Disappointed with LIPO batteries.

[KK0G]

I have a KX1.  I love that I only need to connect 2 wires to it:  antenna and ear buds.  But, will hold only 6 AA batteries internally.  Even with Alkalines the voltage is so low that it barely puts out 2W.  With NiMH batteries it's below 1W.  I now have 4 of the AA size, 600mAH, 3.2V LiFePO4 batteries in it.  That gets the voltage up to 12-13V and the powe is around 4W where it belongs.  For casual use on a weekend campout 600mAH batteries are fine and I have an external battery for a backup.  Needing a seperate charger for them was a drawback, but to me it was worth it.  And so far they've been reliable.

Same thing with my KX1 but I've never been concerned that I'm only transmitting at 2 Watts. I use alkalines quite often and easily make solid contacts at that low of a power level, if I can't do it with 2 Watts it's highly doubtful that another 2 Watts is going to make much difference. That said, I have splurged in the past and bought some of the expensive Energizer Ultimate Lithiums for it.

[RadioRay]

Watts iz Watts...

Chris is correct.



Increasing your output power from 2 Watts to 4, would ONLY increase your signal by 3dB ; that is only half an S-unit. However, you could only transmit for half as long, because your transmitter is consuming twice the power.

-...-

I've been quite happy with NiMH batteries and use those inside my UParmored KX1. The Lithium Iron cells are beginning to interest me, as long as they do not require a sophisticated charger.



de RadioRay ..._  ._

[cockpitbob]

Ray, I completely agree about doubling the power does almost nothing.  This was purely an emotion driven thing for me.  I stick with rechargables, so my power went up 4X because it was only about 1W with NiMH batteries, but still, that's only a 1 S-unit improvement.  There was just something about having such an expensive and capable radio putting out only 1W that I couldn't stand.

[gil]

I remember reading about a mod somewhere to boost the KX1 power.. I think it was just changing a couple components, resistors if I remember well.. But don't quote me on that.. The price being a little more current on transmit.

Found it!

R30 increases to 33 ohms (from 22) and R11 is decreased to 4.7 ohms (from 10).  If you have the 1/4 watt resistors, you can make the change.

Gil.

[cockpitbob]

Gil, thanks for looking that up for me.  I actually have that mod in and still my unit runs about 30% less power than it should.  I've looked at everything including the output filters and removing the tuner.  Oh well, 30% really is nothing.

[gil]

Hi, yes, I like the Eneloops, best rechargeables I've tried. I can only use 8, because my MTR can't use more than 12V, but it is plenty and gives me 5W output power. They also work great for my K1.

Gil.