Icom M15e battery pack

[sandeel]

Hi I have an old Icom M15e handheld vhf
has anyone dismantled one of these battery packs? I have a duff one and want to try and replace the Nicads with Nimh cells but I can't see how to get into the housing.
cheers

 

[pvb]

They're usually glued together, and you'll have to cut it open using a fine hacksaw or a dremel-type device. It's do-able, given care and persistence.

 

[PlankWalker]

The glued type that I have opened have broken apart along the glue line using a bit of force with a sharp knife.

 

[Pleiades]

Icom M15e Battery pack

Very interested to hear if anyone manages to replace the batteries in the Icom M15e. It is a great hand held vhf - very tough and waterproof, but I was disgruntled to find that Icom refuse to supply replacement batteies for it - they would rather you throw away the perfectly good M15e and buy one of their new radios of course. It would surely be no problem for them to fit new cells in the existing housing. As a result I declined to buy a new Icom and bought the Raymarine handheld. It is a good radio - very clear sound and easy to use but the waterproof seal is a bit feeble - the gasket seal is about the thickness of a human hair - no wonder it let the water in during the recent magazine test.
So would put new batteries in the Icom if anyone cracks how to do it.

Over....

Robin
Pleiades of Birdham
MXWQ5

 

[Searush]

There is a company called Strikalite in the W Midlands that will do exactly that for you - professionally.

They use a hot knife to cut the case open & have the correct spot welder to remake the battery terminal welds. The pack comes back looking like it did when it left but with a gazzillion times more "Ooomph!"

No connection to them, other than as a very satisfied customer. Check 'em out, cheaper than a new pack or a new radio.

 

[Blueboatman]

Searush, that is very handy, thankyou.

As one who once 'cooked' the tiny replacement nicads with the soldering iron.

 

[Pleiades]

Dear Searush,
thank you. You are a gentleman and a scholar of matters communicationally nautical.
Shall try Strikalite on next tide.

Robin
Pleiades of Birdham
MXWQ5

 

[Dabhand]

As mentioned before it is easy to open the battery pack with a sharp knife and a small screwdriver. The seam is roughly in the middle of the pack.
I did this when mine failed and I replaced the batteries with B&Q's finest NiMh cells, quite straightforward if you are handy with a soldering iron.
Spot welding is the ideal method but I used a good quality, very hot iron and kept the time of heat exposure to an absolute minimum. The battery ends solder very easily.
Heat will damage these cells (or make them explode) but mine work fantastically and I get at least twice as much use from a single charge as the old NiCads.
One thing to watch is that the standard battery pack will not take AA size replacements, the larger size will, but needs a small amount of packing underneath to hold the contacts in the right place. The contacts mate with spring probes in the body of the radio.
I gave my radio a whole new lease of life for less than twelve squids, rather than the £70 plus I paid a few years ago for the now unobtainable NiCads.

 

[sandeel]

thanks for all the replies.Particularly Dabhand you have worked on the m15 battery pack as it is not constructed quite the same as many i.e. splits in half horizontally so I will give it a go. I have several duff ones so if I mess up I'll go the Searush route. Thanks all.