This is the Austrian distributor: https://www.funkelektronik.at/de/eremit-akkus-lifepo4/
Shipping info only lists EU countries but to ship to Ireland it’s 45 Euro for up to 3kg so not cheap.
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The cost is because anything Lithium has to go special packing / courier as a dangerous item. EU only is due to VAT changes. So what UK chaps need to do is to make a bulk order to a friend in the Republic and then meet up for a mass activation and beer session and collect their new batteries. Get enough involved and you can spread the costs.
Phil did say you needed deep pockets. I knew of the Tracer batteries and their cost which is why I mentioned Eremit for those with deep pockets but short arms ! It’s also why I’ve been writing about recovering 18650 cells from laptop packs. Though most laptops are now thin enough to use as a razor so they use more custom shaped cells, 18650’s may become less common.
It’s a shame Eremit didn’t make it to HAM RADIO 2022 in Friedrichshafen, he would have been the hit and cleared a lot of stock!
Ed.
I agree the Tracer 4 AH aren’t worth that, they’ve almost doubled in price if you are correct. Mine came as part of the deal with my secondhanded KX3. I bought an 18 amp lithium golf trolley battery from a firm in Edmonton, London that sell lithium batteries for around £130 last year! Good for powering my FT-991A for portable activity on holidays or in the car. Their 7 amp lithiums are good, Ultramax is the brand. You can probably find them online. I have had two for around 9 years and they are still in good order. Solid case, but some may baulk at the weight for SOTA.
73 Phil
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Looks interesting and price not too bad, until you add shipping. €46 to ship a 2 Ah battery to Ireland? Thanks, but no thanks.
To ship a fire hazard/dangerous item rather just a lump of something inert. It’s likely the shipping cost doesn’t rise linearly with items. i.e. it’s not €96 for 2 batteries. That’s why I suggested people band together for a bulk order, especially for us EU has-beens needing the order to land close to our desolate borders as we peer across the barbed wire and trenches into the EU lands flowing with milk and honey.
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This only works if you live near each other or are going to meet up, since it is almost impossible for a private individual to ship lithium batteries even within the UK.
I’m not too sure. I’ve had this out with people before on other platforms and it just seems like gouging to me. I did a search on amazon.de, and I can get a “generic” 12V 6ah lifepo4 battery with bms for €59.90 + €9 delivery. They may not compare in terms of performance etc, but thats not the point. From a shipping point of view, it’s the same product. It’s actually heavier, weighing almost 1Kg
Emerit also sell on amazon, but don’t ship to ireland.
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It depends whether they are being shipped legally or not. My last Hobbyking order had a healthy amount of shipping from their EU warehouse. It came in a specially marked box with the hazard codes on it and was couriered not in the post.
In the UK you cannot ship 18650 cells for example on their own in the post. Same for most batteries. That doesn’t stop many companies on eBay offering you 18650 cells with “Free economy delivery”. I’ve asked some how they ship and they say “in a Jiffy bag in the post”. That simply means they are not declaring the battery as a dangerous item and shipping it illegally. The Royal Mail does X-ray some items checking for batteries and will destroy items it finds with no compensation.
So you are contrasting people shipping legitimately and safely against others who are pushing the laws or just being illegal.
I’ve been running my Xiego X6100 with the ‘Sunpadow 4S Lipo 14.8v 6000mah battery’. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea being 14.8v, but it is within tolerance on my X6100.
I normally activate on summit for an average of 45 mins using HF (when it’s not pouring with rain on me, hi) pushing the full 10 watts, and this battery will easily do 5 activations before I charge it. The volt meter still shows above 14.5v, so you’ll probably get away with 8 activations, but I just like to top it up.
I use the Imax B6 charger which takes roughly an hour to an hour and a half to fully charge the battery!
Links below for the battery and charger:
These batteries are available on the Amazon website and work. I’ve had mine for a good 4 months and no issues! They are very cheap!!
73, GW4BML. Ben
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Hi Ben,
although the package is labelled 14.8v, a 4S Lipo can be over 16 volts when fully charged (your Imax B6 should indicate that) - I know as I have two 5Ah hardcell 4S LIPOs that I have used for some time for my G90 (same voltage spec as the 6100 - 11-15v). I have built a voltage regulator on a heatsink into my battery box to get the voltage down to around 13.7v.
Another option would be a 3S LiHV battery (this is a special high-voltage LIPO which needs a charger that works with LiHV batteries). That runs at 11.5-12.5v and is fine for any of the current Xiegu radios without needing any voltage regulator.
73 Ed.
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Hi Ed, that is very true, hence I stated ‘not everyone’s cup of tea’. It’s powered my X6100 for a good 4 months with-out fail, just the battery connected directly to the radio. It works for me 
I’ll check out the one you mention - this may be another option for me as a spare.
73, GW4BML. Ben
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Understood on the voltage. The LiHV 3S is a smaller battery than the 4S and as you say is good for a backup. I now use my 4Ah Eremit LifePO4 battery as my main battery and the a hobbyking bought 4Ah 3S LiHV as the spare. The two 5Ah 4S hardcase LIPOs are simply too heavy in comparison and only taken if I think I’m going to do some long activations.
73 Ed.
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Thanks Ed @DD5LP. I’ll also check those Eremit batteries out - seem to be getting good reviews.
73, Ben
The problem is that you wont be able to ship the Eremit batteries to the UK economically - a combination of restrictions on international shipping of lithium batteries and Brexit.
Ed.
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I have a few work colleagues from Germany who will hopefully help me out. I’ll let you know my progress.
Thanks Ed.
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FYI, for the craic, I emailed the jubatec company in the amazon link and asked about how they shipped. The use DHL for shipping to Ireland. For €9. I might actually buy it for that price.
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That’s cheap. For long and boring reasons, I VPN to the internet via Switzerland. As soon as I look at Amazon etc. I am assumed to be near Zurich and shipping for that item to Switzerland is €21
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