Mike - I like the idea of the drop-in charger arrangement a lot better as I
can come up with better sealing techniques and have these "stainless screw
heads" or something similar in a small block of nylon or delrin.  Kind of
like the way  Mortorola does it for the UHF radios - albeit on a much
smaller volume ;)

On the charger end, I spent a bit of time scouring for those shiny, 1/4"
diameter "spring-loaded" spikes that you see in some of the commercial
2-way radio chargers - no luck though - all I could find was the ATE
fixturing pins - they are much too small and flimsy to use in this sort of
application - do you have any other ideas on this front?
Thanks
Lewis



At 02:07 PM 6/24/98 -0400, you wrote:
>On Wed, 24 Jun 1998 10:59:25 -0300 "Lewis H. Cobb" <cobb@ZEUS.EE.UNB.CA>
>writes:
>>I don't really need the jack to be "operated" outdoors
>
>>This piclist is a good source for ideas!
>
>Here's some more.  Put a diode in the box so battery voltage doesn't feed
>back to the jack.  If the jack gets wet while voltage is applied, it will
>corrode rapidly.  Ideally, apply AC to the jack for charging to minimize
>corrosion.  Put the jack in a sepearte compartment and seal it up so any
>water that does leak in won't get to the rest of the circuit.
>
>If you'd like a "drop-in" charging arrangement, buy a hermetically sealed
>feedthrough pin.  Put a pin in a counterbored hole so the end is level
>with the box.  Use box ground for the other charge connection.  The
>charger would have two springs that make contact.  The charger should
>defintiely have an LED or some indication that current is flowing,
>indicating good contact is made.
>
>
>
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