radio charging base

thingiverse

I recently received a couple of nice VHF radios from Icom. I purchased battery packs online, but didn't have any charging accessories that normally come with these radios. This project prints a drop-in charging base that lets the radio be charged using an external NiMH charger (I use a Sirius Smart Charger Pro Series designed for charging transmitter packs for radio control airplanes). The battery contacts were made from some scrap brass strips that came out of a 4-foot fluorescent tube socket. The SCAD source is included and can easily be modified for other radio sizes. Note: The brass contact strips are directly connected to the battery cells when the radio is dropped into the charger pocket. If you have a cluttered workbench, you might want to cover the exposed brass on the rear of the charging base. You won't get shocked (approximately 11V while charging), but if the base is pushed against a conductive surface, the batteries will have plenty of current available to cause some heat and smoke. How about a 3D-printed cover instead?