[time-nuts] Sulzer 5A & 5P PSU/battery question

Magnus Danielson magnus at rubidium.dyndns.org
Thu Nov 1 23:24:09 UTC 2012


On 11/01/2012 10:27 PM, Attila Kinali wrote:
> On Thu, 01 Nov 2012 21:51:21 +0100
> Magnus Danielson<magnus at rubidium.dyndns.org>  wrote:
>
>> Yesterday I picked up a Sulzer 5A + 5P without batteries. It is supposed
>> to have 21 D-cell NiCd batteries, but today those are not easy to come
>> by,
>
> NiCd Batteries still exist, but have been mostly replaced by LiIon/LiPoly
> packs these days. Though, you should be still able to find NiMH batteries,
> which are in most cases a drop in replacement for NiCd, if you keep
> two things in mind:
>
> 1) The maximum charge current of the battery should never be exceeded.
> NiCd were much more forgiving in that regard.
>
> 2) When charging finished, then the batteries need to be disconnected
> unless you do a trickle charge. At least this was a problem with the
> early NiMH, it might have changed in the past 15 years. Check datasheet.
>
> 3) Charge end detection for fast NiCd chargers (>1C) does not work with
> NiMH as the negative Voltage slope of NiMH is not as pronounced as with
> NiCd. If you have such a charger, you need to replace it with a modern one.

Thanks for the input guys!

The manual for them both is at
http://www.ko4bb.com/Manuals/09)_Misc_Test_Equipment/Sulzer_Laboratories_Model_5A_Frequency_Standard.pdf

The 5P manual describes the charging operation, it has a 50 mA charge 
current, a fast charging feature.

By the look of things, the way that the design is done, it should 
survive without the battery-pack installed.

Cheers,
Magnus



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