I've had my KX3 for about 6 years now and a single set of NiMH AA batteries. (Energizer 2300 mAh stamped "C1 1-14 UJP", so 6 years is right.) I set those aside a year or two ago, as I wasn't operating portable with the internal pack at the time. I also was a bit suspicious of the battery capacity at the time. Recently, I put them back in for some portable play and found out they are in poor shape.
How poor? Bad enough to trip the KX3's low voltage detection. The built in metering (V, I) is great, so I used that to measure internal resistance with a dummy load. I had to go to a lower frequency band and/or reduce TX power to avoid sagging to the point of tripping the low voltage detector. 10 MHz and 1 W worked in my case. Idle: 9.9 V 0.175 A TX carrier: 8.5 V 0.579 A --> Rs = 3.5 Ohms or 440 milliOhms per cell Not good. Picked up the same brand same with the same capacity from a local retailer, again. (That's all they had. Stamped "0720CP14", sounds new.) Popped those in. Idle: 9.8 V 0.174 A TX carrier: 9.4 V 0.583 A --> Rs = 0.98 Ohms or 120 milliOhms per cell A few TX cycles and I see: Idle: 9.6 V 0.174 A TX carrier: 9.4 V 0.582 A --> 0.49 Ohms or 61 milliOhms per cell Looks good! The built in metering is so useful. Love the clock, too, for logging during SOTA activations. Best regards, Drew n7da ______________________________________________________________ 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 Message delivered to [email protected]
