The KBT1 should have been made easily removable so that the
compromises associated with having it installed need only be
suffered when absolutely needed. The KBT1 *should* attach via a
cable with a polarized two-pin female connector to a male connector
*anchored* on the RF board. This would allow easy removal at any
time. The current design has the connections made by soldered
connections, and even if you jury-rig in a connector in the power
leads, one side of the connector will then be floating ar
ound creating potential shorts when the KBT1 is removed.
73,
Mike / KK5F
I got the KBT1 kit but haven't really used it yet. I have made some
modifications though that will make using it much easier, including
adding my own jack on the RF board so that I can add / remove the
entire battery kit without soldering.
Where the two solder points are to wire in the auxiliary 12 volts,
the + point is directly under the switch, but the - point was next to
the switch. I got a 3-pin female socket, similar to the one you get
with the ATU - it's a 0.1" spacing 3 conductor socket. Anyhow I
drilled a hole in the RF board, and mounted the 3-pin socket there.
The two outside pins are both ground, and the centre one is for +12
volts. (not quite as good as a polarized plug, but I just used the
parts I had laying around). I used the special diode they supplied
with the KBT1 to go from the centre pin of my 3-pin connector, to the
power switch - rather than having the diode being part of the KBT1
assembly itself, this means the diode is right on the RF board, on
the bottom. Finally, I used some hot-melt glue on the top side to
provide additional strength to the 3-pin socket.
For the wiring from the KBT1 bracket I used the supplied red and
black wiring, and just terminated it on a 3-pin header.
The last thing I changed was rather than using discrete AA sized
rechargables, I had a battery pack assembled. This allowed me to use
the larger diameter AA type cells. Without the plastic battery
holder there is more room for batteries. So I have a 9.6v 2000 mAh
battery pack made up. On its terminals I added a '9-volt' style snap
connector, and to the KBT1 switch I put another '9-volt' style snap
connector. This lets me easily pull the battery pack out and drop it
into my Maha quick charger, without removing the KBT1 bracket etc.
I still have the 8-AA plastic holder of course, and with another 9-
volt style snap connector on that, I can just as easily drop that in
and load it with off the shelf AAs if needed.
In the meantime, I also used two small strips of brass to add a
little 'lip' to the stock K1 top cover, because I like the ease of
opening it with just the two knurled thumbscrews at the back.
So now the whole process of switching from the 'normal' K1 to the
battery powered unit takes me under a minute - just unscrew the
thumbscrews, remove the stock lid and speaker, drop in the KBT1
bracket, plug in the speaker, plug in the power cable, and put on the
KBT1 lid and screw it down. No tools required at all.
73 de
Stephanie
va3uxb
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