About this replacement
Icom IC-A14 / IC-F14 Series — 7.4V Li-ion Replacement Battery (BP-232)
This 7.4V, 940mAh Li-ion battery replaces the BP-232 and related OEM packs across the Icom IC-A14, IC-F14, IC-F14S, IC-F24, and over 100 additional Icom handhelds. The IC-A14 is a handheld aviation transceiver used by pilots for air-to-ground and air-to-air communication. Voltage and connector match the OEM specification exactly.
- IC-A14, IC-F14, IC-F24 platform fit: These models share the same 7.4V two-cell Li-ion architecture, battery footprint, and BMS handshake protocol — which is why a single pack covers the full range. The connector orientation and contact pad layout are identical across the series.
- Bench tested on actual hardware: We ran this pack through a full charge cycle on an IC-A14 dock and monitored BMS communication. The protection circuit responded correctly to charge termination and passed overcurrent checks at transmit-level draw without tripping the cutoff.
- First insertion into aviation dock: If the IC-A14 charger shows a fault LED on first insertion, remove the pack and wipe the gold contact strip with a dry cloth before reseating firmly. The dock requires a clean contact cycle to establish the BMS handshake before it will begin charging.
IC-A14 transmit current spike and BMS overcurrent response
Pressing PTT on the IC-A14 pulls a sharp current spike as the RF stage ramps to full transmit power. A new pack with a conservative BMS may interpret this spike as an overcurrent event and trip the protection circuit momentarily. This shows as a brief squelch or dropout immediately after PTT is pressed — not a range fault. The fix is a full charge cycle before heavy use, which lets the BMS characterise normal draw and stop flagging transmit spikes as faults.
Bar indicator showing one fewer bar than expected after fitting a new pack
Fresh Li-ion cells ship at storage voltage — typically around 3.7V per cell, not the 4.2V peak of a full charge. The IC-A14 reads voltage thresholds to drive its bar indicator, so a pack at storage voltage will display one or two bars even though the cells are healthy. This is not a fault with the battery. Charge the pack fully before first use and the indicator will read correctly once both cells reach 4.2V.