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Knowing you have clean DC when testing out a new QCX or QDX can save a lot of fretting. Preparing for the arrival of my QCX, I ordered a case for eight AA batteries with the same 5.5 x 2.1 mm mm plug that the QCX and QDX uses. It even includes a power switch It arrived yesterday and, while I don¡¯t have a QCX to test it with, for the $3.64 price I certainly can¡¯t complain. It¡¯ll provide backup power when all I can find are AA batteries or 9.6 volts with AA rechargeables. Here it is from a West Virginia supplier:
They also offer a six AA battery holder that¡¯ll give 9 volts (7.2 volt rechargeable) for those wanting to run the QDX on its suggested voltage. Unfortunately, it doesn¡¯t come with the 5.5 x 2.1 mm connector, just bare wires.
And here is that missing 2.1x5.5 plug
They also sell adapters between some plug sizes.
For those in the U.S., they ship USPS first class, so my order arrived in four days. Trying getting that from China!
They also sell on ebay if you¡¯re rather buy there. Shipping is $3.92. This is their store:
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Someone might clear up my confusion about these plugs. Rather than give them labels like batteries, they are described by dimensions in what seems to be an odd way. The male plug for that 2.1 x 5.5 mm plug on that battery case actually measures 5 x 10 mm. I assume the dimensions are unmeasurable interior ones. Strange. I just hope I got the right one. It is described as a 2.1 plug just as with the QCX.
¡ªMike Perry, WA4MP
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I've used an 8 AA battery holder too in a pinch, but my experience with the standard Duracell AA or similar is that they cannot deliver appropriate current for long. I can see the backlight dim upon keydown and this makes me worry that my signal may deteriorate over time. I much prefer a small LiFEPO4 pack but keep the AA pack for backup. Just sharing my experience with this.
Rich KQ9L
On Friday, October 22, 2021, 02:17:17 PM CDT, Mike Perry, WA4MP <editor@...> wrote:
Knowing you have clean DC when testing out a new QCX or QDX can save a lot of fretting. Preparing for the arrival of my QCX, I ordered a case for eight AA batteries with the same 5.5 x 2.1 mm mm plug that the QCX and QDX uses. It even includes a power switch It arrived yesterday and, while I don¡¯t have a QCX to test it with, for the $3.64 price I certainly can¡¯t complain. It¡¯ll provide backup power when all I can find are AA batteries or 9.6 volts with AA rechargeables. Here it is from a West Virginia supplier:
They also offer a six AA battery holder that¡¯ll give 9 volts (7.2 volt rechargeable) for those wanting to run the QDX on its suggested voltage. Unfortunately, it doesn¡¯t come with the 5.5 x 2.1 mm connector, just bare wires.
And here is that missing 2.1x5.5 plug
They also sell adapters between some plug sizes.
For those in the U.S., they ship USPS first class, so my order arrived in four days. Trying getting that from China!
They also sell on ebay if you¡¯re rather buy there. Shipping is $3.92. This is their store:
----
Someone might clear up my confusion about these plugs. Rather than give them labels like batteries, they are described by dimensions in what seems to be an odd way. The male plug for that 2.1 x 5.5 mm plug on that battery case actually measures 5 x 10 mm. I assume the dimensions are unmeasurable interior ones. Strange. I just hope I got the right one. It is described as a 2.1 plug just as with the QCX.
¡ªMike Perry, WA4MP
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Mike, thanks for taking the trouble to gather and share that information :-)
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Julian, N4JO.
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Mike
good approach. I have a QRP rig PFR3 that can operate from 10 AA batteries that fit inside. So 8 or 10 should power the QCX decently.?
i imagine those are inside and outside diameters, so hopefully what you ordered may fit. Otherwise see if you have a surplus wallwart with the needed connector and clip it off.?
curt
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For anyone who isn¡¯t old enough to have ever seen or used them, C and D cells provide much more current than AA cells at the same voltages over longer times per battery chemistry (carbon-zinc, alkaline, NiMH, various Lithium versions, etc.).? Yes, they¡¯re heavier, but The Laws of Engineering include one that reads, ¡°Low Weight, Low Cost, High Current Capacity ¡ Pick Any Two¡±.
Jim ?KJ7JHE
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Hi Jim,
You just can't put ten pounds of baloney (sic) into a one pound sack!
My PFR-3 has an internal battery holder that takes 8 AA cells and alkaline cells provide power for quite a while. I have NiMH D cells that are really happy. It takes 10 or those to get just a bit more than 12 volts. Ten of those inside any kind of "case" approaches the size if not the weight of a 7 A-H sealed lead-acid battery.
So many choices.
73,
Bill KU8H
bark less - wag more
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
On 10/22/21 4:31 PM, Jim Manley wrote: For anyone who isn¡¯t old enough to have ever seen or used them, C and D cells provide much more current than AA cells at the same voltages over longer times per battery chemistry (carbon-zinc, alkaline, NiMH, various Lithium versions, etc.).? Yes, they¡¯re heavier, but The Laws of Engineering include one that reads, ¡°Low Weight, Low Cost, High Current Capacity ¡ Pick Any Two¡±.
Jim ?KJ7JHE
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All of those eight battery options with NiMH rechargeables seem to be a good option for the QDX.? 9V isn't natively a good option for Li Ion, LiPo or LiFePo4 batteries, all really need some sort of switching converter.? And of?course that can cause noise... I am going to try both.?
Hi Jim,
You just can't put ten pounds of baloney (sic) into a one pound sack!
My PFR-3 has an internal battery holder that takes 8 AA cells and
alkaline cells provide power for quite a while. I have NiMH D cells that
are really happy. It takes 10 or those to get just a bit more than 12
volts. Ten of those inside any kind of "case" approaches the size if not
the weight of a 7 A-H sealed lead-acid battery.
So many choices.
73,
Bill KU8H
bark less - wag more
On 10/22/21 4:31 PM, Jim Manley wrote:
> For anyone who isn¡¯t old enough to have ever seen or used them, C and
> D cells provide much more current than AA cells at the same voltages
> over longer times per battery chemistry (carbon-zinc, alkaline, NiMH,
> various Lithium versions, etc.).? Yes, they¡¯re heavier, but The Laws
> of Engineering include one that reads, ¡°Low Weight, Low Cost, High
> Current Capacity ¡ Pick Any Two¡±.
>
>
> Jim ?KJ7JHE
>
>
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9V is actually a fine voltage for LiFePo4 if you can get individual cells. Three of them in series are just right for the QDX. I don't know of any companies offering pre-made 9V batteries.
All of those eight battery options with NiMH rechargeables seem to be a good option for the QDX.? 9V isn't natively a good option for Li Ion, LiPo or LiFePo4 batteries, all really need some sort of switching converter.? And of?course that can cause noise... I am going to try both.?
Hi Jim,
You just can't put ten pounds of baloney (sic) into a one pound sack!
My PFR-3 has an internal battery holder that takes 8 AA cells and
alkaline cells provide power for quite a while. I have NiMH D cells that
are really happy. It takes 10 or those to get just a bit more than 12
volts. Ten of those inside any kind of "case" approaches the size if not
the weight of a 7 A-H sealed lead-acid battery.
So many choices.
73,
Bill KU8H
bark less - wag more
On 10/22/21 4:31 PM, Jim Manley wrote:
> For anyone who isn¡¯t old enough to have ever seen or used them, C and
> D cells provide much more current than AA cells at the same voltages
> over longer times per battery chemistry (carbon-zinc, alkaline, NiMH,
> various Lithium versions, etc.).? Yes, they¡¯re heavier, but The Laws
> of Engineering include one that reads, ¡°Low Weight, Low Cost, High
> Current Capacity ¡ Pick Any Two¡±.
>
>
> Jim ?KJ7JHE
>
>
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Shirley KE1L wrote¡ I don't know of any companies offering pre-made 9V batteries. µþ¾±´Ç±ð²Ô²Ô´Ç¡
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Yes, but can you get a pre made battery monitor for the LiFePO4s at 9V?? I didn't get into details but the lack of premade cells is one of the reasons I said it. I suppose if you already have single cell charger setup and some way to make up a pack with the batteries being removable or have a way to do a 9V battery monitor you'd be correct.? Most of us have to use a 13.2V nominal premade cell and a buck converter.? ?That probably actually will be the way I go because I have been successful cleaning up switchers with the proper input filters in the past.? There are a couple of good articles on the web on how to do that specifically for amateur radio.? I should find them and post links to them...?
But honestly the NiMH pack made out of rechargeable "standard sized" batteries sure is tempting...?
Fred W0FMS?
On Fri, Oct 22, 2021, 7:37 PM Shirley Dulcey KE1L < mark@...> wrote: 9V is actually a fine voltage for LiFePo4 if you can get individual cells. Three of them in series are just right for the QDX. I don't know of any companies offering pre-made 9V batteries.
All of those eight battery options with NiMH rechargeables seem to be a good option for the QDX.? 9V isn't natively a good option for Li Ion, LiPo or LiFePo4 batteries, all really need some sort of switching converter.? And of?course that can cause noise... I am going to try both.?
Hi Jim,
You just can't put ten pounds of baloney (sic) into a one pound sack!
My PFR-3 has an internal battery holder that takes 8 AA cells and
alkaline cells provide power for quite a while. I have NiMH D cells that
are really happy. It takes 10 or those to get just a bit more than 12
volts. Ten of those inside any kind of "case" approaches the size if not
the weight of a 7 A-H sealed lead-acid battery.
So many choices.
73,
Bill KU8H
bark less - wag more
On 10/22/21 4:31 PM, Jim Manley wrote:
> For anyone who isn¡¯t old enough to have ever seen or used them, C and
> D cells provide much more current than AA cells at the same voltages
> over longer times per battery chemistry (carbon-zinc, alkaline, NiMH,
> various Lithium versions, etc.).? Yes, they¡¯re heavier, but The Laws
> of Engineering include one that reads, ¡°Low Weight, Low Cost, High
> Current Capacity ¡ Pick Any Two¡±.
>
>
> Jim ?KJ7JHE
>
>
|
Nice catch! Didn't know they made one. Now to find a charger for it...
On Fri, Oct 22, 2021 at 10:55 PM Keith VE7GDH < ve7gdh@...> wrote: Shirley KE1L wrote¡ I don't know of any companies offering pre-made 9V batteries. µþ¾±´Ç±ð²Ô²Ô´Ç¡
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Shirley KE1L wrote¡Now to find a charger for it...
That¡¯s easy!
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73 Keith VE7GDH
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They will add a charger. Click on the pull down. ?
Aug
AG5AT
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If you're set on using AA batteries, you might check out the Ladda series from Ikea.? Testing has shown that they are virtually identical to the more expensive Eneloop batteries.? I use them in my FT-817 and haven't had any trouble with them.? They're also High capacity at 2650 mAh so they should last quite a while with the QCX.
Cheers,
John Bell
VA7JBE
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Just use the small up/down arrows to select "battery + charger" instead of "battery only."
-Steve K1RF
------ Original Message ------
Sent: 10/22/2021 10:57:22 PM
Subject: Re: [QRPLabs] AA Battery Power for QRP Labs gear
Nice catch! Didn't know they made one. Now to find a charger for it...
On Fri, Oct 22, 2021 at 10:55 PM Keith VE7GDH < ve7gdh@...> wrote: Shirley KE1L wrote¡ I don't know of any companies offering pre-made 9V batteries. µþ¾±´Ç±ð²Ô²Ô´Ç¡
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I use a 10 AA battery holder, with 10 Ni-MH batteries,? it gives around 13 Volts.? Works well with my QCX.?
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I bought one of those cheap DC-DC converters some time ago and have used it intermittently for QRP and other uses when the batteries I have don't match a required voltage. They are noisy - but the good news is that the QRN is mostly gone for frequencies above 6 MHz.:
http://ae5x.blogspot.com/2020/05/cheap-dc-dc-converter-for-qrp-with.html
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John AE5X
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Using one of these with a motocycle battery
Used a separate schottky diode and resistor as a simple charger
in the battery feed from bench PSU for charging.
Jim? G4EQX
On 23/10/2021 19:44, John AE5X wrote:
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
I bought one of those cheap DC-DC converters some time ago and
have used it intermittently for QRP and other uses when the
batteries I have don't match a required voltage. They are noisy -
but the good news is that the QRN is mostly gone for frequencies
above 6 MHz.:
--
John AE5X
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Those who go use rechargeable batteries extensively might want get smart chargers that¡¯ll give more life cycles and in some models allow you to test the current capacity so you don¡¯t get stuck in the field with a dead one. I use two of them, one especially for NiMH batteries and one for the rest, primarily lithium-ion. For the NiMH, here¡¯s what one reviewer said about the latest version of mine, an OPUS BT-C2400. 1) Just charge the thing, and tell you how many mAh went in at the end.
2) Discharge it all the way, then charge it, and tell you how many mAh went in from a full discharge.
3) Charge it all the way, then fully discharge it, then fully charge it, and tell you how many mAh the battery provided between full and empty so you know the approximate capacity/health.
4) Do a refresh cycle where it will discharge and charge the battery three times, reporting the maximum capacity after the third cycle and leaving the battery charged.
That 4th mode is fantastic if you have cells that have been abused laying around that seem to be dead. I have run one of those cycles (occasionally two, to be sure or get a full refresh) on "dead" batteries and discovered that with some proper exercise they're actually still totally usable. On the flip side, if you run one of those cycles and the mAh capacity is still low, you can be sure that the battery has failed and can be disposed of.
The exercise mode can be particularly useful for "high capacity" batteries. I bought some high-quality ones here, and did some testing out of the package. Probably because of the length of time they were sitting on the shelf, if you just did a single charge-discharge cycle, the measured capacity was maybe 80% of the rated. After a 3-cycle exercise, however, they were providing the rated capacity. For Lithium-ion batteries I use Nitecore Intellicharger i4, which can recharge almost any battery. Compatible with: Li-ion / IMR / LiFePO4: 26650, 26500, 25500, 22650, 22500, 21700, 20700, 18700, 18650, 18500, 18490, 18350, 17670, 17650, 17500, 17350, 16650, 16340 (RCR123A), 16500, 14650, 14500, 14430, 14350, 13650, 13500, 13450, 12650, 12500, 12340, 10500, 10440, 10350, 10340 ; Ni-MH / Ni-Cd: AA, AAA, AAAA, C, D Those are ones I happened to run across on sale, so you might be happier with different ones. I also look for chargers that run off 12 volts in addition to AC power. That allows recharging from a car battery. ¡ªMike Perry, WA4MP
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And if you like to go really light weight on your charger, there¡¯s a tiny and almost literally universal charger from Olight. Given the specs¡ªthe under 2 ounce weight¡ªit should be great for backpacking or travel, where every ounce counts. Of course the down side it that you can only charge one battery at a time, and it needs a source of USB 5 volts.
Currently out-of-stock at Olight:
Available at Amazon.
I don¡¯t have one, but I do own several Olight flashlights. They¡¯re innovative and well-made but pricey. Note, however, the user review that says it doesn¡¯t fully charge NiMH batteries. Out of stock may mean a fix for that is in the works.
¡ªMike Perry, WA4MP
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Mike Perry, WA4MP
Julian N4JO
Fred Spinner
Shirley Dulcey KE1L