Testing the original battery Baofeng 20200110 / SR171214 / SR170727

A child asked Santa Claus to give a pair of walkie-talkies to play detectives. We chose Baofeng BF-T1 with a claimed battery capacity of 1500mAh. When the gift was unwrapped under the Christmas tree, I had the opportunity to find out the actual capacity of the batteries in these radios. To do this, I conducted a load test.

As you can tell from the title, the batteries in the BF-T1 radios can have the markings 20200110, SR171214, SR170727, or no markings at all.

The exact size of the battery is: length 50mm, width 36mm, thickness 8mm.

The size of the battery compartment in the Baofeng BF-T1 radio is: length 51mm, width 38mm, thickness 9mm.

The testing will be done as follows: we will charge the battery to full capacity, discharge it with a current of 150mA, and then charge it again with a current of 150mA.

Baofeng BF-T1 battery actual capacity graph

Analog of the 20200110 / SR171214 / SR170727 battery

Based on the test results, the battery accumulated 598 mAh from 2.7V to 4.2V. Overall, it was clear from the beginning that a battery of this size could not have a capacity of 1500 mAh, but it could hold a thousand.

Therefore, when the batteries of my Baofeng BF-T1 radios fail, I will not buy the original ones with a capacity that is inflated twofold. I will buy a standard 503450 battery with a capacity of 1000 mAh, which is twice cheaper.