[The Original] Yaesu FT-817 & FT-818 2450mh Battery Upgrade using IKEA LADDA Japan Made Cells
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 13 сен 2024
- As part of our FT-817ND to FT-818 upgrade series, Jarrad VK3BL covers how to get FT-818 beating 2450mAh internal battery for $20 AUD.
The secret is a small modification and the LADDA series 'ready to use' cells from IKEA; you can find them here:
www.ikea.com/a...
73, Jarrad VK3BL & the RMR Team
Awesome. I use Eneloop AAs, and didn't know it was as simple as disconnecting the green wire to get them to recharge in the feild off of a portable power station and have available as a backup. Thanks. 👍 Now to see if I can do similar with the FT-60.
You might also consider the Windcamp Ft-817 internal lithium cell at 11.1v and 3000mah for a more reliable full 5 watt output as the AAs can’t keep a solid voltage to the rig for good quality 5w output. With the special wind camp battery door with the on/off switch there is no need to remove the cell for storage which is great. Also in cold weather the AA cells don’t hold up well compared to the lithium.
Got the eneloop 2450 AA batteries and a spare set after seeing your video they work perfectly in the ft-818
Just change batteries without removing the tray thereby keeping the plug and wires intact.
Thanks for the information.
You're welcome Alan! They're working so well for us that we have never even used the supplied battery! 73, Jarrad VK3BL :)
I have adapted my tray by snipping the Green wire in a place that will allow for easy reconnection if I need to. LADDA are great cells and offer the QRP operator a much better platform in terms of weight v power availability. I find if I fit the tray into the radio and then populate the tray with the batteries is seems ok. Thank you for sharing.
You’re most welcome :). Glad it was helpful, 73 Jarrad VK3BL :)
Thanks a lot. Vey handy info. 73.
Thanks for the video. Sorted a puzzle for me as the FT-817ND manual warns against using re-chargeable batteries in the tray, and I couldn't figure out why. Obviously you can.
There is no technical reason, so I would suggest it comes down to liability. For example, if you load it with non rechargeables or low quality ones and their charging circuit (not intelligent type) causes a fire, they want to say ‘told you so’. The golden rule is once you’ve modded the tray, NEVER put single use batteries in.73, Jarrad VK3BL.
I've got 16 EBL 2800mAh batteries and I've ordered a spare FBA-28 battery tray. Sorted. I'm going to experiment with the tray. It only has wound wire for the positive battery terminals. Perhaps a more solid solution would fix the continuity issues you mention.
I can't see a problem with the negative springs.
The batteries can always be strapped in place if you can find a solution thin enough, and with some elasticity and heat resistance.
There are two positive wires, two negative wires, and the 'GREEN UN'. The green one is connected between bay 2 and 3 to the copper connectors.
The whole wire assembly is pretty poor and covered by some crappy tape.
Thank you again Jarred.
73. Marc
The continuity issue I have is because the IKEA LADDA / Panasonic Eneloop cells have an every so slightly larger diameter than standard AA size. The fix is to use fine sand paper and a finger to remove a small amount of material from the tray. If you had a capacitive spot welder or made one, you could tack terminals on the batteries themselves and then shrink wrap the cell pack; one enterprising business offers a pre-made pack for these radios using Eneloops, but it is costly. However, I like the ability to periodically take the batteries out and individually charge them. Let us know how you go in the Facebook FT-818 Owners Club if possible, 73, Jarrad VK3BL :)
tnx 10hrs then so far these seem a great choice cheers
For the money you really can’t go wrong! They’re all I use in my FT-818
Great couple of videos Jarred. I have a separate question however, related to your bench. On the extreme right side of the video, you have a large double needle meter. Was wondering what type of meter it is. I like the large size.
Michael VA6XMB
Dear Michael,
Thanks for the compliments :). The meters are the DAIWA CN-800 series (CN-801HP3 in particular); they're really nice meters and reasonably accurate too. Certainly not as accurate as digital meters, but good enough to know when you've reached the maximum output etc. 73, Jarrad VK3BL
Have you done any current consumption comparisons between the 817 and 818 on TX and RX?
We haven't; I don't expect there would be a statistically significant difference. The only parts that may have reduced current consumption are the PA board relays, but going on estimates we're talking less than 30mAh difference. I'll check my meter collection to see if I have a tool that will reliably measure small changes and look into it :) 73, Jarrad
Thanks Jarrad. The reason I asked is, being a portable radio current consumption is a parameter that would interest anyone thinking of buying one. I heard the almost FT857 replacement, the FT891 draws significantly more current on RX than the 857. If this is true people would be better off sticking to their 857s for portable work. If they did that with the 891 they may have made the same mistake with the new 818. It would also be interesting to see how much current they both draw when producing 5W of RF.
I have looked at several of your FT-817/818 videos and had a couple of comments.
1). Batteries.
A great topic, and can be solved with your method. You can also get a real Enerloop pack made to fit and work properly, with great capacity, and current retention, from a company called Batteries America, for about $70 US. Lots more, but it works and isn’t intermittant.
2). Battery Charging.
A real buggaboo for every person with the radio. First, what would it cost, if they were revamping part of the 817 to 818, to ditch that nonsensical timer charger, put an autostop type charger in it, and add smarts that was multi-chemistry for nicd, nimh, and lithium? Almost nothing? Make it automatic, requiring no human engaging of the charger, like cellphone or a laptop charging circuit.
Geez almighty, what a waste of effort, to not do it for a new model of the same radio.
3). MH-36 microphone.
This is a standard item in the Yaesu option list, and doesn’t work. It doesn’t work because none of these radios have a standard mic limiter in it, as does the 857/897. Because these have limited mic-amps in them, you can plug anything Yaesu has in them, and it works. Because the MH-31 is a magnetic (unamplified ) mic, and the MH-36 is electret (with 8-10 dcibels extra gain), it’s too loud, and splatters everything in the audio chain of the 817/818.
This is another one of those things that can be fixed with a couple of zener diodes, and recalibration. Peanuts for cost, and makes the radio work well, while providing some much needed audio compression. I’m just shaking my head on this one.
4). Noise Blanker.
I assume the 818 has essentially the same NB as the 817. If that’s true, none of them work. There is a fix for it, on KA7OEI.COM, but requires the dismantling of and recircuitiqng the peaking coil and a new gain level resistor. And then it works. At the factory, the costs would be zero. In your own shop, a job requiring several hours of painstaking careful work.
5). Carrier AM
A buggaboo for those sticklers that must have all modes working. The reason AM carrier mode transmitter doesn’t work, is because the ALC in the transmitter is operative, when, in AM, it should be off. Then calibrate at fixed values. Set carrier to 2.5-watts, and then measure modulation to less than 5-watts pep, yer done, no distortion or harmonics. But the means to do this is so far, not available. But Yaesu engineers could probably fix it in jig time, and create a perfect jewel of a transceiver. At zero extra cost. Everything is present to do this correctly, but they left this error in the switching logic, since the radio was invented.
--
Just a few observations, that ‘could’ have been done, that might have justified the new 818 moniker, but no dice. The new owners are being screwed... again.
By Toshiba, I actually mean Fujitsu, whoops! Just to be sure, FUJITSU make the "Eneloop Pro" on behalf of Panasonic.
They also make generic, low self discharge ('ready to use), ~2500mAh, 500 Cycle, 'Made in Japan' batteries for other brands such as the IKEA's LADDA.
Just by the cheapest cells you can find that meet the above description and enjoy! 73, Jarrad VK3BL
Amazon's branded batteries are also made by Panasonic/Fujitsu. I bought 8 of them for € 23 delivered. My 817ND will love 'em :)
I bought the Amazon.com EBL 2800mAh batteries, and found the fit was tight as well. Wondering if you can trim out the middle tray separator to loosen them up? I had an issue with the batteries wanting to move to a position of not touching each other or the end, so it would turn off. Kind of need that little bit of slippage. W4XXV
Battery capacity varies widely, it would have been good to put these on a cell analyser to measure the actual capacity rather than believe the number printed on the wrapper.
is this still working for you? Have you had any disappointments with the batteries?
Still working perfectly Ken. Haven't had a single cell fail. The only downside is that the FT-818 never fully turns off and will flatten any battery pack when left idle. Kind of a buzz kill for a 'go kit' so always keep a second set separately if you store your FT-818 and accessories in a 'pick up and run' case. 73, Jarrad VK3BL
@@RateMyRadio I am playing with a LiOn pack for 4 batteries in series each section consist of 3 batteries. This gets me close to 16 volts on a fully charge. I have a few diodes in series to drop
the voltage down to low 14 volt range which is high enough to run 5 watts on my FT-817 for a long time.
It's not as nice and neat with batteries stored inside the battery compartment as your setup but it does
give me 5 watts of high power all the time. Since my pack is external I might consider your method
too for listening or 2 watt QRP. No simple solution to get that high power... I suppose a switch might solve the constant drain on the internal pack but things are tight enough in the battery pack area. Thanks for your update. Ken
For How long time you can use 817 with this set of batteries ? I find the batteries for buy but the case for to use where can i find ?
From where did you buy the case of the batteries ?
That the FT-818 hasn't gotten an upgrade to internal lipos is an embarrassment for Yaesu.
It certainly was a peculiar choice in our eyes too. That said, NiMH batteries have come *a long* way recently and some Ikea LADDA or Panasonic Eneloop Pros in the Battery tray as per our video work a treat! 73, Jarrad VK3BL :)
@@RateMyRadio Agreed! 73 Markus OE1AKA
got these batts cut green wire what recharge time should i set for internal charge?
cheers 73
The longest time is the best. Every ~10 charges you should do them individually 73, Jarrad VK3BL :)
LADDA -- lol. All IKEA products is identified with a word from the swedish language. In this case "ladda" = "charge" in english, make sense.
Thanks for the translation! I must admit us VKs/Aussies wonder about the name of things but I know one thing for sure, lots of 'Charge' is held by the Laddas! Plenty of people have mentioned to me personally they have had success with these wonderful batteries and they have changed the way our family uses AA and AAA cells... FINALLY. 73, Jarrad VK3BL :)