Battery power for KX3

[Allen Patterson]

Buddypole sells 14.4 volt lithium battery packs that would be perfect for up to full power for the KX3.
Allen Patterson, KC7SYR

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[Phil Hystad-3]

I have one of the 4 cell Buddipole Li nano-phospate batteries and it is great.  I use it with the KX1.  I have also used it for little things here and there such as testing the screwdriver antenna (powering the screwdriver motor) and other things.  It seems to deliver whatever power you need which is weird like some kind of Star Trek power source for the M5 computer.

The buddipole batteries are made by A123 Systems and you can buy them in a whole variety of systems.  Electric utility companies will buy a whole truck load of them (container actually) for emergency power, voltage control situations, and smoothing wind turbine power out.

But, buying these is a bit of an investment as the batteries are expensive and the charger is something you need to get too (unless you have one already).

73, phil, K7PEH

On Jan 12, 2012, at 7:53 PM, Allen Patterson wrote:

> Buddypole sells 14.4 volt lithium battery packs that would be perfect for up to full power for the KX3.
> Allen Patterson, KC7SYR
>
> Sent from my iPad
> ______________________________________________________________
> Elecraft mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
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[Chip Stratton]

The Buddipole batteries use genuine A123 LiFePO4 (nanoPhosphate) cells,
Those are probably the best from a quality point of view, but they are
expensive. This technology can be found much cheaper elsewhere, but quality
is variable.

You should use a balance charger with these batteries just like regular
LiPos, but I have found that at the relatively low rates of discharge in
radio use (compared to RC electric plane/car use) the cells do not get far
out of balance. I have charged the one in my K2 using the radio's built-in
charging circuit for Lead acid batteries and found that the cells stay in
balance rather well. I still use the balance charger every few cycles to be
sure the cells are staying balanced.  I dont recommend it, but it works for
me.

You cannot do this with regular LiPo cells, the risk of cell damage and
fire/explosion is too great.

Chip
AE5KA
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[Ignacy]

Perhaps any charger with 13.8V and a current limit would do for LiFePO4.

I use batteryspace.com 13V 20 AH battery that costs just $128. Charging from 13.7 20Ah switching power supply. Seems to charge really well.

Batteryspace recommends their own charger for LiFePO4 batteries. It should have max voltage of 4 x 3.7V=14.4V but I measured it at 18V no load. Seems even 18V does little harm as otherwise they would have too many returns.

Ignacy, NO9E