ICom A-5 Question - Battery Level Indicator

Harry Gordon wrote:

If so, all I can say is there is no
meter on the radio that reflects the condition of the battery. Sounds like
a design flaw to me.

I'd love to have a meter on my older ICOM. But I seem to recall (from
discussions here, in fact) that different types of batteries have different
patterns of discharge. So a meter designed for one type of battery
wouldn't work well for a different type.

Still...why not make this a feature of the battery packs?

- Andrew

On Sat, 29 Nov 2003 21:23:31 GMT, "Harry Gordon"
wrote:

Update report for those that may be interested.

I had the charger checked this morning at an electronics store and it works
fine. As a result, I just sent an E-MAIL to ICom requesting their assistance
on resolving either the bad battery or radio. Someone mentioned that I may
have "fried" the battery. If so, all I can say is there is no meter on the
radio that reflects the condition of the battery. Sounds like a design flaw
to me.

I will let you know what the outcome is. I appreciate all of the responses I
got. Thank you.

Harry



Harry,
I had a similar situation with my A5. Below, you will find the email
that I sent to ICOM and their less than satisfactory responses. I
have not done anything yet because the situation has improved. It
used to be that the battery sometimes discharged while it was supposed
to be charging and after 15 hours I had nothing. Lately, it has been
charging as per expectations. I am not yet confident that the problem
has "disappeared" but I am hopeful. I'm still not satisfied with
performance with the alkalines. The good news is that they have a
good warranty. I'm confident that if my problems are not gone that
they will correct them. Good luck.

Rich Russell

(email exchange with ICOM)
The alkaline battery packs on supplies 9.0 volts to the unit. The
battery was designed for the 9.6 volt NI-CAD rechargeable battery
pack.
Since the alkaline are already running at a lower the radio will
indicate a low battery.

Steve Burling
Technical Support Representative

ICOM America, Inc.
2380 116th Ave NE
Bellevue, WA 98004
Ph. (425) 454-7619
Fax (425) 637-8417
www.icomamerica.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Richard Russell ]
Posted At: Friday, August 08, 2003 11:01 AM
Posted To: Avionics
Conversation: A5 Battery issues
Subject: A5 Battery issues

Steve,
What about the alkaline battery problem? Any thoughts on that?
Rich Russell

-----Original Message-----
From: Steve Burling ]On Behalf Of
Avionics Tech Support
Sent: Friday, August 08, 2003 1:02 PM
To:
Subject: A5 Battery issues

Thank you for contcting ICOM Technical Support.

The battery charging takes 15 to 20 hours.

IF the unit only lasts for ten minutes after the charge then your unit
needs to sent in for repair.

Steve Burling
Technical Support Representative

ICOM America, Inc.
2380 116th Ave NE
Bellevue, WA 98004
Ph. (425) 454-7619
Fax (425) 637-8417
www.icomamerica.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Richard Russell ]
Posted At: Friday, August 08, 2003 7:43 AM
Posted To: Avionics
Conversation: A5 Battery issues
Subject: A5 Battery issues

I have a new A5 and I am experiencing two different battery issues.
First,
I am having difficulty charging the rechargeable battery with the wall
charger that came with the unit. It is taking me an average of three
attempts to charge the unit. After the failed attempts, the unit will
turn
on but will loose all power within ten minutes. Once I do
successfully
charge the unit it will hold the charge as expected. Is this a known
problem or possibly user error?

Secondly, and even more important, is a problem that I'm having with
alkaline batteries. I have the optional alkaline battery pack and
when
I
install new and fresh batteries the unit will flash a low battery
light
and
subsequently die at the first effort to transmit. By alkaline back-up
is
essentially useless. I have tried numerous batteries from different
batches
and it is clearly not a battery deficiency issue.

I am really hoping to resolve both of these issues without sending the
unit
back. Any advice? Thanks.
Rich Russell

Sent the e-mail to ICom and they quickly responded that if I wanted to I
could send them the unit for repair. I discovered that there was an
authorized ICom repair station here in San Antonio, so I took it to them on
Tuesday for repair. That was the good news...

The bad news is they called me this morning and told me that it was in fact
the radio itself that was bad. However they COULD NOT repair the unit and
told me and I needed to send it in to ICom for repair. They also told me
that since I did not buy the radio from them if they sent it to ICom for me
it would cost me $30 shipping/handling fees :-(. So, I have the radio in my
living room and tomorrow I will box it up and send it to ICom.

Since it is new and I have only had it for 2 months, I am going to request a
new radio. We shall see what happens, and I will let you know.

Thanks again for all of the suggestions and ideas.

Harry