An official website of the United States government
Here's how you know
A .mil website belongs to an official U.S. Department of Defense organization in the United States.
A lock (lock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .mil website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Home : Articles
Have a Soldier/Warfighter who takes pride and ownership of their assigned equipment? Then nominate them for PS Magazine's "I Own This" recognition program. Click HERE to learn more.
 
PS Magazine poster image which links to the posters page at https://www.psmagazine.army.mil/Resources/Posters/
Click on image above to view and
download 
this and other posters
Would you stake your life, right now, on the condition of your equipment?
Articles
NEWS | Sept. 20, 2022

SINCGARS ASIP RT-1523E/F: Charging Question and Answer

BLUF: The AN/VRC-91 or similar legacy-mounted system can’t charge the SINCGARS RT-1523E/F battery.

SINCGARS RT-1523
Courtesy photo
 
Dear Half-Mast,

Can a SINCGARS vehicle adapter assembly (VAA) like the AN/VRC-91 charge the SINCGARS advanced system improvement program (ASIP) RT-1523E/F main battery?
 
Mr. M.P.

Dear Sir,

Simply put, no.
 
The reason is that the SINCGARS ASIP main battery is configured as “smart battery system” that communicates as a system with the charger. Like other smart battery systems, this one knows when it’s too hot or too cold and will stop charging if these boundaries are exceeded. All these capabilities evolved after the SINCGARS VAA design was created, and neither the mount nor the radio is configured for this.
 
However, AN/VRC-132 (V)1 and AN/VRC-135(V)1 mounts do charge the radio's battery, as well as allow the radio to be operated from that battery when the vehicle’s power is off.
 
These mounts were designed to be operable for several hours without vehicle power to save fuel. Keep in mind that if the batteries in these mounts are completely drained, they’ll need to be placed in a standard battery charger to bring them back to fully operational.
 
It’s best to keep rechargeable batteries above 25 percent when possible. And remember to turn off the radio when leaving your vehicle.
 
Finally, these mounts can power the radio directly if the radio’s battery temperature exceeds its safe operating range by bypassing the radio’s battery altogether. 
 
Want to get better search results faster? 
Click the link below to access our "how to" guide
.
After entering a keyword, you must hit or click the Search bar/box below for the function to work.
Simply hitting Return won't yield results.
LOGSA Links/URLs
Note about links to archive articles

If you come across a link to a pre-2014 PS Magazine issue or article that uses LOGSA in the web address (URL), use this link instead:
 
For issues/articles from 2014 and after, click on the Archive/Index tab in the top menu of this website.

BE ADVISED: With the migration to Army365, emails in older articles may still reflect an @mail.mil address. To update, change the domain to @army.mil