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Reviews For: A & A Engineering Smart Chargers

Category: Batteries & Chargers for Amateur Radio

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Review Summary For : A & A Engineering Smart Chargers
Reviews: 33MSRP: $79.95 for 1A version, $139,95 f
Description:
Three-stage chargers that will not overcharge lead acid batteries, even when left connected.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.a-aengineering.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00334.9
K6SDW Rating: 2005-07-19
In-service many years... Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Been using this charger for many years (thinking maybe 8 - 10 years) to keep 80-amphour gell cell going as backup power in shack and unit has never failed to work as descibed!
KA4TWK Rating: 2005-07-19
This is a very rugged kit…. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I constructed the 1 amp Smart Battery charger kit from A&A Engineering as a 1/2 amp charger. I tested the completed project by charging a 7 amp hour battery. The magic smoke flowed out the side vents of the case. I immediately realized that I had wired the kit up incorrectly and cut the power off. I opened the case and cut the charger back on and the smoke was coming from the R5 resister.

My kit contained a spare R5 resister and I replaced it after realizing that I had wired the transformer secondary in the spot where the Q1 voltage regulator should have been. I corrected my mistake in wiring and replaced the R5 resistor that was all that was needed. The unit has worked flawlessly since.

This is very rugged unit and I would recommend it to any one, even a novice kit builder as myself. I hope that you find my review useful. Please don’t make my mistake and wire those two components backwards.

Bill ka4twk
NM6E Rating: 2005-03-10
Works Great! Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Having purchased an Elecraft K2 QRP radio with the internal battery option, I wasn't sure how I was going to charge the thing.

After talking to Don, W3FPR (see his web site), he explained a "neat" way of charging the internal battery of the K2 that could also provide some of the current to power the radio when the battery was being charged.

Since I travel "extensively" to Latin America for work, I would be needing to charge my K2's battery not only off of 110VAC but off of 220VAC.

I called A&A Engineering and ordered the QRP Special Battery Charger (A Modified Smart Charger) that had a switchable input for either 110VAC or 220VAC and a switchable 1/4 Amp or 1 Amp output to charge the battery/provide current to my K2 QRP radio.

I have used the Smart Charger at home, while portable in the USA at weekend retreats, in Mexico and in Chile (220Vac) and it has worked flawlessly with the K2 internal battery combo.

It is really light weight and charges appropriately the internal 2.9Ah gel cell. I also use it to keep a spare 12Vdc, 7Ah battery to supplement the original K2 battery when no AC is around to charge the batteries.

During extended TX, I toggle to the 1 Amp setting to supply the extra current to the K2 so as to not drain all of the internal battery. During normal RX mode, I leave the 1/4 amp setting. On receive, my K2 draws about 280mA, just about the trickl charge that Smart Charger gives out and on Max transmit, the K2 is anywhere from 2.3A to 3.3A, so it pulls the current from the battery as well as the Smart Charger.

In my case the QRP Special Battery Charger came assembled from the nice folks at A&A Engineering and the workmanship is top quality.

I am quite happy with it and would reccomend it to others as well. The setup works quite well.

Javier NM6E
W2XS Rating: 2004-09-18
Seems to work well Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I just finished buiding the 1A kit. It came with the white output cord, and a black AC cord with attached plug. There were extra holes on the rear panel, so I mounted a toggle switch there and made it a switchable 1A/250mA unit. I also mounted a coaxial power socket on the back panel instead of using the white output cable. This way, I can use the same power cord and connectors that I use to power the QRP rigs.

The email support from Stas W6UCM was very good and he answered my questions promptly.
KG4VYK Rating: 2004-08-22
Great kit, fun to build Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I agree with the other reviews, the 1 amp model is a fun and easy kit to put together and an inexpensive way to maintain a Lead-Acid battery is top performance. It worked fine after final assembly.

But I do have one complaint that forced me to lower the rating. When the battery is fully charged the two front panel LED's go out indicating the battery is in "float" maintenance mode. Unfortunately this is the same indication you will get if the charger leads are disconnected from the battery! Since you will most likely use clip leads to the battery, you may think you are fully charged when indeed you are accidentally disconnected.
WA0RJ Rating: 2004-07-20
Great Kit - Easy to Build Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I bought the kit a couple of weeks ago. Took my time puting it together. The circuit board is first rate. Everything marked well and easy to find. All parts where included, nothing missing. Parts were all well packed and high quality. Enclosure very well marked and attractive. Instructions are adaquate, you should make sure you read them carefully, then you will be fine.

Worked first time when I powered it up. Most frequent problem with kit according to the company is cold solder joints and putting in the IC backwards. I almost did that myself, but caught myself before I inserted it into the base.

Holes in enclosure all perfectly aligned.

This circuit board is used with other configurations of the charger. Don't be worried about unused component holes in board. They are not used by this version of kit.

Very pleased with this kit.

Folks at company readily available for tech support and to answer questions. Very friendly and helpful.
N1JAO Rating: 2003-09-14
So far, So good... Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have had the 5 amp model for 1 month now, and it is hooked up to a 115 amp hour deep cycle job to my 746. It contributes 5 amps towards the load, and when I am done operating, it charges the battery back to 100% overnight. The battery is out on the back porch to be ventilated, and the smart charger is in the shack. Great way to go to make sure you have emergency power. Soon I will be hooking up an inverter to it so I can run a light and other stuff if needed.

Robert
N1JAO
W2VD Rating: 2003-08-03
Good Charger Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I bought the 1A kit. It was missing one resistor, but this wasn't a big problem. I had a replacement in my junk box. It took about an hour and a half to build (including scrounging for the missing resistor), taking my time.

I use it to charge 5 Ah batteries. I have it configured for the 1/2 A charge rate. I'll be adding a switch for either a 1/2A or 1A charge rate, so that I can charge bigger capacity batteries. The charger works just fine, and I am happy with its performance.

Even though this is a nice charger, I am left wondering about several things:

1. Why does A&A supply white zip cord for both the AC input power cord, as well as the DC charge output cord? A&A could have supplied a 1 foot piece of black and red power cord for the DC charge output cord. Black and red are pretty much the universal colors for DC power cables in the amateur world. Although A&A does supply red and black insulated aligator clips for the white DC charge cord, red and black wires would have been nice.

2. No 120v AC plug is supplied with the kit. This is the 120v AC powered kit, so where is the AC plug?

In any case, this is a good product, and I am happy with it.


N1KSN Rating: 2003-07-16
Excellent Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
This is an excellent kit and charger. I built my first one as a 0.5 amp charger and added binding posts to the rear panel for DC input from a 10 watt solar panel. One can leave the charger hooked to a gel cell battery while using the battery to power a QRP rig.

I was so happy with the performance as a solar charge controller, that I called A&A Engineering and asked for a special version of the kit without the AC transformer and case. They sold me the special kit, and I built it in a Radio Shack enclosure for exclusive use with my solar panel. Now I can operate QRP off a gel cell and have the panel charge the cell while I operate.

I am VERY satisfied.
N0EW Rating: 2003-03-31
Good product & kit Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This was an easy kit to build and it came well documented, including background information on properly charging batteries. I recommend this, in either kit form or assembled, to anyone wishing to properly charge their gell cell batteries. It is easy to use and the LEDs allow one to see what the charger is doing. I did opt to add a voltage meter to my unit, which I consider a big plus. This is described in their documentation but the optional voltage meter is NOT included. My only complaint is I wish their larger amp charger was also available in kit form! Since this is a low amperage charger, I now rotate all my batteries one after an other, so I am constantly charging one of them. If they were to offer their larger charger in kit form I would purchase it.