[Elecraft] KX3 lithium battery charger

2013-04-22 Thread Paul Enz
I naively purchased AA lithium batteries for my KX3 and thought it would
charge them only to find out it won't.
Anybody have a suggestion or experience with a AA lithium charger they
would recommend?

Paul
KA5SUN
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Re: [Elecraft] KX3 lithium battery charger

2013-04-22 Thread Mark Goldberg
What kind of Lithium Batteries? I have come to the conclusion that 4
LiFePO4 cells in series work well, as they stay between
14 and 12 Volts for most of their useful discharge, which allows full power
on the KX3. They should be charged on a balancing
charger at least some of the time to keep all of them at the same voltage.
I did not have good luck with paralleling them, so I
gave up on AAs as they have relatively low capacity and use bigger external
2.3 AH packs with 4 A123 batteries and a balance
connector. and a Thunder AC680 Charger. It connects via USB to your
computer and you can track the charge and the health of each cell.
There are lots of good chargers and some not so good ones. This one can
charge almost any kind of battery from either 12V or
AC power. Note that there are lots of counterfeit batteries out there. I
had to make up my own adapter cables as they don't all come
with the same connectors.

Spend some time researching these. I have had good and back luck with
different suppliers so I can't wholeheartedly recommend
anyone.

Mark



On Mon, Apr 22, 2013 at 2:51 PM, Paul Enz halera...@gmail.com wrote:

 I naively purchased AA lithium batteries for my KX3 and thought it would
 charge them only to find out it won't.
 Anybody have a suggestion or experience with a AA lithium charger they
 would recommend?

 Paul
 KA5SUN
 __
 Elecraft mailing list
 Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
 Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
 Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net

 This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
 Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html

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