On 7/6/2011 3:01 PM, Eric Greenwell wrote:
On 7/2/2011 3:34 PM, Tim Newport-Peace wrote:

If I were you, I would look for a second-hand A2, A22, A3 or A22. All
these radios run happily with a 12-volt supply connected to the radio
(not to the battery).

I'm considering your suggestion, along with a couple of ideas. I did
contact Icom, which said leaving the radio on charge all the time will
reduce the life of the battery.

They didn't respond to my question about why the radio should be turned
off while charging, but I think it has such a low current charger, the
only way it can be fully charged in the specified 12 hours is for the
radio to be off. I don't think overvoltage while charging is an issue,
given that they provide a battery case for 6 AA cells. With fresh cells,
that's about 9.5 volts. Typically, a two cell Li-ion battery would be
charged to around 8.4 volts, a volt less than the AA battery pack can
provide.

I ordered an Icom A6 because it will work with external power well, as
long as you use the CP-20 "cigar socket" power supply cord. The Icom
support guy did not recommend using the AC adapter to supply external
power, though the manual seems to indicate it is OK to do so.

Since my old radio uses an external 120VAC/13.8 volt output power
supply, I can use that with the CP-20/A6, and of course, the CP-20/A6
will be happy with the cigar power socket in the motorhome.

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to
email me)