Is there a quick & easy method of determining the approximate condition of a
K2's KBT2 battery? Until recently, when I decided to sell my TS-850 and make
my K2 #478 my main station rig, it has almost always been in storage
(approx. 7-1/2 yrs!), and I've not been very good at maintaining the
battery.
When I got it out to keep it out, a few months ago, I was shocked to
discover the battery voltage only measured a little over 7 volts. At first,
I was going to just pitch it and buy a new one, but since I seldom use it
anyways, I thought I'd see how well I could revive it. I initially hit it
pretty hard with my power supply, then have had a constant 14.2 volts on it
since (13.9V. on the K2's display), except for a couple intentional
discharges. Now, when I remove power with the current draw at approximately
300mA, the displayed voltage reads 13.1 volts. Five minutes later it reads
12.4 volts, and it takes another fifty minutes to drop down to 12.3 volts at
300mA. That tells me the battery still has plenty of life in it for my use,
but I'm curious if there's a fairly simple way to determine just what
condition it's actually in.
By the way, something I did this morning, was shut the power supply off for
a half day. When I turned the rig on after having no applied charging
voltage for six hours, the displayed battery voltage read 12.7 volts.
Thanks!
Denny N9JXY
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