BTECH, BaoFeng BL-5 Battery Eliminator for for BF-F8HP, UV-5X3, and UV-5R Radios

Christmas storm of 2022! Decided to really use it. Battery provided 35 hours are CONTINUOUS scanning and use. Was not turned off for just over 35 hours. Very satisfied.

Good batteries to expand the capabilities of your Baofeng. More than the larger capacity, the ability to charge from an external battery is what I got these for. -1 star simply because they were difficult to install the first few times -- it took me using my big boy muscles to get them to properly connect with the Baofeng.

Great idea. Great product. However, This has been warned about multiple times and cannot be said enough... Fix the top center battery contact tab before you ever use it. I bought 2 of these and one in one unit the tab was moved up and making contact with the other one when it arrived. Both the silicone method and the small piece of plastic are great fixes. I went with the latter because it seems a little more permanent

I am not sure if this battery is supposed to have a rubber plug/grommet for the hole in which you would plug the charging cable, when not in use.....but it did not come with one. Since these radios are usually used in outdoor and often rugged environments, it seems that protection from the elements would have been a consideration. I really wanted to give this product a great review, but because of the either missing or not previously thought of rubber plug for the charging port, I just can’t.

With this carrier you can use Rechargeable Nickel Metal Hydride, and Nickel Cadmium cells in your UV5R series radio including the BF-F8HP. With the dummy cell (Yes, it is included) you can also use 1.5V lithium, Alkaline, or even Zinc Carbon cells. You will not be able to use Nickel Zinc as the voltage is still too high with the dummy. There is a short circuit hazard with the middle column of cells. This hazard is easy to avoid, simply make sure that you install the center column of cells first. With this in mind, if you do bend the contact to the point that it briefly makes contact with the one it isnt supposed to, you have no short circuit to complete.

yeas

In order for this 3800mah battery to properly fit the UV5RA a slight modification is necessary. Many videos say something about grinding inside the battery. Was not the case for me. A hot knife needed to cut the crescent shaped scallop off face of ext battery and it will now click perfectly into place on the UV5RA.

Good price for a good product.

So far so good, charged this fully 8 days ago and it still has one battery bar left. It’s in use as a listening-only scanner most of the day (to my wife’s great dismay) only turned off consistently overnight. I also bought the little USB plug that charges this directly and it seems to work but I’ve only charged the battery once via dock as the beginning of the charge/discharge/repeat process. So far so good.

Great product, I like that they came with a dummy as unlike other ones. I ordered two of them, and they both could be pulled apart at the bottom were the press tab wasnt engaging correctly. A little sanding and the latches work nicely now. Update: Fire danger unless modified. The metal contact that runs in the center battery channel can loosen up on its own and touch one of the contacts that sends power to the radio, when this happens the metal gets red hot, the plastic starts melting, then Im sure a fire follows but I had the case open when this happened and I just shook the batteries out very quickly to avoid further damage. I am still keeping this product at 4 stars since there are very few options to use AA batteries with a baofeng, it just needs a little modification. I used some high temperature RTV silicone sealant to keep the metal tab from coming out and contacting the metal above it. Its not perfect but it can no longer catch fire. You can see in the photo where the metal heated up where it is discolored on the right radio contact, and the silicone seal i used to keep the piece from touching it again.