[450] Gel cell batteries for primary station use?

[Rich]

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
>>
>>
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>>
>>
>
>
> 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
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