Yaesu FT-897D Battery Project

I decided to build a lithium battery for my Yaesu FT-897D because the official Yaesu Ni-Mh batteries are far too expensive to import here (Then you need the special charger too!)

At present when operating portable, I have been running a lithium battery external to the radio (often a higher voltage battery through a little power supply)

So I grabbed some battery packs made up of four 2200Mah 18650 cells each, three of these adds  up to 11.1v at 8.8Ah, this is plenty for my short trips !

I planned out how to fit them inside, and there’s more than plenty of space, see image ๐Ÿ™‚

My preliminary notes were:

The three packs are each four 18650 cells in parallel

Totalling up to 8.8Ah per pack at 3.7v

At full charge it will be at 12.6v and at empty about 9-10v

I have measured how much power the radio draws, and on monitoring it draws around 8w, on transmitting around 18w (at 10w TX power, go figure) so thatโ€™s only 1-2 amps, super easy for these lithium batteries.

I’m just waiting for my BMS to arrive from China (battery management system)

As that has over current protection, over charge protection, over discharge protection and short circuit protection for the batteries

Then I’ll use some padded sticky foam to mount them in such a way they’ll get ventilation from the existing fans and good to go!

Gallery below! 

 

13 thoughts on “Yaesu FT-897D Battery Project”

    1. No setup for this one!

      Just connected each pack to the corresponding pads on the board (0v, 4.2v, 8.4v, 12.7v) and it balances them and keeps them healthy!

        1. Not exactly. 4* lithium cells will create 16.8v which is too much for the 897d.
          And at the low end it’s just 1v higher than the 3 cell battery..

  1. hello , good article, consider using LiFeP04 cells instead of the LiION ones. Its a different chemistry and the single cell voltage is a little lower per cell – So 4 in series will give a nominal voltage of 13.2v. this combination of cell is perfect for the radio.. also , if you use not 18650 size – but 26650 size , ( they do fit well ) then your 4 in series capacity is around 6 A\Hr. you can fit 2 “packs” in the radio, and use the radios battery switch . A /B. In addition the LED lights for BATT A B also work corectly because the battery voltage is now correct.

  2. Hello again ,
    Sorry forgot to mention of course that due to the larger capacity of the 26650 LiFeP04 cells, you can make a suitable short cable from the packs and run it out the back and then install on the end the same power connector that the radio uses. This means you can run 100 watt if you wish.
    Mfg
    DJ0DJS

  3. Awesome article.
    I wanna use third pin to sent battery-info signal to radio.
    May it need a MCU.
    Welcome to communicate.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *