Icom: Icom ID-52 question.

[Rotaxxx]

I bought a ID-52 and have it setup in my house now to scan air band frequencies for the local airport, and I leave it plugged into the charger while doing it. I am wondering if this will shorten battery life on the unit? At about $200 for a new one it kind of worries me it will shorten the battery life. I have noticed that the battery icon does go off when it's fully charged. So I'm assuming the radio runs off the charger only when the battery is charged?

Also I have the QSO recorder on to record anything that comes in while I am away, but I'm not sure its working properly... There have been times while sitting next to the radio and it will pick something up, the red record button flashes as it's supposed to, but it doesn't save the recording? And also when you try and replay some of the recordings I get an error message saying the file can not be played back. But if you turn the radio on, and off sometimes it will replay it, other times you have to turn it on and off 4-5 times before it works... Any suggestions on how to fix it? Thanks all, from a new HAM operator!


PS I really love this little HT, and I haven't yet figured out all the features it has yet!

 

[AK9R]

$200 for a replacement battery pack? I think you can do better than that.

BP-272LH: 7.4v 2270mAh battery for ICOM ID-51A, ID-52A, ID-31A, IC-705 etc.

BP-272LH, 7.4volt 2270mAh LONG-LIFE HIGH-WATT Li-ION battery for ICOM, ID-51A, ID-51A Plus, ID-31A, ID-51E, ID-31E, ID-51, ID51, BP-272, BP-271, BC-272, BC272,

batteriesamerica.com

 

[G7RUX]

Whether this is an issue depends on how you are doing it...leaving it in the desk charger probably won't be a problem but running it continuously from the DC input socket shouldn't be an issue as the unit stops charging once the battery is fully charged. However, you probably don't want to keep the pack at 100% continuously as that will almost certainly cause an issue after a while.

You can, however, run the radio from an external 9-12V supply without the battery pack fitted; you can turn off charging too...from the manual:

 

[jazzboypro]

Do yourself a favor and buy a BP-307 battery. They 139$ at DXE. That's what i use on mine and i like it.

 

[K6GBW]

A safer way to go is to buy a battery eliminator and run it off a 12v power supply. Constant power and no harm of over charging batteries. Also good to have for those road trip emergencies when the battery dies.

 

[Hit_Factor]

... Any suggestions on how to fix it? Thanks all, from a new HAM operator!...

Check for firmware updates: https://www.icomjapan.com/support/firmware_driver/4273/

Batteries are consumables. The ID-52 does not charge continuously, once it reaches full, charging turns off. I could see it becoming discharged sitting in the stand and recording everything. You should get 300 or so cycles on a battery. No such thing as battery memory with lithium, unlike the old NiCad batteries.

I have found the Icom batteries seem to last longer than batteries america. Shop on price or quality, at least you have those options.

 

[G7RUX]

A safer way to go is to buy a battery eliminator and run it off a 12v power supply. Constant power and no harm of over charging batteries. Also good to have for those road trip emergencies when the battery dies.

This is unnecessary. Once the battery reaches full charge the radio stops charging it. You can also just set the radio to NOT charge on external power when the radio is ON. Additionally you can run the radio quite happily on external 12V (a coaxial power connection is already on the side of the set) with no battery installed.

 

[Hit_Factor]

This is unnecessary. Once the battery reaches full charge the radio stops charging it. You can also just set the radio to NOT charge on external power when the radio is ON. Additionally you can run the radio quite happily on external 12V (a coaxial power connection is already on the side of the set) with no battery installed.

And it may be charged via USB as well.

 

[G7RUX]

And it may be charged via USB as well.

Absolutely, although You will need a battery connected in order to transmit even if it will somewhat run as a receiver without.