Yaesu VX-8R Power Problem?!?

[KD0IDG]

Well, so far, I really enjoy my new Yaesu VX-8R radio. For full disclosure, I'm also a new amateur so I apologize if this is a silly question. However, after running down my first battery charge while trying the thing out I decided to plug in the DC power adapter to keep going. The radio runs on the AC adapter; however, when I attempt to transmit the transmit indicator comes on for a second then the radio totally powers down and turns off. When off, it shows the normal "charging" display since it is charging the battery. Is this normal behavior? I would think I could use the radio while the battery was charging. Otherwise, it sort of seems like I would be in bad shape in an emergency if I couldn't do so.

Thoughts?

P. Todd Decker
KD0IDG

[K7JEM]

Normal operation. The wall charger will not power the radio during TX, it is only designed to trickle charge the battery in a 12 hour period.

A separate cigar lighter power cord is available, IIRC. It should run the radio fine.

Joe

[KD0IDG]

Normal operation. The wall charger will not power the radio during TX, it is only designed to trickle charge the battery in a 12 hour period.

A separate cigar lighter power cord is available, IIRC. It should run the radio fine.

Joe

Ah, got it! That makes tons of sense given the current draw.

A 12V-16V DC power cable (part E-DC-6) is also available. Is it safe to assume that if I use a good power supply and this cable that I would be good to go too?

Also, if using the cigar adapter or the E-DC-6 power cable will the battery charge too? Or, or do I need to handle that totally separately with the trickle charger or rapid charger station?

P. Todd

[K7JEM]

Ah, got it! That makes tons of sense given the current draw.

A 12V-16V DC power cable (part E-DC-6) is also available. Is it safe to assume that if I use a good power supply and this cable that I would be good to go too?

Also, if using the cigar adapter or the E-DC-6 power cable will the battery charge too? Or, or do I need to handle that totally separately with the trickle charger or rapid charger station?

P. Todd

That cable should power the radio. Pretty sure it will charge the battery at the same time. Check your manual to verify.

[KE5VYU]

Todd,

Couple of points on the 41. They call it a 'rapid' charger which I read to mean 'fast'. It is only as fast as the power source will allow. If using the supplied AC power adapter it is the same as plugging that into the radio. In this case 'rapid' means convenient.

Do not expect to use the 41 to keep you battery topped off and listen to the radio at the same time. This came up the other day in a thread. When the charger goes from charging to charged the charged status is latched and power from the charger is not connected to the radio. The radio will be running off of the internal battery and it will run down until the radio turns itself off because of low battery voltage. The charger will only go to charging if the radio is removed then reinserted.