[Elecraft] How hot is too hot

[Charles Greene]

Hi,

Take it from an old Navy steam engineer.  If you can keep your hand on an 
object, it is less than 140 deg F.  Whatever that means for the KPA100 and 
the hand test.  Got to be scientific about these things. :-)

At 01:44 AM 11/6/2002 -0600, you wrote:

>>I got the KPA100 running with only minor troubleshooting, and it seems to be
>>running like a champ. Gave it a good workout in SS last weekend. But can't
>>find anything on how hot is too hot on the heat sink.
>>
>>If I wait for fan to come on (whether set on normal or low/high) it seems
>>like the sink gets pretty warm to the touch before the fan kicks in. The fan
>>seems to cool it, hold down heat well. So for the contest I just switched it
>>to High fan and let it run.
>>
>>But tonight in a casual QSO, top was hot again before fan kicked in. Is this
>>normal, or should I be checking things twice?
>
>As I recall, general rule of thumb:
>
>   If you can place your hand (finger) on the heatsink and leave
>   it there for 5-6 seconds without screaming, it's getting 'warm'.
>
>73,
>
>Tom  N0SS


73, Chas, W1CG
K2 #462