WHY MUST ALPHA4 BE CONNECTED DIRECTLY TO THE BATTERY?
Many TX’s use diode in series with internal battery to prevent discharging of the battery through the TX charging jack. This is done so that the TX battery cannot be accidentally shorted through the charging jack and also to prevent damage from chargers that do not have proper polarity. There are more sophisticated methods to accomplish this protection but diode only costs a few cents so it is used. Diode conducts current only in one direction and it has a temperature dependant voltage drop accros it. For this reason it will prevent any cycler from discharging the TX battery. Also it will prevent sophisticated unit such as Alpha4 from operating correctly in the charge modes. A4 needs to measure battery voltage very accurately at all times in all modes of operation in order to follow battery voltage curve and correctly and precisely switch to trickle. For this reason it must be connected to the battery directly and not through a diode. If there is a diode in series with the TX charging
