[Elecraft] K3 Current Drain When Off

[Charlie T, K3ICH]

Ur right, probably an auto-ranging Ammeter (???)

73, Chas
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Eric Swartz - WA6HHQ, Elecraft" <eric at elecraft.com>
To: <elecraft at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Wednesday, October 16, 2013 2:23 PM
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 Current Drain When Off


> 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
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