The Smell of Molten Projects in the Morning

Ed Nisley's Blog: Shop notes, electronics, firmware, machinery, 3D printing, laser cuttery, and curiosities. Contents: 100% human thinking, 0% AI slop.

The New Hotness

  • Baofeng Big Battery Capacity

    I bought a pair of third-party 3800 mA·h batteries for the Baofeng UV-5RE Plus (whatever that means) radios on our bikes. Oddly, the packs carry the same “Model BL-5” identification as 1800 mA·h batteries shipped with the radio:

    Baofeng BL-5 Batteries - 1.8 and 3.8 Ah
    Baofeng BL-5 Batteries – 1.8 and 3.8 Ah

    The obviously mislabeled “Baofeng” battery eliminator also sported a 3800 mA·h label:

    Baofeng Battery Eliminator - overview
    Baofeng Battery Eliminator – overview

    I conjured a “test fixture” from a clamp, copper sheet, and copper tape snippets:

    Baofeng battery - test setup
    Baofeng battery – test setup

    Which produced interesting results:

    Baofeng BL-5 3800 mAh packs - Ah - 2019-05
    Baofeng BL-5 3800 mAh packs – Ah – 2019-05

    The 250 mA load = 15 hour rate seemed reasonable to simulate radios spending most of their time in power-save mode, but the packs still delivered only 2.8 A·h.

    The packs also claim an unnaturally precise 28.12 W·h, but they’re still underperformers at 20 W·h:

    Baofeng BL-5 3800 mAh packs - 2019-05
    Baofeng BL-5 3800 mAh packs – 2019-05

    Anyhow, I can run the radios for a week without (worrying about) running out of juice during a ride.