My Yaesu VX170’s 7.2 NiMH battery pack is now in a poor state of health. It shows the right voltage on the display until you transmit on high power which is 5W. At this point the voltage drops to below 6V which is near the shutdown voltage. It’s OK on lower powers in that the voltage still drops significantly but not enough to trigger the low battery warnings. One or more of the cells is failing here. This was bought new in Mar 2008 so is 12 years old now and has accompanied me several hundred SOTA activations. I think that’s a reasonable life.
I ordered a genuine Yaesu replacement yesterday from Waters&Stanton / Nevada. They were showing the cheapest price and had stock. P&P was a little expensive but the guy I spoke to did apologise up front for that and with the various rules in force on battery shipments this is only to be expected. However, I don’t mind the cost because it took less than 23hours from ordering it until arrived. A quick check shows normal service has been restored.
I did think of breaking the (old) pack apart and fitting new cells. I have done this before on a few items. But the possible cost saving and the fact that it is time consuming to spilt packs and reassemble them so it doesn’t look like it’s been chewed by a rabid dog, I decided my time is worth more. Anyway, buying decent NiMH cells now the markets are flooded with Middle Kingdom tat is plain difficult, so a genuine Yaesu item with a warranty from a reputable dealer is cheap in comparison.
I think full marks to Yaesu for providing a decent original battery, full marks to W & S for doing everything very smartly and full marks to the post office for getting it to me so fast.