Best Ways to Power Up Your Tecsun Portable Radios

 

Thanks, Craig:

The USB cable is for slowwww charging off your computer power supply. My 380 never came with one either. I use a 700mA quick charger for all of my battery operated radios.

I looked at the specs of my 380 and couldn't find power consumption ratings but I read that someone tested a 310(same size as the 380)at 25mA.

Which means that if you are using 1100 Ni-MH batts you're good to go for aproximately 40 hours. I can attest to this, as I use the supplied 1100 batts and only recharge them about once a month (I use it for a little over an hour a day).
The 390 with twin speakers should consume slightly more power than the 380/390 so you might want to use something with more capacity(I use 2300mA batts with my Tecsun 660 and G5).

Happy listening from WA...
Good night.

 

Comments

[Ken K. in NJ]

The only problem with using a charger is that these Tecsun radios (I have the PL380) take only 3 batteries, not 2 or 4. Is there a charger that can charge 3 batteries at a time?

Plus, to me it's just easier to use the internal charger rather than have to remove and reinsert the batteries.

BTW, looks like the Ebay Anon-Co price has been dropped by $5, plus you get the USB cord. This makes it around $10 cheaper than Amazon, but of course without the guarantees.

http://cgi.ebay.com/TECSUN-New-PL390-PLL-World-Band-w-Dual-Speaker-Radio-/120595877502

I'm really on the fence on this one. I have absolutely no need for it, but I like the fact that I'd get what amounts to a portable MP3 stereo speaker for about the price of a decent stand alone speaker.

[Gary]

Ken - There are lots of chargers available that charge the cells individually. I have a Maha charger that works this way, and it can charge one to four AA or AAA cells.

Charging batteries in the radio is convenient, but it's not optimal, because this charges them in series (as a group), so it may not charge each cell fully. Also, if one of the batteries leaks during charging it may ruin the radio. The cheap batteries Tecsun supplies are not very good. I had one of the batteries in my E10 go bad and leak after a very short time.

[Ken K. in NJ]

Thanks Gary. I guess I'm not up on the latest chargers, mine are all several years old. And, yeah, I never use those Tecsun/Eton batteries, I must have about 5 sets of them still in thier original wrappers.

[Craig]

This is the one I use:
http://cgi.ebay.com/T-3150-Ultra-Fast-Charger-8-AA-4-AAA-NiMH-Batteries-/390222355881?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5adb109da9

I charge four at a time and throw them all in a plastic bag marked charged so their ready to use in an instant. I have both 1100 rechargeables and 2300 batts. Make sure you don't get them mixed up and use batts of different capacity (keep in seperate bags). And also don't mix batts of a different age. When they start going bad throw em' out and start over. But the rechargeables do last a very long time.

I think Amazon sells an equivalent.

[Adam]

Guys - I'm really on the fence on the 390. Can anyone let me know what the am performance is like? I would be taking this to my jobsite (construction), and I mostly listen to am. Having the line in would be great as well for a little slacker, etc.. The small size would fit in my toolbox as well, rather than lugging the Sangean U3 around (although, I LOVE that box as well).

Thanks - Adam

[Gary]

Hi Adam,

These posts on the Yahoo ultralightdx group may help:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ultralightdx/message/11561

"Welcome to Ultralighting! Yes, the PL-390 is a great little radio, at least as sensitive as the Sony 7600GR on the MW and SW band. I would note that the PL-390 is not quite little enough to qualify as an Ultralight - for that I would recommend the PL-310 or PL-380. The PL-310 is somewhat more sensitive, but the PL-380 is free of the audio soft-mute (neither are as sensitive as the PL-390 on MW). If you run a loop antenna with them (the Terk Advantage or similar), the
sensitivity mismatch starts to be come moot.

Kevin S
Bainbridge Island, WA"

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ultralightdx/message/11561

"I have found the PL-310 to be essentially identical to PL-300WT on FM. The PL-380 seems to be a bit less sensitive, while the PL-390 is more sensitive since it has a 35 inch whip antenna (versus the 22-inch whip on the others). All are equally selective given the DSP chip that they share.

I have the Sony 7600GR - it appears to be sensitive, but the selectivity is horrid. I live in a RF-rich urban area, and there are ghosts and
goblins all over the dial on the 7600GR.

Kevin S
Bainbridge Island, WA"

Regards,
Gary

[Gary]

Here's the correct link for the second post:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ultralightdx/message/11412