[Elecraft] Portable Power

[Walter Underwood]

For most SOTA activations, rechargeable AA’s inside the KX3 work fine. Eneloop XX are very good batteries. They might be labeled “Eneloop Pro” in the UK. Look for a 2550 mAh Eneloop battery with low self discharge.

For the KX3, the internal battery charger is fine. For your other radios, you’ll need an external charger.

For the K1 and K2, external battery packs might not work as well. Some of them have high contact resistance and cannot provide enough current for transmit. I ran into that trying to power my IC-703 with an AA pack.

wunder
K6WRU
CM87wj
http://observer.wunderwood.org/ (my blog)

On Aug 10, 2015, at 10:14 AM, Jim Brown <jim at audiosystemsgroup.com> wrote:

> On Mon,8/10/2015 3:45 AM, David Bondy G4NRT wrote:
>> So, I am looking for advice on a portable power solution.  Should I bee looking at LiFePO4 batteries
> 
> Yes.
> 
>> or Sealed Lead-Acid batteries?
> 
> No.
> 
>> What are the pros and cons of each?
> 
> LiFePO4 gives more than double the Ah capacity for their weight, AND a far better discharge curve (that is, the battery voltage stays higher until it runs down). They are also a lot more expensive, but some battery vendors are a lot more expensive than others for the same product.
> 
>> How about charging them when they are not in use?  Should they be left to run down and then charged or kept continuously on a charger?
> 
> They should be charged using a proper charge controller.
> 
>> Are the Buddipole one any good
> 
> Buddipole is one of those too expensive vendors of LiFePO4 batteries.  The good vendors in North America are http://www.bioennopower.com/collections/12v-series-lifepo4-batteries and http://www.batteryspace.com/128vlifepo4batterypacks.aspx  I bought a BLF-1220W from Bioenno. My neighbor bought a similar pack from Battery Space.
> 
> UN 38.3 is a safety Standard for Li batteries, and is required for air transport of batteries.
> 
>> (although I would have to source the same type here as they are not shippable across the pond!).
> 
> I suggest that you send email to those two good vendors and ask for suggestions about how to buy in the UK.
> 
> 73, Jim K9YC
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