[TenTec] Paragon 2 Memory Battery Back-up

[Dr. Gerald N. Johnson]

There is eprom in the Paragon II 586 along with the Dallas Semiconductor 
clock and static ram chips with built in batteries. Those DS parts may 
have been new to the Paragon II. I can't tell, I wasn't there and I 
can't download a Paragon 585 manual from the Tentec archives to compare 
them.

Its certainly a valid technique to use 9 volt backup on CMOS, though it 
might need a voltage regulator for some chips. I have an ancient IC-211 
(prime cause of my aversion to Icom) that made provision for connecting 
a 9 volt battery outside the rig. Tended to last about 2 days so it 
wasn't economical.

What I found for the Paragon II 586 manual is that the chips can be 
hacked, literally with dremel tool or file or saw to expose the internal 
battery connections to allow replacing that run down battery, or 
suitable and compatibile chips for complete replacement are still 
available from Dallas Semiconductor distributors or Maxim/Dallas direct. 
Other circuit revisions could be possible external to the chips, though 
battery consumption likely will be greater. That would require diode 
gating a 4.5 volt battery and the standard VCC supply to those chips. 
That battery might have to supply a milliamp instead of the original 
internal standby current of a couple hundred nanoamps.

A lot depends on whether the DS chips are in sockets or are soldered to 
the board. The picture in the manual is not clear about that since the 
overmolding of the DS chips extends beyond the leads.

73, Jerry, K0CQ

On 5/30/2010 4:01 PM, sbjohnston at aol.com wrote:
> Interesting... my Paragon 585  has a 9-volt battery clip for either
> alkaline or nicad battery backup of the clock and memories when the rig
> is unplugged from 13.8 vdc power.  The operating software is
> non-volatile.
>
> Steve WD8DAS
>
>