Saber current consumption
Posted: Sat Nov 04, 2006 1:19 pm
Has anyone ever looked, how much current analog sabers usually take when on stand by?
After a while after I got my Systems Saber III here I noticed its' usable working time (tx/rx ratio about 1/10) was quite short, no more than 8 hours or usually less. Then again Saber II R (not systems) went on (with a bit larger battery though) for more than 20 hours or so with no problems at all.
Well, battery on Systems saber III is an "aftermarket" battery (looks a lot like original though), however it has been measured with battery analyzer to have capacity for about 1300mAh. I claims to be NTN4538DR, 1100mAh NiCD battery. It even has the green dot on its side.
Ruggedized Saber II R battery is NTN7058AR, 1800mAh 7.5 volts. Also measured with battery analyzator, holds about 1890 mAh.
Then I looked what two different sabers take current with adjustable PSU and Fluke multimeter.
Turns out that Saber IIR takes about 70mA when it's on a channel with no traffic and about 90mA when there's traffic, but speaker output is set to minimum.
Systems Saber III takes 100mA with no traffic and 120 or more when there's traffic, but with speaker output set to minimum. That's a bit more that Saber II R, but it does not give full answer either. Too little difference still.
Is that current consumption lever normal? There is more circuitry on display board etc on System Saber III compared to SII, but still both seem to be quite hungry for current.
Also setting different "battery low"-levels on Systems Saber RSS don't seem to help much, since if I set it lower, lo batt warning comes in such late time that radio does not even transmit anymore when there's lobatt warning, and when it's set to higher, it starts beeping bit too early.
Original setting on Lo batt level was about 158. I tried to lower it to 100, which turned out to be much too low, then about 140, not too good either. Original lobatt warning level seems to be best level after all.
Is there some setting to enable rx power save? Most radios seem to go into powersave mode, which can be easily seen when measuring current consumption.
After a while after I got my Systems Saber III here I noticed its' usable working time (tx/rx ratio about 1/10) was quite short, no more than 8 hours or usually less. Then again Saber II R (not systems) went on (with a bit larger battery though) for more than 20 hours or so with no problems at all.
Well, battery on Systems saber III is an "aftermarket" battery (looks a lot like original though), however it has been measured with battery analyzer to have capacity for about 1300mAh. I claims to be NTN4538DR, 1100mAh NiCD battery. It even has the green dot on its side.
Ruggedized Saber II R battery is NTN7058AR, 1800mAh 7.5 volts. Also measured with battery analyzator, holds about 1890 mAh.
Then I looked what two different sabers take current with adjustable PSU and Fluke multimeter.
Turns out that Saber IIR takes about 70mA when it's on a channel with no traffic and about 90mA when there's traffic, but speaker output is set to minimum.
Systems Saber III takes 100mA with no traffic and 120 or more when there's traffic, but with speaker output set to minimum. That's a bit more that Saber II R, but it does not give full answer either. Too little difference still.
Is that current consumption lever normal? There is more circuitry on display board etc on System Saber III compared to SII, but still both seem to be quite hungry for current.
Also setting different "battery low"-levels on Systems Saber RSS don't seem to help much, since if I set it lower, lo batt warning comes in such late time that radio does not even transmit anymore when there's lobatt warning, and when it's set to higher, it starts beeping bit too early.
Original setting on Lo batt level was about 158. I tried to lower it to 100, which turned out to be much too low, then about 140, not too good either. Original lobatt warning level seems to be best level after all.
Is there some setting to enable rx power save? Most radios seem to go into powersave mode, which can be easily seen when measuring current consumption.