[Elecraft] KX3 lithium battery charger

[Mark Goldberg]

What kind of Lithium Batteries? I have come to the conclusion that 4
LiFePO4 cells in series work well, as they stay between
14 and 12 Volts for most of their useful discharge, which allows full power
on the KX3. They should be charged on a balancing
charger at least some of the time to keep all of them at the same voltage.
I did not have good luck with paralleling them, so I
gave up on AAs as they have relatively low capacity and use bigger external
2.3 AH packs with 4 A123 batteries and a balance
connector. and a Thunder AC680 Charger. It connects via USB to your
computer and you can track the charge and the health of each cell.
There are lots of good chargers and some not so good ones. This one can
charge almost any kind of battery from either 12V or
AC power. Note that there are lots of counterfeit batteries out there. I
had to make up my own adapter cables as they don't all come
with the same connectors.

Spend some time researching these. I have had good and back luck with
different suppliers so I can't wholeheartedly recommend
anyone.

Mark



On Mon, Apr 22, 2013 at 2:51 PM, Paul Enz <haleramah at gmail.com> wrote:

> I naively purchased AA lithium batteries for my KX3 and thought it would
> charge them only to find out it won't.
> Anybody have a suggestion or experience with a AA lithium charger they
> would recommend?
>
> Paul
> KA5SUN
> ______________________________________________________________
> Elecraft mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> Post: mailto:Elecraft at mailman.qth.net
>
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
>