[Elecraft] KXBC3 behavior

[Rich Heineck]

Fred,

Most likely the battery temperature got up to 45 degrees C and charging 
was suspended until they cooled to 40 C.  Normally a message should 
appearwhen that happens.

73,
Rich  AC7MA


On 02/01/2013 12:02 PM, Fred Carvalho wrote:
> Hi Folks. Sorry if this has been asked/explained before.
> I have installed the KXBC3 NiMH Battery Charger module. I am using 2300mh/h
> NiMH AA cells.
> I have plugged a bench power supply with voltage/amp meters so I can check
> what is going on. My cells were not empty, so I have chosen 4 hours charge.
> I set the PS to 14VDC. The PS amp meter reads 390mA during the charging,
> which is about 190mA for the rig RX drain plus 200mA for the batteries. So
> far so good.
> I monitor the elapsed time in the MENU/BAT CHG and the BAT voltage, which
> goes up to 11.7V. After 1 hour and so, the elapsed time chronometer stops.
> The PS amp meter reads only 190mA. So it seems that the charger stopped
> charging. That is in-line with the fact that the battery was somewhat
> charged.
> I go to MENU/BAT CHG and turn the charger OFF. I also unplug the power
> supply. The battery voltage drops to 11V on the screen.
> In any phase of the process I got no error message.
>
> Is this an expected behavior ? I have not seen anywhere an explanation of
> what happens if the battery is totally charged. Is  the counter supposed to
> stop, or it should keep on  sending charge to the battery until the total
> programmed time elapses?.
>
> Any input is appreciated. Thanks
>