[Elecraft] K3 Current Drain When Off

[Buck - k4ia]

Be careful.  The power is on to the finals even when the K3 is turned 
off. Therefore, if the finals short, they can overheat leading to all 
sorts of issues.  Trust me, I found out the hard way.  Mine was drawing 
2 amps with the K3 turned off.

I make it a habit now to turn off the power supply when I am not around.


Buck
k4ia

On 10/16/2013 3:59 PM, Fred Jensen wrote:
> K3 #642 measures just over 4mA when off.  FT-847 reads 12mA. However, 
> with both those loads on the FP-1030A power supply, it appears to be 
> consuming about 3wH [72 watt-days/26.28 kw-years], apparently just to 
> light the little LED on the panel.  In fact, it's very close to 3wH 
> with all the loads disconnected.  Our highest marginal PG&E rate is 
> $0.34/kWh which works out to $8.94/yr max.
>
> Maybe a "leak" outside the K3(s)?
>
> It does raise the question, just how many electrons are being wasted 
> in the TV, DirecTV receiver/DVR, microwave, and the myriad of 
> phone/Kindle chargers plugged in all over the house, not to mention 
> this computer which is on nearly all the time?  I suspect it's a lot 
> more than 9 bucks a year.
>
> 73,
>
> Fred K6DGW
> - Northern California Contest Club
> - CU in the 2014 Cal QSO Party 4-5 Oct 2014
> - www.cqp.org
>
> On 10/16/2013 12:15 PM, Jim Brown wrote:
>> 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
>
>
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