About this replacement
Icom IC-F3001 / IC-F4001 Series — 7.2V Ni-MH Replacement Battery (BP-264)
This is a 7.2V, 1300mAh Ni-MH battery that replaces the Icom BP-264 pack. It fits the IC-F3001, IC-F4001, IC-F3003, IC-F4003, and 18 additional models in the same series. It slots into the standard Icom battery bay with no modification.
- IC-F3001 / IC-F4001 platform fit: These models share the same 7.2V two-cell Ni-MH voltage rail, identical connector pinout, and BMS handshake protocol — which is why one BP-264 pack covers the full range. Swapping between F3001 and F4001 variants does not require a different pack.
- Bench tested on actual hardware: We ran this pack through the Icom desktop charger dock and confirmed the BMS handshake completes correctly. The dock moved from fault indication to charge mode without intervention once contacts were seated cleanly.
- First insertion into the Icom dock: If the dock shows a fault LED on first insertion, remove the pack, wipe the gold contact strip with a dry cloth, and reseat firmly. The Icom platform requires a clean contact cycle to register the new BMS before charging begins.
IC-F3001 charger dock fault LED after BP-264 swap
A new BP-264 ships at storage voltage — typically around 6.0V to 6.5V, not the 7.2V nominal. Some Icom dock firmware will flag this as a fault rather than begin a recovery charge. This is a voltage threshold check, not a defective pack. To clear it, remove the battery, wait ten seconds, and reseat it firmly so all three contacts engage simultaneously. The dock should shift to charge mode within thirty seconds of a clean reinsertion.
Radio cuts out mid-transmission on a fresh BP-264
When PTT is pressed, the IC-F3001 draws a short high-current spike to power the RF output stage. A pack still at storage voltage has higher internal impedance, which causes a brief voltage sag that trips the BMS overcurrent threshold. The radio drops TX and may restart. Run one full charge cycle on the dock before transmitting — once the cells reach full charge voltage the impedance drops and the BMS no longer trips under transmit load.