I've had my KX3 for about 6 years now and a single set of NiMH AA
batteries. (Energizer 2300 mAh stamped "C1 1-14 UJP", so 6 years is
right.) I set those aside a year or two ago, as I wasn't operating
portable with the internal pack at the time. I also was a bit
suspicious of the battery capacity at the time. Recently, I put them
back in for some portable play and found out they are in poor shape.
How poor? Bad enough to trip the KX3's low voltage detection. The
built in metering (V, I) is great, so I used that to measure internal
resistance with a dummy load. I had to go to a lower frequency band
and/or reduce TX power to avoid sagging to the point of tripping the
low voltage detector. 10 MHz and 1 W worked in my case.
Idle: 9.9 V 0.175 A
TX carrier: 8.5 V 0.579 A
--> Rs = 3.5 Ohms or 440 milliOhms per cell
Not good.
Picked up the same brand same with the same capacity from a local
retailer, again. (That's all they had. Stamped "0720CP14", sounds
new.) Popped those in.
Idle: 9.8 V 0.174 A
TX carrier: 9.4 V 0.583 A
--> Rs = 0.98 Ohms or 120 milliOhms per cell
A few TX cycles and I see:
Idle: 9.6 V 0.174 A
TX carrier: 9.4 V 0.582 A
--> 0.49 Ohms or 61 milliOhms per cell
Looks good!
The built in metering is so useful. Love the clock, too, for logging
during SOTA activations.
Best regards,
Drew
n7da
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