[Elecraft] KX3 Smarter Charger

[Ray Sills]

My understanding is that the idea was to go for simplicity.  To add  
more sophisticated features would add significantly to the cost for  
the charger.  NiMH cells are fairly robust, and do not need the  
special monitoring that, for example, lithium batteries do.  And the  
charging current is deliberately kept low, so that in the "worst case"  
scenario (trying to charge a fully charged battery) the cells would  
not be destroyed, but merely heat up, causing the temperature sensor  
to shut off the charging.

And, by choosing NiMH type cells, it's possible to replace them in the  
field with conventional non-rechargeable alkaline cells, so you can  
get back on the air with what's likely the world's most universal  
battery cell type.

73 de Ray
K2ULR

On Jan 29, 2013, at 1:35 PM, kissov at me.com wrote:

> Why is the available charger for the KX3 batteries so primitive?   
> Why can't it stop charging when the batteries are fully charged?   
> Why can't it start charging when the batteries need charging? This  
> should be possible in software?  Thank you.
>
> K6CG