[Elecraft] battery care

[Francis Belliveau]

There have been a number of good responses on this thread but I there was
one that concerns me.

You should never allow the voltage on an SLA battery to drop below 11 volts,
not 10 volts as somebody else mentioned.  A fully discharged battery will
actually read something like 10.8 volts when there is no load on it.  The K2
represents a light enough load in receive that it will be very close.

Keep in mind that going to such low voltages represents what is called a
"deep cycle".  Deep cycling of this technology is okay if you use a battery
that is designed for such use.  If the K2 battery were designed for this is
would be at least twice as heavy.

The things that severly reduce the life of these batteries are: excessively
deep discharges, overcharging and hanging around in a discharged state.

My recommendation to maximize life would be to run the battery down to about
11.5 volts, finish the QSO and then recharge the battery.  The effects of
deep cycling can best be minimized by recharging as soon as possible.

This is my understanding of the technology.
73,
Fran