Icom IC-M31 radio battery life

[Plevier]

I bought this (otherwise excellent) radio new at Southampton Boat Show Sep 08. It has a Li-ion battery pack not the NiCd used in early ones.
It's always surprised/disappointed me that after a full charge, if it isn't used for a month or so, maybe 6 weeks, the battery is then so flat that it won't turn on.
What's other peoples' experience please, anyone know if this is normal or did I get a dud battery?
Thanks

 

[JustMelfort]

I think you will find that this is painfully normal. If it's the same design as my icon, with the press button(not twist knob) on/off, then this is part of the normal operation. It may have technical benefits for operation or battery conditioning, but it's very annoying that I never seem to have a charged radio when I need one. I leave my radio on it's charger when sailing but if away for more that a few days I remove the battery. I can't use this radio in a grab bag as it will be flat after a few weeks.

 

[PaulR]

known issue with this radio which icom say is a designfeature(hmmm) - solution we adopt is at the end of weekend to release the battery and then it refit it the following weekend -that way it lasts - icom say the on off switch leaves a continual power drain which is why it goes flat if the battery is left in

 

[Plevier]

Thank you - I'd begun to suspect it. Very annoying I went out of my way to get an Icom because of good previous experience but wouldn't have got this one had I known about this stupidity.
Have now recharged and removed battery and will have to do so in future thus wearing the seal, degrading the waterproofing, risking getting dirt in.....
B****r!

 

[Stu Jackson]

My rechargeable NiCads don't have much of a shelf life, in or out of any device. Have those of you with the newer lithium batteries experienced the same thing? While in this case it could well be the radio (odd thing, that), could it also be the batteries themselves?

 

[hightech]

Any device that has a press on/ press off type power switch will need a small current flowing to drive the on/off circuit and hence the current drain. Normally on a boat these devices are connected to the ships battery and when you go home at the end of the day the power gets shut off at the main switch and the circuit is no longer powered. Unfortunately with battery powered devices only disconnecting the battery will stop the drain.

I sell these at boat shows etc and when asked about the merits/demerits of any handheld radio this is one of the points that I mention, like power output etc.

 

[KenMcCulloch]

I bought one of these radios in 2007 and while I am aware that it does self discharge because of the stupid switch design I seem to get a lot more life - about 2 months between charges - than some have reported. I don't use it to transmit very often which probably helps.

 

[LittleSister]

My IC-M31 seems to last months without going flat.

In fact I can't remember when I last charged mine (last charged for use late Sep/early October, probably top-up charged once since then) and I've just checked and it's showing as fully charged.

I did previously have a Icom M1-Euro V (??) that self-discharged within a day (and ate battery chargers), but I assume there was a fault with it (I'd bought it second-hand). I eventually threw that one away as too unreliable. Buying a new one was cheaper and more certain than getting it repaired, and I'm really pleased with the M31.