[Elecraft] K3 Current Drain When Off

[Jim Brown]

I recently set up four solar panels and a pair of 6V golf cart batteries 
to run my station. When I first set it up 6-8 weeks ago I was getting 35 
Ah per day. Now with the sun lower in the sky and the panels shaded by 
my tall trees, it's more like 25 Ah/day.

The batteries didn't seem to be holding a charge, and I thought they 
might be defective. Then someone noted that K3s pull some current when 
they're switched off, so I just measured mine. Sure enough, when 
switched off, my oldest one is pulling 420 mA and the next oldest one is 
pulling 350 mA. The combined load is 18.7 Ah/day! That load, combined 
with a a few hundred mA for antenna switching relays is what's draining 
my batteries.

Is there a fix for my K3s short of an external switch to disconnect them 
from the battery?

73, Jim K9YC