[Elecraft] Elecraft Digest, Vol 153, Issue 41

[Mark Petiford]

Re:  << The "real time" (sort of) clock is powered from the batteries if the rig
is in the OFF state, and not connected to external power.  I too have
had the internal cells drain as a result.  >>


What brand of cells are you using and how long does it take them to deplete?  If the cells are healthy and are truly low self discharge NiMH cells, they should not deplete much over a period of a few weeks or even months, even taking real time clock current into account.


For example, my 4 year old Eneloop 2000 cells haven't been recharged for well over 8 months.  The radio has been sitting in my day pack, ready to go, for all of that time, with a weekly power on cycle using battery power to be sure everything is OK.  I just did that again this morning and the battery voltage readout says 9.4 volts.  I suspect most of that discharge was from those occasional power on cycles since I sometimes check it out by transmitting on several bands.


The real-time clock does, however, gain a lot of time during that period.  I can live with that.

Mark
KE6BB 

    On Monday, January 30, 2017 6:09 AM, Dave B via Elecraft <elecraft at mailman.qth.net> wrote:
 

 The "real time" (sort of) clock is powered from the batteries if the rig
is in the OFF state, and not connected to external power.  I too have
had the internal cells drain as a result.

I now keep the rig connected to the shack DC supply, even when it is not
in use, just to prevent the demise of the cell's, but also of course
keeps the clock running.

Doesn’t need much current, probably a generic 14V wall wart would run
the clock, and allow periodic battery top up if deemed necessary.

73.

Dave G0WBX.


On 30/01/17 03:50, elecraft-request at mailman.qth.net wrote:
> Date: Mon, 30 Jan 2017 01:10:42 +0000
> From: Lee Thompson <flthompsonjr at hotmail.com>
> To: Jim Rhodes <jimk0xu at gmail.com>, "elecraft at mailman.qth.net"
>     <elecraft at mailman.qth.net>
> Subject: Re: [Elecraft] KX3 internal battery problem
> Message-ID:
>     <BN6PR15MB112217AF3A3E7A04221CE2DFC14B0 at BN6PR15MB1122.namprd15.prod.outlook.com>
>     
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="Windows-1252"
>
> I?ve seen the Bat ERR message also, but the radio still functions and after a few attempts I can get it to charge.
>
> Lee, WA8QFE
>
>
>
> Sent from Mail<https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=550986> for Windows 10
>
>
>
> From: Jim Rhodes<mailto:jimk0xu at gmail.com>
> Sent: Sunday, January 29, 2017 5:53 PM
> To: elecraft at mailman.qth.net<mailto:elecraft at mailman.qth.net>
> Subject: [Elecraft] KX3 internal battery problem
>
>
>
> My KX3 has suddenly decided that it doesn't want to turn on on battery
> power. It has been pretty much just sitting in a bag for the last few
> months but when I tried to turn it on it wouldn't, so I thought that maybe
> the batteries needed charging so I plugged it in, turned it on, went to
> menu to turn on charger and got "BAT ERR" message when I did. Set display
> for battery voltage and it says 10.4 volts. Anybody seen this before?
>
> --
> Jim K0XU
> jim at rhodesend.net

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