PS Magazine - TB 43-PS-579
PS, The Preventative Maintenance Monthly
ISSUE 579
FEBRUARY 2001
PS 579
FEB 01
49
PS 579
FEB 01
48
S
ome of you are not giving the BB-390A rechargeable battery, NSN 6140-
01-419-8187, a fair shot to do your SINCGARS’ power job.
Here are some of the rumors the soldier’s grapevine is spreading about the
BB-390As.
The small picture shows it’s true that you can get about 15 BA-5590s for the cost
of one BB-390A and its necessary rechargeable hardware. But the big picture shows
the real cost savings comes from using the rechargeable.
A BA-5590 lasts about 24 hours and then it’s dead. A BB-390A can be recharged
more than 200 times. Every charge after the first 15 saves your unit the cost of one
BA-5590.
Even though there is some cost to recharging, before the BB-390A dies your unit
will have saved several thousand dollars for each SINCGARS!
Don’t listen to the grapevine and forget the rumors. Give the BB-390A a fair shot
to do your SINCGARS power chores. Clinging to the BA-5590 for training and gar-
rison duties is not only costing your unit money, but it’s going against the directive
on rechargeable battery use in DA memo DALO-SMR, 29 Aug 97.
This is a real problem, but it’s easily solved. The BB-390As need a break-in
period. If you use them straight out of the box, you’ll probably only get about 6
hours of use out of them.
When you get a new BB-390A, fully charge it before the first use with the
PP-8444/U charger, NSN 6130-01-427-9604 or PP-8444A/U, NSN 6130-01-
443-0970. Use it in garrison or other locations where the battery’s first use time
of only a few hours will not be too important.
Prior to the next charge cycle, ensure the BB-390A is fully drained in your
equipment or by the PP-8448/U discharger, NSN 6130-01-430-3108.
Then recharge the battery.
Repeat the discharge/charge cycle one more time.
After the next charge, you should start getting 12 to 18 hours of use between
recharges.
SINCGARS. . .
A BB-390A should take about 2 hours to fully recharge. If after 2 hours, the SOC
indicator does not show a full charge—at least four out of the five segments light-
ed—the problem is probably with the indicator, not the battery.
Check the charge with a voltmeter. Use pins 1 & 4 and 2 & 5 to check each 12-
volt section of the battery. If you get 13.25 volts or more on each section of the bat-
tery, your battery is fully charged and the SOC indicator is damaged.
579. 48-49
(C)
1/11/01
2:24 PM
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