[Elecraft] K3 Power Issues

[Gary K9GS]

What antenna are you using?73,Gary K9GS
-------- Original message --------From: Corky <af4pm at searlsnet.com> Date: 9/1/24  4:56 PM  (GMT-06:00) To: elecraft at mailman.qth.net Subject: [Elecraft] K3 Power Issues I was having trouble with my P3 going into brownout mode when transmitting 50 Watt digital. This used to be fine, but seems to have been getting worse over the past several months. When I monitored the power on the front panel of the K3 I found it was dropping about 1.5 V when transmitting digital signals. This would occasionally drop below 12 V and cause the P3 to go to brownout and shut down. I immediately assumed this was a problem with my distribution system and/or DC power cables, however, on further examination, that does not appear to be the case. The voltage at the distribution system shows no change in voltage when transmitting. I tried replacing the power cables from the distributions system and using alternate terminals with essentially no change in the behavior.Next I cleaned the terminals on the radio with de-oxit, and moved to AWG 10 wire for the power connection (I had been using AWG 14). I also shortened the power cable to 3 ft and used a separate power supply so that the radio is connected directly to the power supply. This improved the situation a bit, but the voltage still drops 0.6 to 0.9 V on TX (digital or key down CW).While I am now in the range that I no longer get P3 brownouts, this still seems excessive. At this point, it appears that the problem is somewhere at the K3 power connector or somewhere inside the radio. Has anyone else experienced this and if so are there any suggested resolutions or things to test. I know, especially since I am now using a separate supply I can increase the supply voltage to address the problem, but there is still a lot of heat/energy being wasted somewhere.Thanks and 73,-Corky, AF4PM______________________________________________________________Elecraft mailing listHome: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraftHelp: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htmPost: mailto:Elecraft at mailman.qth.netThis list hosted by: http://www.qsl.netPlease help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.htmlMessage delivered to k9gs at gjschwartz.com