Icom’s chargers come in all sorts of functionality, shapes, and sizes. A charged battery is crucial to maintaining essential communications. Lets explore the surprising differences between Icom’s most popular chargers and understanding battery health.
Since chargers aren’t a one-size-fits-all accessory, knowing the differences between them will allow you to better know what would fit your needs. Do you want to use a smart battery? What about charging more than one radio at a time? How about one that works with intrinsically safe batteries?
BC-225 Smart Rapid Charger
What makes the BC-225 a smart charger? When the radio and charger are hooked up to a computer with the optional RS-BC225 software, users can read the battery history from the radio. Identify the battery’s health, temperature, how many times it’s been charged, age, and much more. You can also link multiple chargers together with USB cables. By linking the chargers together, you can see multiple radios’ battery histories all at once. To make organization easier between batteries, the battery names can also be changed in the software. This charging solution is great for industries that require heavy radio monitoring such as public safety agencies, agriculture, and construction.
BC-226 Connectable Rapid Charger
Have limited outlets? Have a workforce that needs an abundance of radios charged? How about a cluttered table with limited real estate? These connectable chargers offer a rapid charge for multiple radios that might take up your precious outlet space. The BC-226 allows you to interconnect multiple rapid chargers to form up to a 6-unit charger. It also works with all the F52D series and M85 marine radios. Industries like busy construction sites, retail, railroads, airports, and public safety agencies are a great fit for this charger. The BC-228 power supply is required when purchasing the BC-226.
BC219N Rapid Charger
The BC-219N is a standard, single-unit rapid desk charger. The BC-219N is great for modest operations such as a small school. Larger operations, where radios are spread out, can also benefit. Use on temporarily in a remote area when a radio cannot be brought aback to a central location for a nightly charge.
BC-227
The BC-227 is a single-unit rapid charger that comes standard with Marine handhelds, the M85 and M855UL. The BC-227 is also one of the two chargers that will charge the BP-292IS battery. This charger is particularly useful for smaller or commercial operations where there are spread out charging locations such as public safety agencies, construction sites, and commercial vessels.
All of Icom’s rapid chargers take about 3-4 hours to charge a battery. The chart below quickly compares features and compatibilities across Icom’s lineup of chargers.
| Features | BC-225 | BC-226 | BC-219N | BC-227 |
| Rapid Charging | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Connectable | No | Yes | No | No |
| BP-290 Compatible | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| BP-294 Compatible | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| BP-292UL Compatible | No | Yes | No | Yes |
Battery Health & Tips
Icom supplies hi capacity Li-ion batteries to work with these chargers. Advances in battery technology make Li-ion batteries quite smart, but they deserve to be treated responsibly.
- Chemical and physical changes in a battery happen every time you charge a radio. Icom recommends to replace batteries every 5 years to avoid battery degradation.
- Our batteries are durable, but they are susceptible to internal damage from extremely hard impacts. Be mindful of impacts for longevity of battery life.
- Batteries can protect themselves from high voltage output by making sure they don’t go over 4.2 volts per cell. They also avoid low voltage damage by cutting off a depletion at 2.9 volts per cell.
- Dead battery? Due to shipping regulations, to ship batteries, a charge requires no more than 30%. If they arrive and don’t want to charge when connected to the radio, they are not defective. Its designed to insure safety and capacity retention. Simply disconnect the battery from the radio and place it in the charger by itself.
