[1000mp] Maintenance and Repair of the Mark V FP-29 PSU

[Ed Hughes]

> I never turn my power supply off. Just wondering
> what others do ? I am under impression that turning ps on/off will shorten 
> life of the backup lithium battery in the rig ?
> Ed
> KG4W

I think my procedure of not turning off the power supply
was partly caused by misinturpting a statement in the Mark 5 user manual. I 
went thru several lithium batteries
while fixing a defective CAT port problem (wound up
buying a spare control board) & sending my defective board to Calif for 
repair.
Some owners may not be aware of the statement in the
manual & this may be contributing to short lithium battery
life. As I (now) understand the statement, I pertains only
when the "backup" switch (on rear of rig) has been turned
off & now you want to turn it back on. Page 115 of
manual sez "Ensure the radio is ON when sliding the
backup switch back to the ON position, as this reduces
the initial current demand on the battery by the radio's
circuits from an un powered state"

Of course, (now I know) the only reason to turn the "backup" switch off
is when the rig is going to be off the air for a long period
& you want to conserve battery life. When I was dealing
with my CAT problem & replacing lithiums, I was turning
the "backup" switch off & then probably not following
the statement in the book.

Ed
KG4W