Joel, Measure the voltage drop right at the power supply terminals - that will tell you how much of that total voltage drop is due to the power supply. The rest is in the wire and connectors - there are 12 connectors if your PowerPole distribution box has fuses, and 8 connectors if no fuses. The connectors can account for about 0.2 volts drop at 14.5 amps, and another 0.015 volts drop in the 8 feet of #10 wire (you have to count the length of the return path too. So 0.22 volts of the total drop can be attributed to wire and the connectors.
A 1 volt drop at a 15 amp current draw is not unusual. 73, Don W3FPR On 2/26/2012 8:36 AM, Joel Black wrote: > Ron, > > I didn't think to look at that last night, but I am testing it now into > a dummy load at 50W. I am using an MFJ-4125 with about 18" of #10 "zip > cord." This goes to a PowerPole DC distribution panel and there is > another run of about 30" of #10 to the K3. On receive, I have 13.4 - > 13.5VDC (1.15 - 1.16A). On transmit, it drops to 12.4 - 12.5VDC > (~14.5A). The wires are not even remotely warm. > > I do not have time to test with my Astron RS-35A at the moment, but I > will when I get home this afternoon. I also have an Astron RS-20A I can > experiment with. > > Joel - W4JBB > > ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[email protected] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
