[Elecraft] Dead Battery

[Dave Gingrich K9DC]

At 22:46 6/30/2002 -0500, Jeff Burns wrote:
>Now my question is what caused this battery to fail in less than a year? The
>battery was purchased from a battery supply house I found on the Internet,
>rather than Elecraft. For a charger I use a laptop computer supply rated 19v
>and 2.64A (only cost $3). I made a box with a LM350AT voltage regulator to
>drop the 19v to 14v. Anything wrong with this setup?

It depends...  Are you charging the battery inside the K2 with the K2 
charging circuits, i.e. KBT2?  If so, the battery voltage indicated on the 
K2 display should be 13.8 - 14.2, which will require somewhat more than 
14.0 out of your power supply (due to diode drops).

Also, are you using and charging the battery continuosly?  Gel cells like 
to be continuously float charged (which is how the KBT2 is set up).  They 
tend to die prematurely if stored for long periods withOUT being on a 
charger.  (I'm pondering that one right now myself, having recently removed 
my KBT2 for a KPA100)

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Dave Gingrich, K9DC - Indianapolis, Indiana  USA
K2 #2211, K1 #931, QRP-L #2376, ARS #1109,
FPQRP #389, IRLP #473 #573,  k9dc.ampr.org
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