"Dave VanHorn" wrote in message
...
I don't know what other's opinions will be regarding this, BUT - mine is
NO. I know a guy who fried a H.F. radio twice by doing that. Maybe he
didn't have it connected altogether properly, but the charger fried his
radio twice and it cost him a few bucks to get it fixed both times. The
first time, he didn't say what caused the failure. The second time, he
figured out it had to be the charger. Since he quit using the charger at
the same time - once the set was repaired - again, the set has worked
fine. And yes, he still uses the battery and a charger. He just
disconnects the charger before using - now.

Well, there's all sorts of junk out there called "chargers", and most are
not designed to be on the battery continuously, and some don't have any
output voltage regulation at all. Wouldn't surprise me at all, if he
connected the radio to the "charger" without a battery in place, and got
18-25V or so applied to the radio.

For this sort of service, you want a unit with regulated output voltage,
and a trim adjustment.
I use switchmode because it's way more efficient, and therefore runs with
no observable heat.
There is no noise or hum into the radio, even when it's putting full
output into the battery.

My Samlex charger works nicely, and will deliver 13.8V to an open circuit,
or a 1 ohm load.



I didn't see the actual charger the guy used, but when the rig fried the 2nd
time and he fessed up with his hook up, then I questioned the voltage. He
didn't fess up the first time as he felt it was hooked up ok and there was
nothing to have caused it aside from a "radio" failure. In his mind, it was
a "12 volt charger" - it should have worked - must have been the radio." And
all he said was - it was hooked up to a battery. Saying nothing of the
charger since he felt it wasn't at fault. His charger was putting out close
to 18 VDC - when I asked him to check it - via phone. So, I told him, there
is your culprit. As to how well it was "supposed" to be regulated, I don't
know - but, he learned a lesson that time - an expensive lesson. "I"
realize - all power supplies and chargers aren't created equal - he didn't -
he was just getting into Ham when that happened. He seen a diagram I guess,
but it said nothing of voltages or other hazards to avoid. So, he followed
it and whalah - snap, crackle, pop. At the moment, it did seem it could have
been a "radio" failure meaning a part "could" have went bad from age/use -
possible former abuse - the set was used when he bought it. AND according to
him, it didn't blow right away, which sort of masked the fault - aside from
the concealing the charger. When it went south the 2nd time almost
immediately, then there "had" to be a reason to have caused it. Once the
culprit was found, the radio repaired - again, he's had good use of it
since.

L.

His charger was putting out close
to 18 VDC - when I asked him to check it - via phone. So, I told him,
there is your culprit.

That's what I suspected, unregulated output, without the battery in the loop
to absorb the energy.

This comes from using a "charger" as a regulated power supply.
Note that a regulated power supply makes a much better charger, than even a
"charger".