My FT-60R’s original battery pack had failed.? It would take a charge and receive for a few days, but would turn itself off when I try to transmit.? I also wanted a lighter battery.? So, I converted it to use Li-ion cells.

Dissassembly was difficult.? I ended up cutting the plastic cell cover with a knife.? Charged separately, all the NiMH cells accepted a charge, but two of them lost their charge in a couple days.? The other 4 are back in service, powering other toys.

I ordered two “103450” LiPo cells from ebay for $16 USD.? Skeptical of all capacity claims by ebay sellers, I tested them at a C/10 rate.? I was satisfied with the results: 1.90 and 1.94 Ah out of 2.0 Ah advertised.

To fit them in the original shell, I had to clip off some plastic stuff inside, remove 2 diodes, and flatten some strips of metal.?? I connected the cell interconnection to the shortest metal strip so now I can check the charge balance using one of the rear terminals.? This battery pack’s mass is 88g, much lighter than the loaded AA battery tray at 197g.? Capacity is a little less than that of the latest NiMH AA cells.? Voltage is similar - higher than NiMH at full charge, lower when almost depleted.

I made a charger using a T5100 charger module (modified for 8.4V and 0.5A limit) from ebay (5 for $7).? It clips to the terminals on the edge.

I have included photos in this post because I’m unable to upload them to the Photos area.
I hope this will help someone considering a similar project.

Cheers

Halden VE7UTS

El jue., 2 de dic. de 2021 a la(s) 3:36, HF via groups.io

<incorridge@...> escribió:

It's a little annoying to have to take the battery off the radio, clip it to the charger, and hook the charger to a DC power supply.? So I bought a Yaesu charger base for $9 on Amazon (no longer available) which turned out to be a CD-30.? I removed parts from the internal PCB so I could use some of the traces, and cut a few traces.? Then I installed a T5100 charger module, having bridged the "set" gap for 8.4V operation and reconfigured the current limit resistors for a 0.5A charge rate limit.? I connected the green side of the bicolor LED to the LED holes closest to the LED on the new PCB.? Now the red charge LED's light appears dimly in the indicator while charging and original LED illuminates once done.? I tried posting photos to the Photos area and when that didn't work, posted them inside a message, but neither worked.? So I'll just offer the photos to anyone interested, just reply using the "Private" box and I'll email them to you.
Cheers,
Halden VE7UTS