[450] Gel cell batteries for primary station use?

Mon Mar 23 17:28:32 EDT 2009

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
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