Hi Steef, all,
well, intermittend or gone issues are hard to detect :-(
Based on your description, it is most likely that contact issues causes the symptoms described.
Or maybe a cold solder joint could cause such issues too.
I am saying that with care and respect, my K3/10 is #5921 and 10y young. Yours are older.
There is a certain chance that reliability is starting to degrade (10y is already a good age for electronics).
If you narrow down to the cause of the symptom, there is a good chance to correct a weak contact or similar topic (could be more than a solder joint or a contact).
If i can help, let me know, if time allows, it will be provided.
stay healthy
vy73
Harald
DD0VS
---- original ----
Hi Chris and Harald,
I have a few problems with my K3 #1184 and my last problem looks like your power problem. A few weeks after last PACC Contest in February my K3 had no power output beyond 12 Watts. Tuning the rig and raising the power to 13 Watts and higher caused it to draw 18 Amps, independent of the power setting between 13 and 110 Watts. The KPA3 temp raised fast.
Curious to compare the problem with your K3 problem I warmed up the rig and I let it bounce hard on the table and the power was back and could be adjusted as usual.
13 years after assembling my K3 there must be loose contacts. In 2010 I had the 12V ERR problem and I received from Elecraft new IDE connectors for the KPA3.
Since about two years my new KSYN3A 's did not lock when the K3 was cold. After half an hour I let the front part of the bottom of the rig bounce on the table with the tilt stand folded back. After that the problem was always over. There must be some bad connectors and I also had a fluctuating KPA3 temperature which caused the cooling fans turning on and off irregularly. The temperature jumped up and down between 20 C and 41 C. The bounce on the table also solved this problem during the contests.
If you can 't find the error disassembling and reassebbling the K3 might be a way to check connector failures.
73s Steef PA2A
K2 K3 KPA500 KAT500
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