Posted by
S Sacco on
Apr 05, 2009; 2:54am
URL: http://elecraft.85.s1.nabble.com/Tone-Low-Bat-indication-tp2586773p2587368.html
Hi Dave -
OK, sorry for the misunderstanding; I thought you were talking about the
K3's internal battery.
Now that we have that out of the way:
1) "BAT MIN" is set to 11.0 v
2) When I measured the voltage using the K3's internal metering:
a) It was 13.6 v at receive
b) It was 10.8 v while transmitting 95 watts output **** Clearly, 10.8
< "BAT MIN" ****
3) I measured disconnected and reconnected the Anderson Power Pole connector
at the back of the K3, and the voltage increased to 10.9.
4) I have the power from the power supply (an Alinco DM-330MV) running to a
set of fuses before continuing on to the K3. It's one of those gold-plated
dressy looking deals that car audio folks use to bling-out their
installation (I got them cheap at Skycraft Surplus here in Orlando about 10
years ago).
a) I removed both fuses (one for +, one for - ) and treated both the fuse
and the holder with DeoxIT.
b) At the same time, I treated the PowerPole with DeoxIT.
c) I also noted the the - lug on the back of the Alinco was slightly
loose, so I tightened it.
d) My apologies for not doing one thing at a time, and then measuring the
result; that would have been the proper procedure.
e) Upon the above treatment and actions:
i) The voltage rose to 13.7 v at receive
ii) The voltage rose to 11.4 v while transmitting 95 watts
iii) To add another datapoint, I reduced the power to 45 watts
(typical power when driving my amp) and the voltage was 12.0 v.
Conclusion: Voltage drop due to I squared R losses.
I didn't measure the voltage on both side of the fuses before the DeoxIT
treatment, which was another mistake in my diagnostic approach. I did so
after the treatment, and noted a voltage drop of only .1 volt (from 12.9 to
12.8) across the fuses while under load.
Thanks for the tip Dave; it was much appreciated!
I've Cced the reflector, and hope this serves as a good example for everyone
to mind their connections.
73,
Steve
NN4X
On Sat, Apr 4, 2009 at 8:56 PM, David Gilbert <
[hidden email]>wrote:
>
>
> The age of the battery doesn't mean much, and if it is weak it will be
> while you're transmitting that the voltage will sag. To check it, all you
> need to do is tap the DISP button, and then spin the VFO B knob to monitor
> the battery voltage right on the K3. If it falls below the value set for
> BAT MIN in the CONFIG menu, you're going to get a warning ... and probably a
> glitch if the warning happens while you're sending.
>
> Dave AB7E
>
>
>
> S Sacco wrote:
>
> David -
>
> Given that my K3 is about 9 months old (thus, the battery is pretty fresh,
> no doubt), and that it happens irregularly and momentarily, while
> transmitting, leads me to suspect this is not a "low battery" condition.
> Given that, I have not checked the battery.
>
> 73,
> Steve
> NN4X
>
>
> On Sat, Apr 4, 2009 at 7:57 PM, David Gilbert <
[hidden email]>wrote:
>
>>
>> Have you checked the actual battery voltage that you're using? It seems
>> to me that the K3 is trying to tell you something.
>>
>> Dave AB7E
>>
>>
>> S Sacco wrote:
>>
>> I was working a station on 40M CW (qsk) this afternoon, and suddenly - and
>> only for a moment, my K3 got stuck and put a high pitched tone into the
>> speaker, while at the same time, indication "Low Bat" (perhaps "Low
>> Batt"?). It then returned to normal operation.
>>
>> I've experienced this "getting stuck" thing a few times, but never looked at
>> the display while it was happening.
>>
>> I'm running 3.04 right now.
>>
>> Has anyone seen this behavior? If so, is there a way to address it?
>>
>> Thank you & 73,
>>
>> Steve
>> NN4X
>> EL98jh
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