[450] Gel cell batteries for primary station use?

[Vinnie Grosso]

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