BP236 Icom IC-F70 Replacement Battery 7.4V 2200mAh

Icom IC-F70 / IC-F80 Series — 7.4V Li-ion Replacement Battery (BP-236)

This 7.4V, 2200mAh Li-ion pack replaces the Icom BP-236, BP-235, BP-254, and BP-253 battery on the IC-F70, IC-F70D, IC-F70DS, IC-F80, and related models. It fits the same physical housing and connector as the OEM pack, with a BMS matched to the voltage thresholds these radios use to drive their bar indicators. Capacity is sourced from the product data: 2200mAh / 16.28Wh.

• IC-F70 and IC-F80 platform fit: Both models share the same 7.4V nominal rail, identical multi-pin connector, and the same BMS handshake protocol — which is why a single pack covers the full F70/F80 line, including the D and DS variants. Swapping between those models does not require a different pack.
• Bench tested on actual hardware: We cycled this pack through charge and transmit load on the IC-F70 chassis. The BMS held stable under PTT bursts and released cleanly after each transmit cycle without triggering overcurrent lockout.
• First insertion into the charger dock: If the dock LED shows a fault on first insertion, remove the pack, wipe the gold contact strip with a dry cloth, and reseat firmly. The Icom dock requires a clean contact cycle to complete the BMS handshake before it will begin charging.

IC-F70 charger dock fault LED after BP-236 swap

A new BP-236 replacement shipped at storage voltage — typically around 3.7V per cell, or roughly 7.4V combined. Some Icom docks reject packs below their acceptance threshold and flash a fault LED instead of starting the charge cycle. This is a dock-side voltage check, not a faulty pack. To recover, hold the pack contacts against the dock terminals manually for 10–15 seconds, or try a different Icom-compatible charger that accepts packs from a lower starting voltage — once the pack reaches approximately 7.6V, the primary dock will accept it normally.

Bar indicator showing one fewer bar than expected on a new pack

The IC-F70 uses a simple voltage-threshold bar indicator — each bar maps to a voltage band, not a percentage from a fuel gauge chip. A pack fresh from storage sits at a lower resting voltage than a freshly charged OEM pack, so the radio displays one fewer bar even though the cells are healthy. Run a full charge cycle first. After charge completes and the pack rests for 10 minutes, resting voltage should sit at or above 8.2V — at that point the indicator will reflect actual capacity correctly.