[Elecraft] K3 Current Drain When Off

Jim Brown jim at audiosystemsgroup.com
Wed Oct 16 15:15:49 EDT 2013


Nope. I measured both units several times, and just now repeated the 
measurements.

73, Jim

On 10/16/2013 11:23 AM, Eric Swartz - WA6HHQ, Elecraft wrote:
> Hi Jim - you must be misreading the meter by several decimal points :-)
>
> We just measured several K3s in the lab and they both draw less than 5 
> mA when off.
>
> Eric
> elecraft.com
>
> On 10/16/2013 10:37 AM, Alan Bloom wrote:
>> I just measured my fully-loaded K3/P3. They draw 1.94A on and 4.3 mA 
>> off.
>>
>> Alan N1AL
>>
>>
>> On 10/16/2013 10:07 AM, Jim Brown wrote:
>>> 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
>>> ______________________________________________________________
>>> 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
>>>
>>>
>> ______________________________________________________________
>> 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
>
> ______________________________________________________________
> 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
>



More information about the Elecraft mailing list