KXBC3 behavior

[fred carvalho]

Hi Folks. Sorry if this has been asked/explained before.
I have installed the KXBC3 NiMH Battery Charger module. I am using 2300mh/h
NiMH AA cells.
I have plugged a bench power supply with voltage/amp meters so I can check
what is going on. My cells were not empty, so I have chosen 4 hours charge.
I set the PS to 14VDC. The PS amp meter reads 390mA during the charging,
which is about 190mA for the rig RX drain plus 200mA for the batteries. So
far so good.
I monitor the elapsed time in the MENU/BAT CHG and the BAT voltage, which
goes up to 11.7V. After 1 hour and so, the elapsed time chronometer stops.
The PS amp meter reads only 190mA. So it seems that the charger stopped
charging. That is in-line with the fact that the battery was somewhat
charged.
I go to MENU/BAT CHG and turn the charger OFF. I also unplug the power
supply. The battery voltage drops to 11V on the screen.
In any phase of the process I got no error message.

Is this an expected behavior ? I have not seen anywhere an explanation of
what happens if the battery is totally charged. Is  the counter supposed to
stop, or it should keep on  sending charge to the battery until the total
programmed time elapses?.

Any input is appreciated. Thanks

--
Fred - PY2XB

*Other Calls*: PY2FXH, PY2FXH/W2, PY2XB/0, F/PY2XB, ZX2XB, PT7BXB,
PY2XB/PY0F, PQ0F, VP5/PY2XB, PW2IO (SA-071), ZX8W (SA-060), PY2XB/1
(SA-029), 8P9XB, PQ8XB (SA-045), ZX2S (SA-028); W4/PY2XB, 3D2XB

*Team member*: PW2M (SA-071), PX8J (SA-041), T30PY/T30SIX, PT0S
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[Rich Heineck]

Fred,

Most likely the battery temperature got up to 45 degrees C and charging
was suspended until they cooled to 40 C.  Normally a message should
appearwhen that happens.

73,
Rich  AC7MA


On 02/01/2013 12:02 PM, Fred Carvalho wrote:

> Hi Folks. Sorry if this has been asked/explained before.
> I have installed the KXBC3 NiMH Battery Charger module. I am using 2300mh/h
> NiMH AA cells.
> I have plugged a bench power supply with voltage/amp meters so I can check
> what is going on. My cells were not empty, so I have chosen 4 hours charge.
> I set the PS to 14VDC. The PS amp meter reads 390mA during the charging,
> which is about 190mA for the rig RX drain plus 200mA for the batteries. So
> far so good.
> I monitor the elapsed time in the MENU/BAT CHG and the BAT voltage, which
> goes up to 11.7V. After 1 hour and so, the elapsed time chronometer stops.
> The PS amp meter reads only 190mA. So it seems that the charger stopped
> charging. That is in-line with the fact that the battery was somewhat
> charged.
> I go to MENU/BAT CHG and turn the charger OFF. I also unplug the power
> supply. The battery voltage drops to 11V on the screen.
> In any phase of the process I got no error message.
>
> Is this an expected behavior ? I have not seen anywhere an explanation of
> what happens if the battery is totally charged. Is  the counter supposed to
> stop, or it should keep on  sending charge to the battery until the total
> programmed time elapses?.
>
> Any input is appreciated. Thanks
>

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Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
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Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html