R30 R30 Battery

[bearcatrp]

Anyone know the least expensive battery replacement? The cheapest found is $129.00. OUCH. I do have the AA battery holder but thats for emergency only as AA batteries won't last as long as the battery pack. Do they make a bigger battery besides the IC BP287?

 

[jaspence]

Since the IC-R30 is discontinued, we may have to be happy with what we find.

 

[kruser]

Anyone know the least expensive battery replacement? The cheapest found is $129.00. OUCH. I do have the AA battery holder but thats for emergency only as AA batteries won't last as long as the battery pack. Do they make a bigger battery besides the IC BP287?

AFAIK, the BP-287 was the only pack sold by Icom for the R30. My original BP-287 has over 700 full charge cycles on it now and is still going strong. I'm not sure if any pack from the aircraft or other commercial line Icom makes uses the same pack. I've also searched but never found a 3rd party that makes a compatible R30 Lithium pack. Maybe someone will since Icom has officially discontinued the manufacture of the R30. I bet it will be quite a bit cheaper than the $129 Icom gets for a new pack!

I did buy a spare BP-287 and keep it charged at about 25%. It was only showing a 3% charge when I received it! Who knows if that was accurate though as the radio seems to keep track of each battery connected so the battery usage including charge level remains accurate as a user swaps packs. I let the new pack charge to 100% in the radio and then discharged it to just below 30%. The R30's battery condition display seems to remain accurate now if I switch packs. The BP-287 may have a serial numbered chip in it that the R30 can read and remembers in its memory for those times you swap the lithium pack so you don't get the Battery Error message when your battery gets out of sync with what the R30 expects.
I did buy the AA holder also just in case nobody makes a compatible replacement lithium pack and rebuilding the existing packs destroys the housing getting them opened up when the lithium cells finally give up. I've only tested the AA holder and it worked but I've never checked to see how long it will actually run the R30 on AA cells.

 

[iMONITOR]

Anyone know the least expensive battery replacement? The cheapest found is $129.00. OUCH. I do have the AA battery holder but thats for emergency only as AA batteries won't last as long as the battery pack. Do they make a bigger battery besides the IC BP287?

The Antenna Farm

The Antenna Farm, Your two way radio source (bp287)

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$219.95
$ 13.81 (US Priority Mail)
________
$133.76 Total (no sales tax)

 

[KevinC]

The Antenna Farm

The Antenna Farm, Your two way radio source (bp287)

The Antenna Farm: VHF & UHF Mobile Radios Radio Accessories VHF & UHF Hand Held Radios Antennas Mobile Antenna Mounts SWR/Power Meters Adapters Coaxial Cable Two Way Accessories Antenna Accessories DC Power Supplies Coax Cable Accessories Connectors Aviation Radios Repeater Systems Towers &...

theantennafarm.com

$219.95
$ 13.81 (US Priority Mail)
________
$133.76 Total (no sales tax)

I think your math is a little off.

 

[palmerjrusa]

AFAIK, the BP-287 was the only pack sold by Icom for the R30. My original BP-287 has over 700 full charge cycles on it now and is still going strong. I'm not sure if any pack from the aircraft or other commercial line Icom makes uses the same pack. I've also searched but never found a 3rd party that makes a compatible R30 Lithium pack. Maybe someone will since Icom has officially discontinued the manufacture of the R30. I bet it will be quite a bit cheaper than the $129 Icom gets for a new pack!

I did buy a spare BP-287 and keep it charged at about 25%. It was only showing a 3% charge when I received it! Who knows if that was accurate though as the radio seems to keep track of each battery connected so the battery usage including charge level remains accurate as a user swaps packs. I let the new pack charge to 100% in the radio and then discharged it to just below 30%. The R30's battery condition display seems to remain accurate now if I switch packs. The BP-287 may have a serial numbered chip in it that the R30 can read and remembers in its memory for those times you swap the lithium pack so you don't get the Battery Error message when your battery gets out of sync with what the R30 expects.
I did buy the AA holder also just in case nobody makes a compatible replacement lithium pack and rebuilding the existing packs destroys the housing getting them opened up when the lithium cells finally give up. I've only tested the AA holder and it worked but I've never checked to see how long it will actually run the R30 on AA cells.

One of the reasons I bought another IC-R30 before new units disappeared for good was to have that extra battery around...

 

[iMONITOR]

The Antenna Farm

The Antenna Farm, Your two way radio source (bp287)

The Antenna Farm: VHF & UHF Mobile Radios Radio Accessories VHF & UHF Hand Held Radios Antennas Mobile Antenna Mounts SWR/Power Meters Adapters Coaxial Cable Two Way Accessories Antenna Accessories DC Power Supplies Coax Cable Accessories Connectors Aviation Radios Repeater Systems Towers &...

theantennafarm.com

$219.95
$ 13.81 (US Priority Mail)
________
$133.76 Total (no sales tax)

OOPS!

$119.95
$ 13.81 (US Priority Mail)
_________
$ 133.76 Total (no sales tax)

 

[palmerjrusa]

I'll do a test run with the IC-R30 alkaline battery case to determine the run time on NiMHs/alkaline AAs.

 

[bearcatrp]

One of the reasons I bought another IC-R30 before new units disappeared for good was to have that extra battery around...

Been on the hunt for another one. The one in the for sale section is a bit much.

 

[kruser]

I'll do a test run with the IC-R30 alkaline battery case to determine the run time on NiMHs/alkaline AAs.

I'll admit that I didn't search the forums to see if anyone conducted such a test but if so, I think my memory is still good enough that I'd have remembered seeing that!

Your test would be good info to know. If you do test NiMH cells also, list their claimed mAh capacity if it's printed on them.

 

[palmerjrusa]

I'll admit that I didn't search the forums to see if anyone conducted such a test but if so, I think my memory is still good enough that I'd have remembered seeing that!

Your test would be good info to know. If you do test NiMH cells also, list their claimed mAh capacity if it's printed on them.

Stay tuned for later today...

 

[palmerjrusa]

I'll admit that I didn't search the forums to see if anyone conducted such a test but if so, I think my memory is still good enough that I'd have remembered seeing that!

Your test would be good info to know. If you do test NiMH cells also, list their claimed mAh capacity if it's printed on them.

IC-R30 Settings:

Frequency = 133.975 MHz (AM mode, Washington Center (Sector 12 Brooke High))
Very active frequency, traffic every few seconds.

Volume = 20
Display light (Dimmer setting) = open squelch
GPS = on
Battery Save = off

ACDelco AA alkaline batteries = 6 hours, 5 mins operational time

Amazon Basic NiMH AAs, High Capacity (2400 mAh) = 8 hours, 25 mins

Gonna do another trial run with the GPS off and MAHA Powerex 2700 mAh NiMH AAs

 

[bearcatrp]

Would think scanning would wear down battery faster than sitting on one frequency. I’ll try duracell batteries to see what I get and post back what I find.

 

[palmerjrusa]

As above with GPS off.

ACDelco AAs = 6 hours, 30 mins operational time

Currently doing the same with the Amazon High Capacity (2400 mAh) AAs

 

[kruser]

IC-R30 Settings:

Frequency = 133.975 MHz (AM mode, Washington Center (Sector 12 Brooke High))
Very active frequency, traffic every few seconds.

Volume = 20
Display light (Dimmer setting) = open squelch
GPS = on
Battery Save = off

ACDelco AA alkaline batteries = 6 hours, 5 mins operational time

Amazon Basic NiMH AAs, High Capacity (2400 mAh) = 8 hours, 25 mins

Gonna do another trial run with the GPS off and MAHA Powerex 2700 mAh NiMH AAs

Those times say using the AA battery holder is worth it in the event something happens to the Lithium pack. I could live with a 6 or 8.5 hour runtime easily.

Thanks for doing the tests!

 

[bearcatrp]

Just wish I could hook up an external usb battery like I can with my 436. Can get over 24 hours scanning on my 436 with the external battery.

 

[eorange]

I did a Duracell alkaline battery test last year. I ran it the way I normally use it...scanning air and backlight on dim. Can't remember the GPS setting. I think I got about 6ish hours.

 

[kruser]

As above with GPS off.

ACDelco AAs = 6 hours, 30 mins operational time

Currently doing the same with the Amazon High Capacity (2400 mAh) AAs

I just now noticed the warning on the BP-293 AA battery holder about using Alkaline cells only and Never use NiMH or Ni-Cd cells.
Eventually the alkaline cells voltage will fall to the same 3.6 volt level as the NiMH or Ni-Cd cells would be sitting at. Kind of an odd warning.

It's probably meant to help prevent users from getting low battery warnings and calling Icom saying their new AA battery case does not work right.
I guess I've never read the fine black print on the AA battery holder before.

 

[iMONITOR]

FYI regarding ordering the ICOM IC-BP287. I ordered this on 02-16 (6 days ago) and have only received an order acknowledgement. No shipping date, no tracking information. This item was shown in-stock and still is showing in-stock. I sent another message this morning requesting that information have not received any response.

 

[palmerjrusa]

I just now noticed the warning on the BP-293 AA battery holder about using Alkaline cells only and Never use NiMH or Ni-Cd cells.
Eventually the alkaline cells voltage will fall to the same 3.6 volt level as the NiMH or Ni-Cd cells would be sitting at. Kind of an odd warning.

It's probably meant to help prevent users from getting low battery warnings and calling Icom saying their new AA battery case does not work right.
I guess I've never read the fine black print on the AA battery holder before.

I've seen this warning on "alkaline" battery cases in many radio manuals. It doesn't make any sense, as far as the radio is concerned, it only "sees" a voltage regardless of the source.

Actually, the IC-R30's battery indicator icon doesn't function when using the battery case, the icon just shows a full reading until the batteries are exhausted and the radio shuts down.