[450] Gel cell batteries for primary station use?

David McKenzie kb1fsy at vhfwiki.com
Mon Mar 23 22:31:45 EDT 2009


You may like these then Vinnie, I'm seriously considering a no-meter option
and one of these (will break even vs metered):

http://www.powerwerx.com/product.asp?ProdID=34676&CtgID=3575

Or one of the other two they have. I think I'm going to take the anderson
powerpoll plunge to standardize all the DC in the shack and hopefully clean
things up considerably. Working on getting an MFJ strip with a number of PPs
and a couple of binding posts.

On Mon, Mar 23, 2009 at 10:17 PM, Vinnie Grosso <vinnie at vinnievision.com>wrote:

> David,
>
> I find the volt meter on the Astrons to be useless anyway.
>
> Vinnie
>
> On 23 Mar 2009 at 17:28, David McKenzie wrote:
>
> >
> > Ya, not sure what I am going to do. I think it will be too expensive
> > to switch to batteries at this
> > point, I'd rather supplement later. Right now I can sell my VS-50M
> > for 150 or so and get a new
> > 70A model for 300ish shipped, or get the one with out meters for
> > considerably less and pick up a
> > digital in-line current meter.
> >
> > On Mon, Mar 23, 2009 at 4:33 PM, Rich <t41 at optonline.net> wrote:
> >     Seems like a good plan, if you are going to spend the money why
> > not have
> >     less noise and emergency power as added benefits? You may be
> > able to
> >     find
> >     sealed heavy duty GEL Cells used for cheap. There was someone
> > selling
> >     nice
> >     ones at the Newtown hamfest a few years back, remember Bob?
> >
> >     Just wanted to say how nice it was to see everybody yesterday!
> > Looking
> >     forward to New Hampshire in May!
> >
> >     Rich
> >     --
> >     -------+++++--------
> >     Most people get a fair amount of fun out of their lives, but on
> > balance life
> >     is suffering,
> >     and only the very young or very foolish imagine otherwise. -
> > George Orwell
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Vinnie Grosso" <vinnie at vinnievision.com>
> > To: "144.450 Mailing List" <450 at lists.vhfwiki.com>; "David
> > McKenzie"
> > <kb1fsy at vhfwiki.com>
> >
> >     Sent: Monday, March 23, 2009 3:02 PM
> >     Subject: Re: [450] Gel cell batteries for primary station use?
> >
> >
> >     > Dave,
> >     >
> >     > Great to hear about the large gel cells at 70 amp. that may be
> > the answer
> >     >
> >     > Vinnie
> >     >
> >     >
> >     > On 23 Mar 2009 at 13:07, David McKenzie wrote:
> >     >
> >     >>
> >     >> Vinnie,
> >     >>
> >     >> From what I understand, the gel cells are functionally the
> > same to
> >     >> deep cycle batteries except
> >     >> that they are sealed, exhaust no vapors while charging (deep
> > cycle
> >     >> puts out some sort of toxic
> >     >> gasses i think) and cost a bit more. It is good news that a
> > lot of
> >     >> hams are using batteries to power
> >     >> their stuff, that means there is a wealth of information out
> > there,
> >     >> assuming I can find it. A 70Ah gel
> >     >> cell battery appears to be about a little less than half the
> > price
> >     >> of a 70 amp ICS supply. Looks like
> >     >> you are saying that I need a float charger from the linear to
> > the
> >     >> battery and then a voltage
> >     >> regulator between the battery and the equipment. Sounds
> > reasonable,
> >     >> I'll look more into it.
> >     >>
> >     >> On Mon, Mar 23, 2009 at 12:37 PM, Vinnie Grosso
> >     >> <vinnie at vinnievision.com> wrote:
> >     >>   David,
> >     >>
> >     >>   I think the better answer could be use a 70 Amp deep
> > cycle
> >     >> battery. I
> >     >>   believe
> >     >>   you need to have at last 2X times the reserve in the
> > battery, or
> >     >> you will get
> >     >>   reverse EMF back to the radio. You will also need to build
> > a
> >     >> zener based
> >     >>   regulator to make sure nothing ever gets over voltage. Good
> > news
> >     >> is that
> >     >>   many hams do this, and the Green movement now has much data
> > on
> >     >> home
> >     >>   controllers that will have some info as well.
> >     >>
> >     >>   Dam good idea -- even though you do not think you will need
> > it
> >     >> to power the
> >     >>   radios -- you will at some point.
> >     >>
> >     >>   Also I was running my 746Pro on car batteries, and the
> > noise
> >     >> floor almost
> >     >>   diappeared -- it's amazing how good 80M and 20M got with
> > the
> >     >> lower noise
> >     >>   floor.
> >     >>
> >     >>   Vinnie
> >     >>
> >     >>
> >     >> On 23 Mar 2009 at 11:28, David McKenzie wrote:
> >     >>
> >     >> >
> >     >> > Instead of buying a 70 amp supply or a second 50 amp supply
> > to
> >     >> > parallel, I am considering picking up a large gel cell
> > battery
> >     >> and
> >     >> > fast/float charger to run the amp all the time and the
> > radios
> >     >> during a
> >     >> > power outage. I don't know very much about batteries.
> > Here's what
> >     >> I do
> >     >> > know:
> >     >> >
> >     >> > Rated in ampere-hour, which pretty much means how many amps
> > can
> >     >> be
> >     >> > drawn until dead over a specific time (20 hours supposedly
> > is
> >     >> > standard). Charging rate should always be 10% or less of
> > Ah
> >     >> rating.
> >     >> > Float chargers exist relatively cheaply that allow the
> > battery to
> >     >> be
> >     >> > connected to a constant voltage supply (existing astron
> > supply)
> >     >> > indefinitely.
> >     >> >
> >     >> > My questions are really as follows:
> >     >> >
> >     >> > What size battery would I need to "buffer" a 60-70 amp low
> > duty
> >     >> cycle
> >     >> > load to power the amplifier? I'd assume the amp would
> > connect to
> >     >> the
> >     >> > battery directly and then the battery to a charging circuit
> > with
> >     >> > protections for when AC is removed from the CVS.
> >     >> >
> >     >> > Since my goal is not long term battery backup but to run
> > high
> >     >> current
> >     >> > devices for short periods, would a smaller battery on a
> > constant
> >     >> > supply be the best bet? Do you need to match the Ah rating
> > to
> >     >> the
> >     >> > instantaneous maximum current draw?
> >     >> >
> >     >> > Is this just a dumb idea, and I should buy more power
> > supplies?
> >     >> >
> >     >> > -Dave
> >     >> >
> >     >>
> >     >>
> >     >>   The best way to predict the future....is to invent it
> >     >>   Carl Mangold
> >     >>
> >     >>
> >     >>   _______________________________________________
> >     >>   450 mailing list
> >     >>   450 at lists.vhfwiki.com
> >     >>   http://lists.vhfwiki.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/450
> >     >>
> >     >>
> >     >
> >     >
> >     > Vincent Grosso
> >     > Vontage and Cell 917-546-6661
> >     > The Best Way to Predict the Future is to Invent it
> >     > Carl Mangold
> >     > _______________________________________________
> >     > 450 mailing list
> >     > 450 at lists.vhfwiki.com
> >     > http://lists.vhfwiki.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/450
> >
> >     _______________________________________________
> >     450 mailing list
> >     450 at lists.vhfwiki.com
> >     http://lists.vhfwiki.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/450
> >
> >
> >
>
>
> Vincent Grosso
> Vontage and Cell 917-546-6661
> The Best Way to Predict the Future is to Invent it
> Carl Mangold
>
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