I recently added a KPA500 kit for my home station. It went together just fine, and overall I love it.
There is one thing about the way it works that bugs the engineer and environmentalist in me. Before I bought the PA, I thought I'd be able to turn it on/off entirely using the ON button on the front panel. I thought that maybe there was a supercap or backup battery that kept the button's electronics alive to perform the ON button function (like TV's have in them). However, it doesn't work like this. In order to turn the PA off completely, you have to turn off the main power switch on the rear panel. The front panel ON button powers up the PA from what looks like a cold state, however, my measurements are as follows: 1. With the main power switch on the back panel turned OFF, the PA takes no power at all (0.0W) 2. When you turn the main power switch on the back panel to ON, the PA draws 6.9W continuously from the 120V AC power supply 3. When you press the front panel ON button, the PA turns "ON" and takes around 13W (measured) in STBY mode My home station line up (K3s, P3, 2x SP3, KPA500, KAT500) sits on a large operating desk with a shelf unit that I build above the station. My computer monitors sit on the shelf above the radios. There is only just enough height clearance (about 2.5") between the top of the KPA500 and the underside of the shelf to allow me to put my hand over the top of the PA to reach the main power switch. It's fiddly but I can do it, it's just that it's a major inconvenience not being able to turn the KPA500 truly off from the front panel. Why is the KPA500 designed this way? In all good conscience, I can't live with the PA consuming 7W all day, every day - that's incredibly wasteful. I suppose I could put a more-easily-reachable external AC power switch on the side of my shelf unit to cut power to the whole desk, but that'd be ugly. I'd prefer that either a) the KPA500's main power switch was on the front panel, or b) the power supply system was redesigned so it only takes a few microwatts when power is applied but the ON button is OFF (not pressed, or pressed an even number of times). Comments? Ideas? Cheers, Dave AD6A --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to arch...@mail-archive.com
