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Icom IC-A14 detailed questions
I need to replace my 24 year old crew radio. The current radio sits in
it's charger base 98% of the time, with the charger power on. At home, it's connected to an external speaker that's in my wife's sewing room and to an antenna on the roof; in the motorhome, we use it's internal speaker, but it's still connected to a roof antenna. It might get removed ocasionally for use as a handheld. The A14 looks like it would do the job, mostly. I'm hoping someone already knows the answers, so I don't have to wait till Tuesday to contact Icom... 1) Can the A14 be powered externally while it's in use? This could be cord from an external power supply or cigarette lighter socket, or a charger base that it sits in while turned on (the manual says it must be off while in the supplied charger base). 2) Can it be left on charge indefinitely while turned off? Any pertinent comments are encouraged. -- Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to email me) |
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Icom IC-A14 detailed questions
On 7/2/2011 3:34 PM, Tim Newport-Peace wrote:
The A14 looks like it would do the job, mostly. I'm hoping someone already knows the answers, so I don't have to wait till Tuesday to contact Icom... 1) Can the A14 be powered externally while it's in use? This could be cord from an external power supply or cigarette lighter socket, or a charger base that it sits in while turned on (the manual says it must be off while in the supplied charger base). 2) Can it be left on charge indefinitely while turned off? Any pertinent comments are encouraged. The A14 is not available in UK, but it looks very much like the A6 in the battery area. This also says "Be sure to turn the transceiver power OFF, when charging the battery pack with the transceiver". The reason for not operating while charging is that the voltage applied during charging exceeds the tolerance of same of the radio components, so the answer to "Can the A14 be powered externally while it's in use?" is probably NO. If I were you, I would look for a second-hand A2, A22, A3 or A22. All these radios run happily with a 12-volt supply connected to the radio (not to the battery). I'm considering your suggestion, along with a couple of ideas. I did contact Icom, which said leaving the radio on charge all the time will reduce the life of the battery. They didn't respond to my question about why the radio should be turned off while charging, but I think it has such a low current charger, the only way it can be fully charged in the specified 12 hours is for the radio to be off. I don't think overvoltage while charging is an issue, given that they provide a battery case for 6 AA cells. With fresh cells, that's about 9.5 volts. Typically, a two cell Li-ion battery would be charged to around 8.4 volts, a volt less than the AA battery pack can provide. -- Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to email me) - "Transponders in Sailplanes - Feb/2010" also ADS-B, PCAS, Flarm http://tinyurl.com/yb3xywl - "A Guide to Self-launching Sailplane Operation Mar/2004" Much of what you need to know tinyurl.com/yfs7tnz |
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Icom IC-A14 detailed questions
On 7/6/2011 3:01 PM, Eric Greenwell wrote:
On 7/2/2011 3:34 PM, Tim Newport-Peace wrote: If I were you, I would look for a second-hand A2, A22, A3 or A22. All these radios run happily with a 12-volt supply connected to the radio (not to the battery). I'm considering your suggestion, along with a couple of ideas. I did contact Icom, which said leaving the radio on charge all the time will reduce the life of the battery. They didn't respond to my question about why the radio should be turned off while charging, but I think it has such a low current charger, the only way it can be fully charged in the specified 12 hours is for the radio to be off. I don't think overvoltage while charging is an issue, given that they provide a battery case for 6 AA cells. With fresh cells, that's about 9.5 volts. Typically, a two cell Li-ion battery would be charged to around 8.4 volts, a volt less than the AA battery pack can provide. I ordered an Icom A6 because it will work with external power well, as long as you use the CP-20 "cigar socket" power supply cord. The Icom support guy did not recommend using the AC adapter to supply external power, though the manual seems to indicate it is OK to do so. Since my old radio uses an external 120VAC/13.8 volt output power supply, I can use that with the CP-20/A6, and of course, the CP-20/A6 will be happy with the cigar power socket in the motorhome. -- Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to email me) |
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