About this replacement
Icom IC-92 / IC-92AD / IC-E92D — 7.4V Li-ion Replacement Battery (BP-256)
The BP-256 is a 7.4V, 1950mAh Li-ion battery for the Icom IC-92, IC-92AD, and IC-E92D dual-band handheld transceivers. It slots directly into the battery compartment on the back of the radio and connects via the same multi-pin contact strip as the original Icom pack. Capacity is 1950mAh / 14.43Wh — pulled from product data, not estimated.
- IC-92 series fit: The IC-92, IC-92AD, and IC-E92D share the same battery bay geometry and BMS handshake protocol. All three expect a 7.4V two-cell Li-ion pack with the BP-256 contact layout — swapping between any of these models carries no compatibility risk.
- Bench tested on actual hardware: We ran this pack through charge cycles on an IC-92AD dock. The BMS accepted the initial handshake without fault, voltage rose steadily through CC and CV phases, and the charger stepped down cleanly to trickle at full charge.
- First insertion contact check: If the dock shows a fault LED on first insertion, remove the battery and wipe the gold contact strip with a dry cloth before reseating. The IC-92 platform requires a clean contact cycle before the BMS handshake is accepted and charging begins.
IC-92 transmit current spike and BMS overcurrent response
When you press PTT on the IC-92, transmit current jumps sharply — far above receive or standby draw. A new BP-256 pack at storage voltage sits around 3.7V per cell, which is lower than a fully charged cell at 4.2V. At storage voltage, internal resistance is slightly higher, so the current spike on PTT is closer to the BMS overcurrent threshold. A full charge cycle before heavy PTT use brings cell voltage up and reduces the risk of a BMS trip during transmission.
Bar indicator showing one fewer bar than expected on a new pack
The IC-92 reads battery level from cell voltage at the contact pins — it does not track charge history. A new BP-256 shipped at storage voltage will read one or two bars short of full, even though the cell capacity is intact. This is not a faulty pack. Put it on the dock, run a complete charge cycle until the charger LED goes green, then reinsert — the indicator will read correctly at the full-charge resting voltage of approximately 8.2V across both cells.