OME INPUT POWER MEASUREMENTS AT VARIOUS POWER SUPPLY SETTINGS FOR MY X6100
I wanted to get a feel for why my then new (in mid-2022) X6100 was getting so warm and hot. I decided to measure the current draw at various external power supply voltages. My X6100¡¯s output was connected to a SWR / wattmeter and then to a dummy load. When in the transmit mode, I used the CW mode.
My general theory is that the power going into the X6100 (which is the volts x current) is the power in heat that must be dissipated. Hence the rigs¡¯ temperature rise noticed.
Note when the X6100 is actually transmitting CW at some power setting then the RF output power goes to the dummy load that I¡¯ve used and thus reduces the power in the X6100 that ends up being heat that must be dissipated. My table below does not adjust for this. For example, my table shows 40 watts going into the X6100 at 13.8 volts when generating 10 watts of CW. But the power actually ending as heat in the radio is 40 ¨C 10 = 30 watts. At 9 volts it would be about 17 watts. Also note that if some actual CW code was being sent, then the actual signals duty cycle would reduce this current and power by about whatever the signal¡¯s duty cycle was.
My testing was using simple on / off CW mode. No doubt that a more complex mode of SSB would be dramatically different depending on the actual duty cycle of the modulation and the transmit / receive duty cycle .. Be it speech or something like FT8.
My overall conclusion is that reducing the external power supply voltage powering the X6100 can significantly reduce the power that ends up as heat that must be dissipated by the radio.
Below is a table of the data that I compiled along with some additional conclusions that I see.
Gary KE8WO
