About this replacement
Yaesu FT-25R / FT-65R / FTA-250L — 7.4V Li-ion Replacement Battery (SBR-25L)
This is a 7.4V, 1950mAh Li-ion replacement for the Yaesu SBR-25L battery pack. It fits the FT-25R, FT-65R, and FTA-250L handheld transceivers — three compact VHF radios that share the same battery form factor and connector. Dimensions are 88.56 × 51.40 × 15.84mm, matching the original pack exactly.
- FT-25R / FT-65R / FTA-250L platform fit: All three radios run the same 7.4V battery rail and use an identical mechanical housing with the same contact arrangement. One battery services all three models without modification.
- Bench tested on actual hardware: We cycled this pack through multiple PTT transmit bursts on the FT-25R. The BMS held steady under the current spike at transmit, and the protection circuit tripped correctly at the low-voltage threshold without nuisance cutoffs at mid-charge levels.
- First insertion into the FTA-250L 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 it firmly. The FTA-250L dock requires a clean contact cycle to complete the BMS handshake before charging will begin.
Why the FT-25R cuts out mid-transmission on a freshly inserted SBR-25L
New cells ship at storage voltage — typically around 3.7V per cell, or 7.4V combined — not at full charge. When you key up on a new pack at storage voltage, the transmit current spike pulls the cell voltage down sharply. The BMS reads that dip as a low-voltage fault and cuts the output before the transmission completes. This is not a faulty pack — it is the protection circuit doing its job on an undercharged cell. Charge the pack fully before first transmit use and the cutoff will not trigger.
Bar indicator showing one fewer bar than expected after a full charge cycle
The FT-25R and FT-65R use a simple voltage-threshold bar display — each bar maps to a voltage window, not a capacity percentage. A new cell with slightly higher internal impedance than the original will show a marginally lower resting voltage immediately after the charger goes green, which maps to one bar fewer on the display. Run two full charge-discharge cycles and the resting voltage will stabilise. After conditioning, the bar reading should align with the pack at or above 8.0V resting.