Tait Orca Elan 7.2V Ni-MH Compatible Battery TOPB200

Tait Orca Elan / Excel / Eclipse Series — 7.2V Ni-MH Replacement Battery (TOPB200)

This 7.2V, 2000mAh Ni-MH pack replaces the original Tait battery across the Orca Elan, Excel, Eclipse, and 5000 series portable radios. It matches the OEM voltage rail and connector footprint, so it seats directly into the radio body and charger dock without modification. Capacity is sourced from the product specification at 14.4Wh.

• Orca Elan, Excel, Eclipse, and 5000 platform fit: These models share the same battery bay dimensions, 7.2V Ni-MH voltage rail, and OEM connector pinout. A single pack family — TOPB200 through TOPB800 — covers the range because Tait standardised the BMS handshake and contact strip layout across this radio generation.
• Bench tested on actual hardware: We cycled this pack through full charge and discharge runs on the Tait charger dock. The BMS accepted the initial handshake without fault, held the rated voltage through the discharge curve, and showed no thermal event at the contact strip.
• Ni-MH conditioning on the Tait dock: If your Tait charger shows a slow-blink fault on the first insertion, do not remove the radio — let the dock complete its trickle-charge pre-conditioning phase. Ni-MH packs shipped at storage charge (roughly 1.2V per cell) sit below the dock's fast-charge acceptance threshold and need that initial trickle cycle to climb into the acceptance window before the green charge indicator activates.

Why the Orca Elan cuts out mid-transmission on a fresh pack

When PTT is pressed, the radio draws a sharp current spike to power the RF output stage — often two to three times the standby draw. A Ni-MH pack at storage voltage has higher internal impedance than a fully conditioned cell, so that spike causes a momentary voltage sag. The BMS interprets this sag as an undervoltage condition and trips the output stage, cutting the transmission. After two or three full charge cycles, cell impedance drops and the sag narrows enough that the BMS no longer trips. Run the pack through at least two complete charge cycles on the Tait dock before field use.

Bar indicator showing one fewer bar than expected after fitting this pack

The Orca Elan uses a voltage-threshold bar display — each bar maps to a fixed voltage band, not a fuel gauge calculation. A new Ni-MH pack at storage charge reads lower than a fully charged cell, so the radio displays one fewer bar immediately after fitting. This is not a fault with the pack. Charge the battery fully on the Tait dock — target voltage at end of charge is approximately 8.5V across the pack — and the bar indicator will align with the full-charge threshold on next power-on.