Although unbranded, well OK the label on the charger says 'FN' but have you heard of them?, and 'Made in China' (the battery 'Made in China from Japanese cell') they are both 'CE' marked and the charger box boasts 'ISO9001:2000'.The battery is labelled as: 'For Gateway DC-T50' and it has a higher capacity than the Yaesu FNB-82LI at 1200mAh rather than 1000mAh but is the same physical size (except the data label is a sticker making the battery a 'shave' thicker than the Yaesu one where the data is screen printed).
The charger looks well made and was supplied with the mains adapter and a car lead with the standard cigar lighter plug on the end. It will charge 3.7V and 7.4V?(instruction book data, I havn't got one to try so I can't say) Lithium-ion batteries in just over an hour for 600mAh batteries to 2 hours for 1000mAh batteries (instruction book data) and will reduce to a very low trickle charge when it detects the battery is charged.
In Use.
Putting the battery into the charger the fit is a little 'sloppy' side to side, this is because it will also charge larger batteries, but is otherwise snug. Both the mains and the car power leads have a red LED to show that they are 'on' and the charger has a 2 colour LED to show charge state: Red is charging, Green is charged. One important point to note is that the mains power adapter looks so similar to the original Yaesu one that came with the radio it could be easy to mix them up with catastrophic results as the charger adapter supplies 12V whereas the radio will 'accept' upto 7V! A simple sticker will be used to identify, I think.
The 1200mAh battery charged in a little over 2 hours and was fitted to the VX2. The fit in the VX2 is a little snug because of the label, peeling it off would ease the fit but I didn't have any problem refitting the battery cover so I left it in place. The FNB-82LI recharged in a little under 2 hours, probably because it was not fully discharged when I placed it in the charger.
Being an inquisitive chap I wondered if the battery charger could be 'fooled' into charging the batteries twice (or more) times, like some 'cheap' chargers, this can 'kill' Li-ion batteries, even causing them to explode! Good news, no matter how I tried, it detected that the charged batteries were charged and would only trickle them.
Conclusion.
I am well pleased with this purchase. A higher capacity battery and an intelligent desktop charger for less than the cost of a manufacturers replacement battery - Well worth it.
It just goes to show what you can find if you look hard enough and cross reference!
Brian, MW0GKX.
Specifications:
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Battery:
(Yaesu FNB-82LI also shown for comparison).
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| | Yaesu FNB-82LI. | Compatable Battery.
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| Voltage: | 3.7 volts. | 3.7 volts.
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| Capacity: | 1000 mAh. | 1200 mAh.
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| Dimensions: | 35×53×7mm. | 35×53×7mm.
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| Cost: | Around £30.00
(MRRP). | Around £9.00
(depends on where you look).
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| Charger:
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| Input Voltage: | 12 - 24 DC.
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| Output Voltage: | 4.2 or 8.4 VDC.
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| Max Charge Current: | 500mA ±50mA.
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| Dimensions: | 105×60×35mm.
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| Supplied with: | Switching Power Supply,
Cigarette Lighter Lead.
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