Simple Way to Determine Condition of K2's Battery?

[n9jxy]

Is there a quick & easy method of determining the approximate condition of a
K2's KBT2 battery? Until recently, when I decided to sell my TS-850 and make
my K2 #478 my main station rig, it has almost always been in storage
(approx. 7-1/2 yrs!), and I've not been very good at maintaining the
battery.



 When I got it out to keep it out, a few months ago, I was shocked to
discover the battery voltage only measured a little over 7 volts. At first,
I was going to just pitch it and buy a new one, but since I seldom use it
anyways, I thought I'd see how well I could revive it. I initially hit it
pretty hard with my power supply, then have had a constant 14.2 volts on it
since (13.9V. on the K2's display), except for a couple intentional
discharges. Now, when I remove power with the current draw at approximately
300mA, the displayed voltage reads 13.1 volts. Five minutes later it reads
12.4 volts, and it takes another fifty minutes to drop down to 12.3 volts at
300mA. That tells me the battery still has plenty of life in it for my use,
but I'm curious if there's a fairly simple way to determine just what
condition it's actually in.



By the way, something I did this morning, was shut the power supply off for
a half day. When I turned the rig on after having no applied charging
voltage for six hours, the displayed battery voltage read 12.7 volts.



Thanks!



Denny    N9JXY

_______________________________________________
Elecraft mailing list
Post to: [hidden email]
You must be a subscriber to post to the list.
Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.):
 http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft   

Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm
Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com

[Mike B-12]

Sounds to me like you got real lucky.  I'm sure that some capacity has
been lost if you initially discovered it at 7 volts, but it seems as
though it's recovered pretty well, considering.

I'm sure others will pop in with a better answer to your question (as in
"quick & easy"), but I will say that if you're looking for a new shack
gadget that can be used around the house (& car), check out a West
Mountain Radio CBA (Computer Battery Analyzer).  They're around $110,
but work great.  I purchased one for work, and have been very happy with
it.  I've used it on some personal batteries from time to time, and
would have bought one myself if I hadn't justified work needing one ;-)

In fact, it was the CBA that told me my K2 battery was pretty much shot.

73,

Mike KW1ND

[hidden email] wrote:
> Is there a quick & easy method of determining the approximate condition
> of a K2's KBT2 battery?

> By the way, something I did this morning, was shut the power supply off
> for a half day. When I turned the rig on after having no applied
> charging voltage for six hours, the displayed battery voltage read 12.7
> volts.

_______________________________________________
Elecraft mailing list
Post to: [hidden email]
You must be a subscriber to post to the list.
Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.):
 http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft   

Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm
Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com