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

glad that I can now have another battery and with extended use time. charges quickly.

I got this as a Birthday present from a wish list of Ham radio equipment. The first thing about this battery is you dont need a base charger to add juice to the battery. You just need the power adapter sold separately great for traveling or hiking with a roll out solar panel sold separately. The traditional way to get this battery up to full capacity is to fully charge it on the base recommended to charge without it being attached to the Radio. Once charged attach to radioand turn on and press an hold number 0 and the voltage should be 8.3 - 8.4v. Use the radio to bring the battery down to about 7.4v and do a full charge cycle about 5 times and the battery will last longer and have a great shelf life. My original battery lasted for 5 years using the recommended charge/discharge mentioned above. Also its light and not bulky perfect fit for inside jacket pockets.

Works great on my 2012 spec Baofeng UV-5R. Adapter seated fully and locked in place no problem or modification necessary. Ask the electronics appear to be contained in the 12v plug adapter. The battery replacement portion is glued together and I opted to not destroy it for the sake of taking pictures. I will update at a later time with pics if I relocate the wire to the side of the battery adapter so it can ride in a cup holder in the car better. I knocked off one star for the somewhat flimsy construction, and the fact the cable exits the bottom and not the side of the battery adapter. Radio powered up fine, I didnt have a chance to perform tx/rx tests. That being said if youre a light user and mostly monitor I think youll be fine. For high power, more constant use I anticipate that the power transformer would become hot/exceed its duty cycle. Good enough for how cheap it was. I can always repurpose it with another higher current DC-DC adapter for higher power Tx requirements/ higher duty cycle/talk times.

It works as it should so far have not had it long

Bought a cheaper TENQ one and had to return it. It did not provide enough power on transmit and the radio would turn off and back on when key was released.(7.4V or so idle) This is the one by Baofeng and is designed differently. The pcb is in the DC jack portion not the battery adapter portion. It provides 8.5V which is clearly what the radio needs. The batteries and this unit state 7.4V but they all put out about 8.5V. I will be replacing the coiled cord which I really dislike and putting in a long straight cord. I have included a collage of a tear down of this unit which will hopefully be of some use. UPDATE: 2/19/15 The radio began rebooting on tx on 2m. There was a rattling sound from the plug. I opened it to find a large diode loose. It was either very cold solder joints or the part got hot enough to desolder itself from the pcb. I was able to fix it easily but def not worth the orig 4 star review I gave it. If I can find a way to add or update the pics I will add photo of the issue.

This review is about the BL-5 AA. This battery pack should cost about half the price -- theres not much to it. And you will need to modify it as other reviewers have indicated, or it will short itself near the center-top, where the external contacts pass near the internal battery contact. That said, its very versatile. It works with both Alkaline and NiMH (e.g., Eneloop) batteries, which is the reason I bought it. I imagine it would suffice in an emergency. I only wish they would release a proper USB-compatible battery for these radios.

No issues for me.

Kinda bummed about it only being one in the package but its durable, long lasting and easy use. Fits my ham radio just fine.

First thing I did when I got this radio was run it down halfway through the battery, and then I fully charged it. It made it just around the 62 hour mark on standby without ever being turned off, with about 2 hours of solid listening from nearby repeaters and maybe 30-40 minutes listening to FM during the middle of those conversations. The math adds up about perfectly (I guessed around 60-65 hours of life based off 65mah/hour spec on standby), dont have to open it up to be sure youre being scammed. It is a genuine and genuinely good battery. Will be buying a second one soon as both backup and for my second radio if needed.

Works just fine but didnt exactly fit the radio. Theres a thin plastic lip that has to be trimmed off along the bottom of the cavity where the radio fits in that has to be trimmed off. Why they couldnt just make it to fit the radio to begin with I dont know. Once this is trimmed off, it fits perfectly.