In reply to ON6DSL:
Hi Luc
The 11.1V (3S) LiPo’s are ideal for the '817 - on HF it will produce virtually full output down to the point at which the LiPo voltage starts to drop very rapidly (about 10V). Power at 2m/70cm is reduced a bit more - I get about 3W out of mine at 10V.
I get about 3 hours operating/90 SSB QSO’s from a 2200mAh battery, you should be able to extrapolate your capacity requirement from that.
Hope that helps!
73 de Paul G4MD
In reply to G4MD:
I do sometimes wonder whether Gerald only takes me along to carry the patio heater and barbecue though…
I thought that we agreed never to mention this on the reflector. Now the news is out, I expect lots of people will try to join us on our activations to grab one of those juicy steaks that we snack on while operating…
Huh… and you forgot to mention that I carry the sun loungers - typical!
In reply to ON6DSL:
During my SOTA vacation and expedition this year to Rhodes island
where I hope to be able to activate 5 summits.(See Qrz.com-ON6DSL) I
want to use my FT817 but I want firts purchases a LiPo battery pack.
After all the publicity there has been about LiPo batteries bursting into flames - and my own personal experience of one spontaneously combusting in my car (!), I really wonder about the wisdom of taking them on an aircraft!
73,
Walt (G3NYY)
In reply to ON6DSL,G3NYY:
Hi Both
Look at section 8 of this for details of tranporting LiPo’s in luggage on passenger aircraft:
http://www.iata.org/html_email/CAR1001654/lithium_batteries.pdf
Just a few common sense precautions, and a limit of 100Wh on capacity carried. Must be in carry-on luggage, not checked in. Might be worth checking with the airline you are travelling with first though.
Walt, LiPo safety is a bit of a pet subject of mine at present - I’d be most interested to hear the circumstances in which your LiPo self-ignited.
Enjoy your holiday Luc and good SOTA!
73 de Paul G4MD
In reply to G4OIG:
to grab one of those juicy steaks that we snack on while operating
Now that everyone knows this it will make Tom’s “soup de jour” descriptions seem rather mundane. Even when it’s Lobster Bisque! 
Andy
MM0FMF
No chance. I did some shopping a couple of weeks ago and now have a cupboard full of exciting new flavours for the summer. Watch this space. First two flavours were unleashed on our LD trip last week - did you miss it Andy?
Tom
In reply to G3NYY:
“I really wonder about the wisdom of taking them on an aircraft!”
I posted mine when I went to France last week, much less hassle.
Nigel.
G6SFP.
In reply to G6SFP:
I posted mine when I went to France last week, much less hassle.
I love it. Put the fire risk on a different aircraft to the one you are going to be traveling on.
The rules says Li batteries must travel as hand-luggage not checked in. The fire risk is when you’re charging them or when you just stopped at they’re still hot. Apparently, the trolley-dollies on aircraft know how do deal with battery fires.
The only ones I have that get hot are laptop packs, my old Dell Latitude C520 get’s really, really, really toasty warm when charging but my new HP Elitebook 6930p is much cooler. The Icom IC80 get’s just warm and the VX1r stays cool. My RC packs for the 817 don’t get warm at all on charge. Nokia phone doesn’t get warm but the charger does!
Andy
MM0FMF
In reply to G4MD:
Walt, LiPo safety is a bit of a pet subject of mine at present - I’d be most
interested to hear the circumstances in which your LiPo self-ignited.
It was a LiPo battery in a SatNav device. It was on charge with the supplied charger connected to the cigar lighter socket in the car when it burst into flames, discharging clouds of noxious fumes. I had the presence of mind to throw the whole thing out of the car window!
Having read the numerous Web reports of fires, explosions, etc, involving LiPo batteries, and also many YouTube videos on the subject, I have resolved to have nothing to do with LiPo batteries until technology has advanced by a few generations. There have been a fair number of house fires recorded where LiPo batteries have been left on charge unattended.
YMMV! (I know quite a few SOTA activators are sold on LiPo batteries and they believe the safety hazards to be insignificant.)
73,
Walt (G3NYY)
In reply to G3NYY:
Hi Walt, many thanks for the info. It’s the first incident I’ve come across involving a SatNav. I wonder if you were able to retrieve the unit to investigate the cause of the conflagration?
There’s an awful lot of hype and downright misinformation out there - my own research and experience so far leads me to believe that the latest generation of LiPo’s are actually very safe so long as they are used correctly, but I’m always willing to learn 
73 de Paul G4MD
In reply to G6SFP:
I posted mine when I went to France last week, much less hassle.
The requirements for taking them in your hand luggage on a plane are basically 1) protect the terminals so they can’t short circuit and 2) put each battery in it’s own insulating pouch. Not that much hassle!
In fact less than I do to protect them when I’m carrying them in my rucksack
73 de Paul G4MD
In reply to G4MD:
I meant the hassle from security. I travel a lot and after several delays prefer to avoid the experience.
In reply to G4MD:
Hi Walt, many thanks for the info. It’s the first incident I’ve come
across involving a SatNav. I wonder if you were able to retrieve the
unit to investigate the cause of the conflagration?
Yes, I did recover it and was able to investigate sufficiently to verify that it was indeed the battery that had ignited. The unit was damaged beyond repair. I was not keen to probe too much because of the toxicity risk, so disposed of it at my local council ‘hazardous chemicals and batteries’ recycling site.
73,
Walt (G3NYY)