BA-5590/U

Two "12" Volt batteries each with 7.5 AH capacity.  LiSO₂ chemistry. Although there were some developmental versions with a fuel gauge either the gauge did not work or the cost adder was too high.  The military is still purchasing the BA-5590 without the fuel gauge.  I wrote "12" Volts because that's how the battery is commonly called, but it has two strings of 5 LiSO₂ cells and each cell is 3.0 Volts for an actual output of 15 Volts.

The Army buys about 350,000 BA-5590 per year at a cost of about $100 each (includes $30 each for disposal).  There is a strong motivation to find a replacement and fuel cells, micro turbines and whatever else will supply the energy with equal or better numbers for weight and dollars are being sought, but so far there has been no winner.

The SO₂ is pressurized to about 3 atmospheres (45 PSI) to make it a liquid so that it can act as the electrolyte.  There is a pressure relief valve that will open around 350 PSI and stay open.  When the battery "vents" SO₂ gas will escape and this is a hazardous situation.

Power Source	Spec	Spec Sheet	Nom Volts	Terminals	Nom Wt	Ht	Wd	Dpth	WH
BA-5590B/U	MIL-PRF-49471	MIL-PRF-49471/3	12 or 24 volts	SC-C-179492	2.25 lbs, 25 g	5.0 in	4.4 in	2.45 in	170

Battery Supplies Ran Dangerously Low in Iraq -

NSNs

6135-01-036-3495
6135-01-070-3865

DEADLINED Batteries (Venting Problems)

6665-99-760-9742, manufactured by BALLARD Contract DAAB07-90-C-C024
NSN 6665-99-760-9742, manufactured by CROMPTON ETERNACELL LTD  Contract DAAB07-91-C-4014
NSN 6135-01-036-3495, manufactured by SAFT AMERICA Contract DAAB07-88-C-C045 & DAAB07-90-C-C020
NSN 6135-01-435-3097, manufactured by SAFT AMERICA Contract DAAB07-90-C-C020

Radios vs. Battery Use

It looks like modern radios use the two halfs of the battery wired in series to provide 30 Volts.  This way when two batteries are used in parallel there are two benefits:

• The talk time is doubled
• One battery can be removed while the radio is operating and replaced keeping the radio on line, this may be important for digital coms.

 

Radio	Each Battery	Batteries Combined	Current Amp
PRC-119 SINCGARS	Parallel	n.a.	RT 1523E < 1.5 A
RF-3090 and PRC-117	Parallel	n.a.
PRC-104 HF	Series		Rx < 200 ma  (180 ma) Tx < 3.5 Amp (2.9 A)
LST-4	Series	n.a.
HST-5	Series	n.a.
PRC-113 dual band VHF/UHF	Series	Parallel
MXF-707 series
Motorola URC and LST
HST-4 series

Pin Outs & Fuse

Battery	Chemistry	A	B	Other	AH series	Watt hr	Fuse1	Comment
BA-1590	Mercury							Obsolete
BA-5590	LiSO2	1- & 4+	2- & 5+	3 & 6 nc	7.5 AH @ 0.5 A	210	2.25 A SB	main primary
BB-390	NiMH	1,3- & 4+	2- & 5+	6 termistor4 cntr tap	3.6 AH 2 @ 0.72 A	100	none	main secondary
BB-390B	NiMH	1,3- & 4+	2- & 5+	6 termistor4 cntr tap	4.9 AH @ 0.72 A	118	none
BB-490	SLA	1,3- & 4+	2- & 5+	6 nc	1.8 AH @ 0.35 A	43	none	obsolete
BB-590	NiCad	1- & 3,4+	2- & 5+	6 nc	2.2 AH @ 0.5 A	62	none
BA-7590	LiMnO2	1- & 4+	2- & 5+	33 & 6 nc	12 AH @ 2A	288	2 A max
BA-5390	LiMnO2	1- & 4+	2- & 5+	3 & 6 nc	11.3 AH @ 2 A	271	2 A max
BB-25906	LiIon5	1- & 4+	2- & 5+	3 & 6 nc	6.2 AH @ 0.4 A	174	?	24 cells
BB-557	NiCad	1,3- & 4+	2- & 5+	6 nc	0.45 AH @ 0.5 A	13	?	~1/2 size

Note¹  Some radios, like the PRC-104, pull more that 2.25 Amps, so a single BA-5590 will not work becasue of it's internal fuse, maybe that's why the battery box holds 2 each BA-5590 batteries..  Note that the BB-390 and BB-590 do not have a fuse to limit the current.
Note ² When the BB-390 is used in the PRC-104, or other radios that pull a lot of current, the AH capacity will be much lower than the stated capacity at a lower current.
Note³ Pin 3 is jumpered to pin 1 when the battery is rechargable.  This way the radio knows NOT to try and charge a primary battery that would explode.
Note⁴ The BB-390 has two thermistors that are used to sense the temperature of the A and B sides.  Socket pin 6 (center) is that common connection for these and there are 2 other connections that are not part of the socket, but rather are on the top surface of the battery.  The BB-390 also has 2 gas gauges.  There are different version letters and each has more watt hour capacity.  The "B" version may also have an improved gas gauge.
Note⁵ The charging profile for a Li-Ion battery is very different from a Ni-Cad or Ni-MH battery and so a different charger is needed.  There may be an upgrade for the PP-8444 to handle Li-Ion batteries.  There also might be some special socket wiring to identify the Li-Ion chemistry to the charger would know which profile to use.  In the future I think (today is 27 Aug 2004) there will be a digital bus between the battery and load/charger as is now used for laptop Li-Ion batteries.
Note⁶  Video showing BA-2590 catch fire when shot by an M 16 and all the cells catch fire due to overheating.  Would make a good incendiary device.  Also shows the 18650 cylindrical Li-Ion cell spouting fire when squeezed or punctured. 

WARNING - the fully charged voltage of the BB-2590 is 16.4 volts per side or 32.8 volts for a series connection.  A fresh BA-5590 is right on 15 volts per side or 30 volts for a series connection.  This higher voltage can cause problems for some equipment that was not designed to take it such as the Javlin system and the SINCGARS RT-1523A & RT-1523D (EGTN version). Li-Ion batteries have a very low internal resistance and so this voltage does not drop when a load is applied like would happen with alkaline cells and the equipment must be able to take the extra high input voltage.

What is a 12 Volt Battery?

Many radios are made to operate from the common automotive "12 Volt" electrical system.  Some voltages found are:

• 14.8 Volts when engine is running and vehicle battery is being charged
• 13.6 Volts when battery is charged but not being charged or drained
• 12.0 Volts minimum discharge voltage to allow full recharge
• 10.0 Volts minimum usefull voltage if willing to kill battery to get something from it

So if a radio, or other electrical equipment, is going to work with the automotive electrical system it needs to be able to accomodate a voltage range of 10 to 15 volts.  For military vehicles that use "24 Volt" systems the range would be 20 to 30 Volts.

If a battery manufacturer was going to make a battery for a radio that was designed to work on a "12 Volt" automotive system they could make the terminal voltage very close to 12 Volts, but since the radio can work with 15 Volts a much better choice would be to make a 15 Volt battery.  This is the Case with the BA-5590.  They could have used 4 each 3 Volt LiSO2 cells for 12.0 Volts, but used 5 each 3 Volt cells for 15.0 Volts.  Some after market battery manufacturers don't seem to understand this and actually made a 12.0 Volt battery, I don't think it was used much.

Note that for radios where the battery voltage is used directly for audio or R.F. power amplifiers the power available is proportional to the square of the battery voltage.  So at 15 Volts the power is 2.25 more than at 10 Volts.

How to Compare the capacity of different Batteries?

Amp Hours

When comparing batteries with the same terminal voltage the "Ampere Hour" rating is a convient tool. Amp Hours (AH) makes it easy to convert from the radios current draw into operation time.  For example a battery rated at 7.5 AH with a terminal voltage of 30 Volts will power a radio that draws 1 Amp for 7.5 Hours.  If the battery is made up of a single series string of cells then the AH rating of the string is the same as the AH rating of one of the cells.

Capacity depends on load current

That example is not quite true.  Most batteries are rated at C/20 (lead acid) or C/10 (most rechargeable types).  So a lead acid battery rated for 7.5 AH will supply 375 ma for 20 hours.  Or a Ni-MH battery rated 7.5 AH will supply 750 ma for 10 hours.  Note that the capacity decreases if the current is increased so a Ni-MH battery rated 7.5 AH loaded at 1.5 amps may only run for 3 hours, not the 5 hours the AH rating might suggest.  This works the other way, if the load is less than the C/10 rate the capacity will be greater than the rated value.  This is why battery makers publish discharge curves.

Watt Hours

Now suppose that you want to compare batteries that have different terminal voltages.  For example you could use 10 AA cells in my 68BA battery adapter or 12 AA cells.  They are both in a series string so both have 1.3 AH capacity.  But since the voltages are different you can not say that the radio will have the same talk time.  One way to look at this is to use Watt Hours (W = Volts * Amps).
The 10 AA battery has a terminal voltage of 12.0 Volts (NMH cells) and the 12 AA battery has a terminal voltage of 14.4 Volts.  So the 10 cell battery has 15.6 WH and the 12 cell has 18.7 WH.  Since the radio will stop working when the battery voltage goes below some threshold you can see that the higher voltage battery will last longer, all other things being equal.

DC-DC Converters

A DC-DC converter (Switching Mode Power Supply) can be thought of as a transformer for DC.  The power delivered to the input must be slightly greater than the power delivered to the load (Efficiency is not 100%).  So if the output voltage is twice the input voltage the input current will be a little more than twice the load current.

When a battery feeds a load using a DC-DC converter the Watt Hour method can be applied to the battery that drives the converter and the efficiency applied to show the output.  For example a DC-DC converter might run from 16 each 1.5 Volt cells and supply 13.6 Volts.
If they were Alkaline "C" cells then they would contain 8.35 AH per cell so the Watt Hours = 1.5 Volts * 16 cells * 8.35 AH = about 200.4 WH.  If the efficiency of the DC-DC converter is 90% then the capacity in terms of the output would be about 180.2 WH.  This is more than the capacity of the BA-5590.

When a radio uses an internal DC-DC converter the load on the battery is different than a conventinal load.  In this case as the battery voltage goes down the current draw goes up, not  down like with a resistive load.  Since the life of a given battery in watt hours increases as the current drawn decreases, higher voltage batteries will last longer than lower voltage batteries with the same watt hour rating.

Battery Adapter

27 Aug 2004 - waiting for the sockets to arrive so they can be designed into the bracket that goes into the adapter.

    The Lithium Polymer batteries need to have a protection circuit to pervent over voltage during charge or under voltage during discharge.  This needs to be done for each cell for best results, rather than on the whole stack of cells.  Many of the ICs used for this prupose are designed to be linked with a microcontroller that has a number of functions, such as:

• Cell balancing during charge.  If one cel's voltage increases and causes the total stack current to decreas, then the total watt hours of charge put into the stak will be less than what it could hold.  By controling the voltage drop on each cell during charge it's possible to optimize the amount of charge put in the battery.
• Over Voltage protection during charge.
• Under voltage protection during discharge.
• Temperature monitoring of battery both for safety shutdown and capacity prediction.
  
• Smart Gas Gauge.  This means much more than just coulomb counting during charge and discharge. Although the battery starts out with design information on it's capacity, the smart gas gauge remembers the actual capacity of the battery and also can predict capacity under different conditions of load current and temperature.  This is communicated to the load as a percentage of actual or design capacity.  A common feature on modern laptop computers.
  
  The smart gas gauge also communicates with a smart charger telling the charger the profile needed to charge the battery.  Li-Ion type batteries can be charged at the 1 C rate, but that rate will be different for each new cell type and so for the fastest safe charge the current limit needs to be different.  This also may change for a given battery serial number over it's life.
  
  There is a standardized 2-wire battery communication bus used for the above battery to charger/load communications.  This buss is also used by the manufacturer to put the smart gas gauge in the sleep mode so that no battery power will be wasted during storage or shipping.  The battery also has the manufacturers name, model and serial number information stored inside and so can be tracked in logistic systems , or maybe future radios.

The Smart Battery System (SBS) - defines the digital bus used for these battery specific communications.  The following standards are more general.

The System Management Bus (SMB) - is a general Intel based bus for computer internal low speed communications, and is used for battery management.

The Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) - ACPI establishes industry-standard interfaces for OS-directed configuration and power management on laptops, desktops, and servers.

The current SINCGARS radios have a coulomb counting gas gauge built into the radio designed to work with the BA-5590, but it will not be correct if any other battery is used.  Note that the BB-390 is now up to the BB-390B version that has more capacity than the plain BB-390, so a battery type menu option in the radio will not work.  But what might work is a Watt Hour capacity that's a user input.  That would handle both the variatin in battery capacity and would handle the case of a battery being removed and later reinstalled (if the battery was marked with it's remaining capacity).

What's needed is a way for primary batteries to tell the radio their capacity in a way that adds very little cost, i.e. it does not make economic sense to put gas gauges or SBS chips in primary batteries and then throw them away.  Although a reusable SBS type module might make sense for primary batteries.  Rechargeable batteries need to have the SBS interface for both the radio and the charger.  I've heard that in volume the cost of a gas guage may come down enugh that it would work on a BA-5590 type battery.

Example:  A BB-2590X s/n 1 is being used and is pulled from the radio and put on a charger.  BB-2590X s/n 2 is put on the radio and used for some time.  Now BB-2590X is put back into the radio.  When each battery is installed and thereafter the remaining talk time will be known.

July 2004 - The AA version of the adapter is passing load testing and a pair of them powers the PRC-104.  It appears possible to also use Lithium polymer cells for about twice the watt hours of the "AA" battery version.  Gel cells are another possible energy source.  The sheet metal shop is working on the box quote.

12 June 04 - It turns out that the "C" cell load testing on 11 Sep 2003 was misleading since the battery holder springs got very hot and melted the plastic holder.  Some measurements and calculations show that the steel springs used to hold the individual batteries have way too much resistance for high current use.  Working on lower resistance contact method.

11 Sep 2003 - Load testing of 4.5 AH "C" cells shows that with a 3 Amp current the terminal voltage drops from 10.5 Volt to 8.5 Volts for freshly charged batteries.  This means that a passive battery adapter holding 16 each "C" cells can only put out 17 Volts with a 3 Amp load (a PRC-104 transmitting is a 3 Amp load).  So a Switching Mode Power Supply (SMPS) is needed to boost the output up to 24 Volts.  Note the the output power is amps times volts, so a 30 Volt @ 3 amp supply is a 90 Watt source, but a 24 Volt @ 3 Amp source is a 72 Watt source. 

The 8 4.5 AH "C" cells ran for 5 hours with a load that was 200 ma for 9 minutes then 3 Amps for 1 minute, repeated until the battery voltage for the 8 cells dropped below 8.0 Volts.  The battery supplied 14.4 AH.  The discharge curve was flat, meaning that if the SMPS can use voltages slightly below 8.0 (maybe 0.9 Volts/cell * 8 cells = 7.2 V.) more energy can be taken from the "C" cells giving a longer run time.

This version of the battery adapter was being designed to use 16 "C" cells and supply 24 Volts at up to 3 amps.  8 cells have a total resistance of about 0.7 Ohms, but some of this may be due to a poor quality plastic battery holder used for the test.

Battery Eliminator

This battery eliminator runs from the 115 VAC line and fits into the USM-481 suitcase packaged crypto cable test set.
Has on-off switch, fuse and pilot light.
The power cord comes out the large face and so it would not work in most radio type battery boxes.  It would work for radios that only use a single BA-5590, like maybe a SINCGARS.

The 5590BA Battery Adapter can be used as a connector to make your own battery eliminator.  Connection is easy since there are Power Pole connectors on the inside of the 5590BA.

Manufacturers

Eagle-Picher - Energy Products Corp. - BA-5590/U -

http://www.epi-tech.com/, click on: departments, scroll down to EPEnergy Products, applications then you will see: Lithium Sulfur Dioxide: Cells & Batteries,   Lithium Manganese Dioxide: Cells & Batteries, Lithium Ion Cells
 

Part Number	Designation	Cell Dimensions (mm)	Capacity	Voltage	Wt (gr)
LS-3355	D	33.0 dia x 55.0	7.2Ah	3	78

US Patent 4,610,370 - Pressure release vent

The LS-3355 "D" cell used in the BA-5590 is rated up to 4 Amps.
The BA-5590/U is also rated at 4.0 Amps.

McDowell Research Corporation - makes a number of rechargable versions of the BA-5590

Battery Lists -

MRC-390 - Nickel Metal-Hydride 12/24 V Rechargable battery (BB-390)
MRC-490(V1) -  Sealed Lead-Acid Rechargable 12/24 V Battery (BB-490)
MRC-590/U  Nickel Cadmium Rechargable 12/24 V Battery (BB-590)
MRC-690 -  Sealed Lead-Acid Rechargable 14/28 V Battery (BB-690)
MRC-2590 - Lithium Ion Rechargable14.4/28.4 V BATTERY

Power Conversion Inc. - 1995 contract -> Hawker Powersource, Inc. only lead acid batteries on their web site

Saft Batteries - (EAC Saft web page ) - Li-SO2 : LiSO2, G cell series - BA-5590 2 * 7.6 AH @ House of Batteries $104 each commercial, $133 military /U version -
 

Cell type   construction         Open            Nominal    Voltage    Rated    Maximum      Weight    Safety            NATO
                                           circuit            voltage    cut-off     capacity  dimensions                   features          stock
                                           voltage number
BA 5590/U  5 LO 26 SX-2  14.7 V          14.0 V      10.0 V       7.5 Ah  127x111.8x62   1020 g    2.25 A fuse  6135-01-036-3495
 (2 sets of                           29.5 V          28.0 V      20.0 V     15.0 Ah         mm
 terminals)

Ultralife Batteries, Inc. - (Battery Power Ad) - Special/Military - BB-X590 Li Ion rechargable -

Electrochem Battery Division (formerly Battery Engineering Inc. (BEI)) -

Golden Season - Singapore

Replacement Versions

BB-390

BB-390 is the Ni-MH version;  Most likely 10 cells with an open circuit voltage of 13.6 when freshly charged per battery. It's rated for 4.8 AH so at 13.6 Volts per side you have 27.2 V * 4.8 AH = 130 Watt Hours.  The maximum voltage for two sides connected is series is 32.8 Volts.  The final voltage for discharge testing is 10 Volts per side.  Has a State Of Charge indicator built-in.  Also has temperature sensing thermistors so charger can see temp rise when Ni-MH cells get hot at end of charge.  Note the thermistors are not needed on the Ni-Cad BB-590 becasue that battery chemistry does not get hot like the Ni-MH chemistry.

I have heard that the BB-390 uses AA size cells with two strings of 10 each making up one battery (20 AA per battery) or 40 AA total.

Discharge Rate Table

Amps	Volts
0.01	26.27
0.1	26.25
0.5	26.04
1	25.76
1.5	25.47
2.0	25.18
2.5	24.8
3.0	24.4
3.5	24.2
4.0	23.8
4.5	23.4
5.0	23.01

Note ¹ - I stopped at 5 Amps even though the output voltage still had not decreased to 20.0 Volts where most radios cut off.  5 amps at 23 Volts is a 46 Watt load and I'm not comftorable pulling more power than that.  Next is a run time test using the ½ PRC-104 cycle.  Run time was 12.4 hours not that much more than the 5590BA at 8 hours.

BB-490

BB-490/U is a lead acid version.  Although these are available on the surplus market it's almost certain that one or more cells are dead.

BB-590

BB-590 is the NiCad version  Rated at 2.2 AH.  Final voltage is 20 Volts for the two sides connected in series.  Uses 20 each C_sD  size cells so the capacity is 27.2 Volts * 2.2 AH = 59.8 Watt Hours.

The actual Watt Hours for the BB-390 and BB-590 will exceed the specification at room temperature and when the number of charge - discharge cycles is low.  They should meet the specification under all specification conditions.

9 May 2004 - WARNING

I was charging a BB-590 according to the instructions on the cover (actually I was at 350 ma instead of 360 ma) and after less than an hour the battery exploded!  The cover (that has the instructions) blew off and landed about 10 feet from the battery!  My left ear was ringing for awhile.  The battery was not hot immediately after this.  There is an outward "dent" in the cover and there is a black area between two of the cells.  The fifth cell up from negative terminal 2 is shorted.  NSN 6140-01-063-3918, DAAB07-84-D-H309, mfr date 0885

It's my understanding from Saft that when a Ni-Cad is over charged it generates oxygen and hydrogen.  Normally these gasses are adsorbed by the negative plate, but in an old battery the gases might vent and then any spark would cause an explosion.

Radio Recon

BC-778(A) - battery adapter for BA-5590 that uses 16 each CR123 photo batteries for each 12 V section

Electric Fuel - developing a zinc-air version -

Pem Fuel Cell System Replacement for BA-5590 Battery - proposal

Micro Turbine Engines for Soldier Power -
MIT - Micro Engines -

Tectonica Australia - miniature diesel generator "Generette"

UltraCell - Menthonol to Hydrogen Fuel Cell 
LG chemicals -
'Biofuel Cell' -

State of Charge

It is difficult to determine the State of Charge for batteries that have the LiSO2 chemistry.  This is because the voltage vs. SOC curve is very flat as a result of the internal resistance being low and constant vs. SOC.  Conventional SOC meters that measure the loaded terminal voltage do not work on LiSO2 batteries.

The Chemtronics LS (Lithium diSulfide) series testers are specifically made to test LiSO2 batteries, but are not available.
The Chemtronics LS 91 is an example of this type of tester.
The TS-4403/U  6625-01-359-5771 can be used to test either the BA-5590/U or BA-5598/U (most likley the LS-91)
and the TS-4403A/U 6625-01-370-8278 tests the BA-5588/U, BA-5590/U, & BA-5598/U.      (most likley the LS-94)

Note that adding a "gas gauge" to the battery works fairly well, but at a high price since it's thrown out.  Adding a "gas gauge" to an equipment will work OK, but fails when the batteries are turned in for reissue, which is what's being done now as a cost saving measure that is saving huge amounts of money.

An idea would be to have a new class of battery that had a "socket" that would hold a SOC "gas gauge".  The outline of the combined battery and SOC meter would be the same as the current version of the battery, but he SOC meter could be removed from a dead battery and installed on a fresh battery.  The SOC meter would need a way to reset that was easy to do and would not reset if the SOC meter was removed and reinstalled on the same battery.  It may be possible to use the same SOC meter on a variety of batteries with some provision to set key parameters (this is the case for the gas gauges that TI now makes and could be enhanced if a microcontroller was part of the SOC meter.

SOC methods that are not suitable as a field Li battery tester

• methods that require the SOC meter to be built into the battery
• methods that depend on the voltage (internal resistance) of the battery vs. time (i.e. testers for zinc carbon, lead acid and other older battery chemistries
• methods that only detect the end of life of a battery (need to find the 70% of life point)
• methods that only detect the presence of a bad cell (US 4,659,994)
• methods that depend on a charging cycle (the BA-5590 can not be charged)

Safety

Battery Boxes

CY-8523A/PRC

This is the battery box for the SINCGARS VHF low band frequency hopping radio.  It will hold one each BA-5590 or equivalent and connects the two halves in parallel for a nominal 12 Volt supply (15 Volts typical).

The BA-5590 sits on the bottom and then slides into the plug.  When the cover is closed the rubber strips trap the battery.  Any up or down with the radio either horizontal, like in a HUMVEE, or vertical, like when being carried on someone's back, will not tend to dislodge the battery from the socket.



It has two push type terminals for Radio Wire Integration.  So a single pair is all that's needed for remote operation.  The C-11561 Remote Control Unit (RCU) looks almost identical to the RT-1539 SINCGARS radio and allows almost full control of all radio functions using just one pair or normal field wire.  Note that the CY-8523 battery box is used on both the radio and the RCU and the telephone binding posts are used to interconnect both units.



J1 is the connector that mates to the radio.  It has 27 socket positions, but only 5 sockets are installed. 
Battery 4 (Aside+) through diode to J1-F
Battery 5 (Bside+) through diode to J1-F
Batttery 1 (Aside-) to J1-U
Battery 2 ((Bside-) to J1-U
Battery 3 to J1-Z

The 2 Binding Posts go through surge suppression circuitry and a transformer before getting to J1 pins a & Y.

The two battery sections are wired in parallel (each through a series diode) for 15 Volts output.  The Yellow wire is connected to battery terminal 3 which is tied to terminal 1 (negative) when the battery is a rechargable type, see table above.
This would allow charging rechargable battery types and NOT charging primary batteries.

J1	Wire Color	Function	A side Battery	B side Battery	Battery 3
F	Orange	+15 V	4+diode	5+diode
U	Yellow	Gnd	1	2
a	White	Audio Remote
Y	Red	Audio Remote
Z	Black	Rechargable gnd check			Recharg- able

CY-7875/PRC-104

LST-5

This box holds a single BA-5590 family battery.  The box is just slightly larger than the battery and so has a flexible plastic bail with a large tab on the top that can be used to pull the battery up out of the box enough to get a hand hold on the battery itself.  The plug that goes into the battery is a custom made unit that's fairly thin and it too had a bail for unplugging.  The connection between the battery box and the radio is by means of a DB-9(f) socket in the battery box.

The plug has no keys to force how it is installed but because of the angles between the 5 battery socket pins the plug can only be installed one way.

Battery pins 2 and 4 connect to white wires that from a jumper so that the black wire going to pin 1 is the negative lead and red wire going to pin 5 is the "24 Volt" (30 volts for a fresh BA-5590) lead.

It's not clear what the circuit is doing.  There's a surface mount LM211 voltage comparator a few diodes, 2 larger parts marked Q1 and Q3 and a TO-220 package marked Q2.  This may be a combination of a voltage regulator and a battery disconnect circuit.
Q1 = Q3 = 340 T2 955E
Q2 = MT P5, ONO5E, 337
U1 = 37AD, LM, 211M

If you have a LST-5 radio would you check to see if when power is switched from off to on there's a circuit made between a couple of the DB-9 connector pins and let me know?

Lithium Chemistries used for batteries

Many people say "Lithium" battery and then go on to talk about specifics that only apply to one of the following battery chemistries, but most likely not to all of them.  There are primary and rechargeable Lithium chemistries and chemistries that provide anywhere from 1.5 to 3.7 Volts per cell.

• Lithium/Sulphur Dioxide (Li/SO₂) - 3 Volts/cell - common military chemistry and used in the BA-5590/U
• Lithium Manganese Dioxide (LiMNO₂) - 3 Volts/cell - common 123 photo battery and many others like the CR2
• Lithium Ferric Sulfide (LiFeS₂) -1.5 Volts/cell -  Eveready LS91 - Radio Shack 23-663 - 1.5 Volt/cell
• Lithium/Vanadium Pentoxide (Li/V₂O₅)
• Lithium/Oxyhalides (SOCI₂ and SO₂CI₂)
• Lithium/Lithium Cobalt Dioxide (Li/LixCoO₂)
• Lithium Thionyl Chloride (Li-SOCl₂ - Jelly Roll) - 3.6 Volts/cell
• Lithium Ion - popular battery for laptop computers. 3.7 V/cell Maybe the highest energy per unit volume
  
• Lithium Polymer is used now for RC airplanes and helicopters since it offers the highest energy per pound.  Some restrictions on charge or discharge voltage and current. 3.7 Volts per cell.  Capable of supplying extremely high currents, more than other battery types.  Maybe the highest energy per unit weight.
  

Where Used

STAR 1175C REMBASS Unattended Ground Sensor Repeater Relay (RT-1175/A or RT-1175/B)
GSQ-137 REMBASS
RT-1402A/G 226 to 400 MHz AN/PSC-3 radio
URC-200 VHF/UHF radio
Advanced Lightweight Microclimate Cooling System (ALMCS)
PRC-113
Javelin anti tank - there are problems when the BB-2590 is used in the Javelin system since it was designed to use the BA-5590 which can not deliver high surrents.
PRC-117
KY-99
AN/PLQ-7 Manpac -
Modular Advance Reconnaissance System (MARS) -  MARS -
AN/PPS-15DS, AN/PPS-5 GS ground survalence radars
EPLRS UHF Radio Set AN/VSQ-2(V)2 -
ASELSAN - 4300 Have-Quick I and II (slow), SATURN (fast) frequency hopping ECCM radio
Scope Shield II Communications System
Night Vision Equipment Company - broadband thermal marker -
AN/GSQ-187
AN/PDR-75
AN/PPN-19
AN/PRC-104 - 3.5A @ 24V Tx, 0.2 A @ 24V Rx TM 11-5820-919-12, -40-1, -40-2, -10HR
AN/PRC-113
AN/PRC-117
AN/PRC-119 SINCGARS TM 115820-890-10-1, -10-8, -12, SB 11-131-2
AN/PRC-132
AN/PSC-3
AN/PSQ-4
AN/TAS-4A
AN/TAS-6A
AN/UIH-6
AN/UIH-6A
AN/URC-100, -104 TM 11-5895-1195-10, -10HR
AN/VRC-100
AN/VER-101
AN/VRC-110
C-10377/GRC
Compact Laser
MST-4A
LST-5B
MAFIS
MX9331
OD-144/GYK-29
OE-239
PM-15
PM-15A
RT-1175/GSQ
TSEC/HYX-57
TSEC/KY-57
TSEC/KY-67

See Appendix A of the Battery Safety Guide for more.

BA-5590 Style Conectors

Battery Sockets

Equipment Plugs

BAI Aerosystems -  "106" plug - for BA-5590
Van Brakel Electronics - has plug CA110821-6 for the BA-5590 - this is the connector with 2 locating pins that's found on many radios.
Fair Radio has some metal plates with a plug attached

Other Mil Rechargable batteries

BB-388   6140-01-419-8190
BB-390A/U and BB-388/U are Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH) 6140-01-419-8187
BB-503A/U are Nickel Cadmium (NiCAD) 6140-01-419-8193
BB-516A/U are Nickel Cadmium (NiCAD) 6140-01-419-8191
BB-2800/U - PLGR, BA-5800 replacement
BB-2847/U battery is a Lithium-ion (LiION) 6140-01-419-8194

Links

Technologies that make a difference - "An official Department of State position sites that Columbia and Afghanistan provide the clearest examples of the growing convergence among drug trafficking, terrorism, and organized crime."
BAI Aerosystems -  "106" connector - for BA-5590
Marines capitalize by saving the Corps millions -
Battery Eliminator -
Belss - analyzer, eliminators
Iris - battery eliminator
SINCGARS Alternative Power Supply Suitcase model (ASAPS-SC) -
CA NG - Ground Precautionary - # 97-007 CECOM GPM #97-007 All equip utilizing 2 or more BA-5590/U Lithium Sulfer Dioxide Battery.
Berg Battery Tester - BT-1 pocket tester
CBD - Market Survey for Battery State Of Charge Meter -
CBD - Battery System SOL M00681-99-Q-M11104 DUE 04/06/99 - for BA-5590 without fuel guage
Applied Design Concepts - adapter cagble to allow use of BA-5590 type batteries for STE/STU III/KIV-7
Defense Update Feb 2004 - Many Battery Articles (a few minor typos)
Fact Sheets and Information Papers Lithium Sulfur Dioxide Batteries - venting problems
final report describing the Ft. Hood Battery Mgmt. Task Force -
Ft Hood - Appendix H  State-Of-Charge (SOC) Meters for Lithium Batteries - TS-4403A/U -- CTA item ($4905) BA-5590, BA-5598, and BA-5588
Lind Electronics - some cables that mate to the BA-5590 family batteries
Simpower Limited - battery dealer
Medtronic Physio-Control - info on their LiSO2 battery - Background on Lithium Batteries -
Moby Power -
Rejo - Rechargable Batteries - Primary Batteries -
www.hdssystems.com (go to "products", then "lithium battery")
http://www.dtic.mil/natibo/docs/ (then select "joint battery industrial sector study - executive summary")
Information about Non-rechargeable Lithium Batteries (this PDF file requires Adobe Acrobat Reader)
S.C.Levy and P. Bro, Quality and Reliability Methods for Primary Batteries, Wiley, New York, 1990 (ISBN 0-471-52427-1)
S.C.Levy and P. Bro, Battery Hazards and Accident Prevention, Plenum, New York, 1994 (ISBN 0-306-44758-4)
HDS Systems -miners head lamp -  Lithium/Sulfur Dioxide Battery - Saft LO26SX  3 V "D" cell.
AnIdea.com - Battery Tester - US Patent 4659994 - only for detecting reversed cell, not SOC
TI - bq2052 gas guage to build into a LiSO2 battery -
Document ID: MIL-B-49430/3G NOT 2 -
CECOM Logistics & Readiness Center - Acquisition Reform Homepage - MTS Good Examples - Battery Standardization -

Preferred Power Sources
Primary: BA-5590B, BA-5588A, BA-5567A, BA-5347, BA-5372, BA-5800A, Commercial: AA, AAA, C, D, 9V
Rechargeable: BB-390A, BB-388, BB-516A, BB-503, BB-2847

Linear Technology - LTC2400 24 bit ADC on a chip
Van Brakel Electronics - may have a plug for the BA-5590
House of Batteries - carries Saft and many other batteries
War Fighter Solutions - Technical Hacking For Military Equipment - How to make BA-5590 adapter cables

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