about four months, the charger went dead - wouldn't charge. To make sure it wasn't just the pilot light was out I kept the radio mounted in the charger and plugged into the wall. And sure enough, after about 24 hours, the radio's battery died.

On that, I purchased a new trickle charger, figuring that maybe mine was defective. I tried to be extra careful with this charger to not swap cords too vigorously. After just a month, the new charger is showing signs of going kaput. In order for the it to charge the radio, I have to anchor the cord going into the charger with an object like a paper weight for example (and I no longer swap cords and take it mobile with me, meaning my battery drains when I'm mobile).

Has anyone else had this or a similar issue with this charger? I am beginning to get very frustrated because I do not want to keep using this radio if I have to keep getting a new charger every few months because I happen to like using the cigarette lighter cord.

 

[nanZor]

I see a few things here - forgive me if I have misunderstood...

Charging while mobile with the radio on is not really efficient. And keeping the battery "topped off" with constant charging all the time is not healthy either. Your battery may already be toast because of this - not receiving a full charge while mobile, then getting cooked at home.

I see in the manual they recommend no more than 16 hours charge IF you are indeed using the Icom wall-wart (147s) to feed the desk-charging stand (w/1400mah batt). You may have gone way beyond the 48-hour max warning with 4 months of constant slow-charge.

I can't speak for your connections needing a weight on it, but sounds like you may not be using an Icom wall wart, or it has just started to burn up from 4 months of continuous duty. It was not designed for that, only a 16 hour charge or so with some sort of break in between.

I do not own a V80, so take the above with a grain of salt. However, I would recommend the following:

Run from batteries only. I believe it was designed this way. ie, charging while on is not really getting you anywhere.
Get a spare pack. Either the nimh, or perhaps the AA case.

Keep an eye on the correct charging times depending on the charging accessories you have. Depending on voltage, the time listed in the manual can be from 16 hours to 35 hours. With the radio off!

Try cycling the battery a few times with a full charge/discharge. Forget that topping off business. If it recovers, great.

I also recommend making sure that your low-voltage battery saver is actually on - in the menus it should read BAT.nm for your 1400mah battery I believe. Better double check that.

Maybe another owner can chime in...

 

[cbehr91]

I will take what you said into consideration. I am using an Icom "wall wart". None of my supplies are third party.

 

[WayneH]

The ICOM Receivers forum is not for amateur transceivers. Please used the Amateur Equipment forum for that in the future. Thanks.

Moved.