Battery Charger for BB-588/U

Background & Purpose

In order to have a light weight charger to support my PRC-126 when I am traveling.

Parts List

Jameco Plug In Class 2 Transformer Model DC1805F1 part number 163272 ($8.95 Nov 2000)
Jameco Alligator Clips part number 70990 (49 cents)
100 Ohm 1 Watt resistor
Red shrink tubing

Photo

Construction

Cut the connector off the transformer (leave a few inches of wire on the connector if you may want to use it for something else).
Connect the lead that does NOT have a white dash to the Black alligator clip.
Connect the 100 Ohm resistor to the Red Alligator clip.
Cut the transformer wire with the white dash a little shorter so that both alligator clips will be parallel when finished.
Slip a 2" length of red shrink tubing over the dashed white wire
Solder the resistor to the dashed white wire.
Separate the alligator clips and plug in the transformer and check to be sure the polarity is correct.
Slide the shrink tubing over the resistor and back of the alligator clip and heat shrink.

Operation

The Black lead goes to the battery negative terminal (the female one with the insulating sleeve) upper in photo.
The Red lead goes to the positive male terminal closest to the test point.

At the C/20 rate the battery should charge in 24 hours and then be disconnected from the charger which should be unplugged.
This is NOT intended to be a trickle charger and should not be connected to a battery and left for more than a day.
What is the NSN 6140-01-241-2295 Test Point used for?
Ans: The test point on the battery is a thermistor used to monitor battery temperature during charging.

Performance

The open circuit voltage of the transformer is about 20.5 VDC with no load and it has about 16 Ohms internal resistance.
A battery that is about 15.0 Volts will draw about 40 mA which is the C/20 rate for a 0.8 Amp Hour battery
like the Saft NSN 6140-01-241-2295 that is sold by Mike Murphy.

It would be nice to have a snap connector that mates with the battery, but I have not found a source.

Disclaimer

This is presented for informational use only and I assume no liability for any problem you may have.
Do NOT use this charger with the BA-588 (Note that BB-xxx batteries are recharagable NOT BA-xxx).

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