powering R75 with a battery
 

Do any of you guys run your radio equipment on battery power? I was just
considering this approach as an alternative to the noisy house mains. Would
like something I could use permantly inside that can be recharged from house
current. Does anyone have any suggestions? Is this a feasible idea?


-Brian

Brian wrote:

Do any of you guys run your radio equipment on battery power? I was just
considering this approach as an alternative to the noisy house mains. Would
like something I could use permantly inside that can be recharged from house
current. Does anyone have any suggestions? Is this a feasible idea?

-Brian

I don't know what the current drain is on your R75, but a few people have mentioned running Drake R8's on car batteries. They charge them with trickle chargers.

My "portable" 7030+ system has two pairs of NIMH battery packs designed for RC cars. They give me about 9 hours of listening on a charge. But the 7030 draws very little power for a tabletop.

One advantage of a battery system is you'll be ready to listen during power failures - when the noise level is extra low because nobody in the neighborhood is using gizmos that generate RFI.

"Mark S. Holden" wrote:

Brian wrote:

Do any of you guys run your radio equipment on battery power? I was just
considering this approach as an alternative to the noisy house mains. Would
like something I could use permantly inside that can be recharged from house
current. Does anyone have any suggestions? Is this a feasible idea?

-Brian

I don't know what the current drain is on your R75, but a few people have mentioned running Drake R8's on car batteries. They charge them with trickle chargers.

My "portable" 7030+ system has two pairs of NIMH battery packs designed for RC cars. They give me about 9 hours of listening on a charge. But the 7030 draws very little power for a tabletop.

One advantage of a battery system is you'll be ready to listen during power failures - when the noise level is extra low because nobody in the neighborhood is using gizmos that generate RFI.

If you want to do that sort of thing get a 'deep cycle' battery, rather than just an ordinary car battery.

dxAce
Michigan
USA

I run my R-75 on deep cycle batteries during DXpeditions. It works just
fine, and provides, many, many hours of operation.

I recommend using a battery box to contain whatever battery you choose. It's
not worth the risk of a ruined floor or carpet!

If your house mains are noisy, are you positive that the noise is entering
through the AC line cord? It's very likely you're picking it up direct via
the antenna. If so, a battery won't help the noise coming in through an
antenna.

Guy

"Brian" wrote in message
link.net...
Do any of you guys run your radio equipment on battery power? I was just
considering this approach as an alternative to the noisy house mains.
Would
like something I could use permantly inside that can be recharged from
house
current. Does anyone have any suggestions? Is this a feasible idea?


-Brian

If your house mains are noisy, are you positive that the noise is entering
through the AC line cord? It's very likely you're picking it up direct via
the antenna. If so, a battery won't help the noise coming in through an
antenna.


Yeah, I get zero noise when the mains are shut off. How have you connected
your receiver to the battery, is there some kind of converter for this?

On Tue, 09 Nov 2004 22:10:18 GMT, "Brian"
wrote:

If your house mains are noisy, are you positive that the noise is entering
through the AC line cord? It's very likely you're picking it up direct via
the antenna. If so, a battery won't help the noise coming in through an
antenna.


Yeah, I get zero noise when the mains are shut off. How have you connected
your receiver to the battery, is there some kind of converter for this?


No converter required, just an appropriate connector. Not sure of the
size as I was feeling like truly stimulating the economy and ordered
the Icom 12V cable with connector. Hook it directly to the batter
and you're set. dxAce is right about the deep cycle battery, they
are designed for use under load and being drained half-way or so on a
regular basis, a series 24 (typically around 80 amp hour rating) would
be sufficient and give 40+ hours of radio time before you'd need to
consider recharging the battery. Another option is to get a trickle
charger and just leave it on - except when using the radio as it would
be a noise source.

Howard

Brian wrote:

Do any of you guys run your radio equipment on battery power? I was just
considering this approach as an alternative to the noisy house mains. Would
like something I could use permantly inside that can be recharged from house
current. Does anyone have any suggestions? Is this a feasible idea?


-Brian






Go for the deep cycle marine battery. I have been using hem since the
late 1980's on DX'peditions.
Yes a battery box is a good idea..I use one all the time.
A trickle charger works well but of late I have been using a small solar
panel to keep the battery up to full power. It is attached all the time.
My Drake R8 and ICOM ICR-70 both run well off the battery as do some
accesaries such as my Quatum loop and my MFJ phaser. This year I
purchased a MFJ 12 volt power bar with 8 sets of jacks. I could run up
to 8 things at once but as of now just the 4 listed above with no
problem at all.

--
73 and Best of DX
Shawn Axelrod
VE4DX1SMA

Visit the AMANDX DX site with info for the new or experienced listener:

http://www.angelfire.com/mb/amandx/index.html

REMEMBER ON A CLEAR DAY YOU CAN HEAR FOREVER

The Axelrods wrote:

Go for the deep cycle marine battery.


Be careful here. many (most?) marine batteries are the victims of
fraudulent advertising. They are not deep cycle.

It's like the 17 inch monitor with the 15.1 inch view area, or the
Sears 5 horsepower electric motor that runs on 12 amps 120 volts.


http://www.windsun.com/Batteries/Bat...le%20Batteries


http://snipurl.com/aiwk



mike

On Tue, 9 Nov 2004 19:43:05 -0600, m II wrote
(in message Jmekd.140710$9b.60969@edtnps84):

The Axelrods wrote:

Go for the deep cycle marine battery.


Be careful here. many (most?) marine batteries are the victims of
fraudulent advertising. They are not deep cycle.

It's like the 17 inch monitor with the 15.1 inch view area, or the
Sears 5 horsepower electric motor that runs on 12 amps 120 volts.


http://www.windsun.com/Batteries/Bat...rine,%20and%20
Deep-Cycle%20Batteries


http://snipurl.com/aiwk



mike

From what has been said over the years, the best battery is (actually are
iirc they are 6v) the golf cart batteries.

The suggestion made when we were discussing this was go out to 2 or 3 golf
courses and see exactly what brand/type they're using.

Also, I wonder if it wouldn't be worthwhile to buy a couple of them ($20 or
so) and see how long they'll last. Just because they won't do a great job of
onercoming inertia doesn't mean that they can't do an excellent job of
pushing (comparatively speaking) electrons into radio gear.

Solar should recharge just fine. The brand name I've seen rated best is
"Kyocera". A guy here has done a /lot/ of comparisons but he stopped cold
after getting his first Kyocera because he didn't see any reason to keep
looking.


Gray/Mississippi

Gray Shockley wrote:

Also, I wonder if it wouldn't be worthwhile to buy a couple of them ($20 or
so) and see how long they'll last. Just because they won't do a great job of
onercoming inertia doesn't mean that they can't do an excellent job of
pushing (comparatively speaking) electrons into radio gear.

Very true. Even if they don't do too well in a golf cart, they may
last for another fifty years if powering a radio.

I've been hoping to get very lucky and find some swapped out phone
company wet cells. I had one when I was a kid. They had a clear case,
with a built in hydrometer. Six volts and monster plates with NO
sediment or visible sulphation.

I'd kill to have a few dozen of them now. I recently got 160 watts
worth of solar panels that could really use the storage space

Until I hit the jackpot, I'm using US Batteries 2200 225 amp hour
models, which are similar to the Trojan golf cart batteries. These are
all mid range quality, falling between car batteries and TRUE deep
cycle (read $$$$$) batteries. It's a compromise.



mike

Yep. Car battery and charger.

"Brian" wrote in message
link.net...
Do any of you guys run your radio equipment on battery power? I was just
considering this approach as an alternative to the noisy house mains.
Would
like something I could use permantly inside that can be recharged from
house
current. Does anyone have any suggestions? Is this a feasible idea?


-Brian

"Brian" wrote:

Do any of you guys run your radio equipment on battery power? I was just
considering this approach as an alternative to the noisy house mains. Would
like something I could use permantly inside that can be recharged from house
current. Does anyone have any suggestions? Is this a feasible idea?


-Brian


I power everything from solar and a 440 amp-hour battery bank.

Some thoughts:

- EVERY wire to/from the battery (bank) must be fused.
- All of my batteries are gel-cells, obtained at rock-bottom prices
from people who replace life-critical batteries every year. $30 for
an 80 Ah battery and the like.
- I use the West Mountain Radio Rigrunner for distribution to
individual radios. Size the fuses there appropriately -- these are
the ones that should blow from something going wrong "normally" (as
opposed to a catastrophic failure, which is what the battery fuses are
for).
- If you use a charger powered by the mains, make sure that it tops
off properly and handles overload conditions gracefully. The reason
for the latter is obvious. The reason for the former -- ESPECIALLY
with gel-cells or AGM batteries is that overcharging destroys them.
- If you use solar power, chargers are available from a large number
of places. I recommend Morningstar. There are also Maximum Power
Point chargers that will produce the most efficient voltage/current
for the panels, but cost more.
- For solar panels, I recommend Solarex.
- For solar equipment suppliers, I recommend Backwoods Solar
(www.backwoodssolar.com)


--
Eric F. Richards

"The weird part is that I can feel productive even when I'm doomed."
- Dilbert

= = = "CW" wrote in message
= = = ...
Yep. Car battery and charger.

"Brian" wrote in message
link.net...
Do any of you guys run your radio equipment on battery power? I was just
considering this approach as an alternative to the noisy house mains.
Would
like something I could use permantly inside that can be recharged from
house
current. Does anyone have any suggestions? Is this a feasible idea?


-Brian

CW,

Actually a little more is needed.

Power Recharging End - Battery Charger

Middle - Battery and Double Knife Edge Switch*

Radio Reception End - Radio/Receiver

* Note: The Knife Edge Switch is wired with the Battery as the
Center Switch-Arm Position; the Recharger on one side; and the
Radio Receiver on the other side. This provides an 'effective'
Safety Lock-Out to prevent any chance of directly connecting the
Battery Charger to the Radio.
See - Philmore 30-9730 Knife Switch
http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/switch/1432.html


~ RHF
..
..

"RHF" wrote

Actually a little more is needed.

Power Recharging End - Battery Charger

Middle - Battery and Double Knife Edge Switch*

Radio Reception End - Radio/Receiver

* Note: The Knife Edge Switch is wired with the Battery as the
Center Switch-Arm Position; the Recharger on one side; and the
Radio Receiver on the other side. This provides an 'effective'
Safety Lock-Out to prevent any chance of directly connecting the
Battery Charger to the Radio.
See - Philmore 30-9730 Knife Switch
http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/switch/1432.html

In this hobby there are gadgets for everything, but that isolator is not one
that has any usefulness whatsoever. In all mobile (cars, boats, aircraft)
operations the alternator is not isolated from the radio, nor does any harm
come from a battery charger being in parallel with the radio. Well o.k., I
can see it might protect an IDIOT from setting a commercial battery charger
to "boost" while the radio was operating. Short of that, a waste of money
imo.

Jack

Damn, after all these years, now you tell me that my set up doesn't work.
Must have imagined the whole thing. Next, you'll tell me that my antennas
don't really exist.

"RHF" wrote in message
om...
= = = "CW" wrote in message
= = = ...
Yep. Car battery and charger.

"Brian" wrote in message
link.net...
Do any of you guys run your radio equipment on battery power? I was
just
considering this approach as an alternative to the noisy house mains.
Would
like something I could use permantly inside that can be recharged from
house
current. Does anyone have any suggestions? Is this a feasible idea?


-Brian

CW,

Actually a little more is needed.

Power Recharging End - Battery Charger

Middle - Battery and Double Knife Edge Switch*

Radio Reception End - Radio/Receiver

* Note: The Knife Edge Switch is wired with the Battery as the
Center Switch-Arm Position; the Recharger on one side; and the
Radio Receiver on the other side. This provides an 'effective'
Safety Lock-Out to prevent any chance of directly connecting the
Battery Charger to the Radio.
See - Philmore 30-9730 Knife Switch
http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/switch/1432.html


~ RHF
.
.

"CW" wrote in message
...
Damn, after all these years, now you tell me that my set up doesn't work.
Must have imagined the whole thing. Next, you'll tell me that my antennas
don't really exist.

Hey CW, Where did you find the adapter/converter or whatever you use. I
tried Batteries Plus, and the converter they wanted to sell me was fifty or
sixty bucks. Looking for something a bit more reasonable than that.

-Brian

"Brian" wrote:


"CW" wrote in message
...
Damn, after all these years, now you tell me that my set up doesn't work.
Must have imagined the whole thing. Next, you'll tell me that my antennas
don't really exist.

Hey CW, Where did you find the adapter/converter or whatever you use. I
tried Batteries Plus, and the converter they wanted to sell me was fifty or
sixty bucks. Looking for something a bit more reasonable than that.

-Brian


You get what you pay for. For wet cells (marine, car batteries) you
want a 3 stage charger: bulk/float/equalize. For gel cells and AGM,
you never use equalize (or you do so once, then you throw the battery
away :-))

My small charger (for when I'm not using solar) is a Deltran Battery
Tender. Commercial grade ones cost much more, of course.

--
Eric F. Richards

"The weird part is that I can feel productive even when I'm doomed."
- Dilbert

What adapter? Standard car battery and electronic charger. B&B Auto for
both. The electronic charger is better for your battery. It keeps the
battery toped up without going wild like the simple transformer types can.
Don't remember who in this thread mentioned fuses but he's right. Use em.
They are cheap fire insurance. A car battery can deliver an amazing level
of amperage when shorted. Don't expect it to be cheap. My charger cost about
$90.00. If your radios does not run on 12 volts, a regulator is easy to make
for a few bucks.
"Brian" wrote in message
link.net...

"CW" wrote in message
...
Damn, after all these years, now you tell me that my set up doesn't
work.
Must have imagined the whole thing. Next, you'll tell me that my
antennas
don't really exist.

Hey CW, Where did you find the adapter/converter or whatever you use. I
tried Batteries Plus, and the converter they wanted to sell me was fifty
or
sixty bucks. Looking for something a bit more reasonable than that.

-Brian

"CW" wrote in message
...
What adapter? Standard car battery and electronic charger. B&B Auto for
both. The electronic charger is better for your battery. It keeps the
battery toped up without going wild like the simple transformer types can.
Don't remember who in this thread mentioned fuses but he's right. Use em.
They are cheap fire insurance. A car battery can deliver an amazing level
of amperage when shorted. Don't expect it to be cheap. My charger cost
about
$90.00. If your radios does not run on 12 volts, a regulator is easy to
make
for a few bucks.


Actually, I meant between the battery and radio, but thanks.

-Brian

Between battery and radio is just wire, fuse and connector. A few bucks
worth of parts.
Most electronic places(even Radio Shack) have plugs to fit.

"Brian" wrote in message
hlink.net...

"CW" wrote in message
...
What adapter? Standard car battery and electronic charger. B&B Auto for
both. The electronic charger is better for your battery. It keeps the
battery toped up without going wild like the simple transformer types
can.
Don't remember who in this thread mentioned fuses but he's right. Use
em.
They are cheap fire insurance. A car battery can deliver an amazing
level
of amperage when shorted. Don't expect it to be cheap. My charger cost
about
$90.00. If your radios does not run on 12 volts, a regulator is easy to
make
for a few bucks.


Actually, I meant between the battery and radio, but thanks.

-Brian

"Brian" wrote in message hlink.net...
Do any of you guys run your radio equipment on battery power? I was just
considering this approach as an alternative to the noisy house mains. Would
like something I could use permantly inside that can be recharged from house
current. Does anyone have any suggestions? Is this a feasible idea?


-Brian

I use two Panasonic 12V 20 Amp Hour Gell Cells to power my radio
equipment. I wish I had a R75, but I only have a R2000 and a
DX398. I found a Lambda 5A adjustable power supply at the local
mil surplus outlet for $10.00. I adjusted the output for 13.6V
as suggested on the side of the Gell Cell for use in standby
service. I could have used anything from a 2Amp through 20Amp
power supply. I have seen 13.4 through 13.8 Volts specified,
but I choose to go with what the voltage on the battery.
20 Amp hour means the battery will deliver 1 amp for 20 hours
before the voltage drops to ~10.8V.
One big advantage of using a Gell Cell(or large NiCad or even
a deep cycle lead acid) battery was demonstrated this morning.
At 5:30AM our AC mains went down. My wife aswaken me when her
APAP (sleep apnea assisted resperator) alarm sounded as the
power failed. I got up and went to my radio desk, turned on the
back up desk illumination, some white LEDs to save power,
phoned the the utility, and carried one of the gell cells to the
bed room and connected her APAP to the battery. We picked her
machine because it would also operate on +12V. She went back to
sleep and I went back to the radio desk to try some DXing .
The only nice thing about the power failure was with the local
substation down, the bands where nice and quite.
I listened for 2 hours and headed in to work.
My wife reconnected the battery to the power supply when she
got up at 7:30 and found the power back on.
Having a decent standby battery pack sure beats lighting a candle
or lanturn.
I use 4 pin XLR "microphone style" connectors for all of my
DC power connections. They are farily cheap, $4~5 each, and
will carry 15 amps PER pin. Even with my hame gear fired up and
transmitting, I only draw 8 Amps. I even replaced the cigerette
lighter socket in my Civic with a 4 pin female XLR.
I am going to add a better power fail alarm, one that will wait 5
or 6 minutes then drive a sonalert and turn on a LED flash light.
At 5:30 it is DARK!
Terry

"Brian" wrote in message hlink.net...
Do any of you guys run your radio equipment on battery power? I was just
considering this approach as an alternative to the noisy house mains. Would
like something I could use permantly inside that can be recharged from house
current. Does anyone have any suggestions? Is this a feasible idea?


-Brian

I got to doubting the float voltage I mentioned so I did a quick net
search and found this refference from Panasonic on charging gell
cells.
I suspect it applies to deep cycle lead acids as well.
http://www.panasonic.com/industrial/...ingMethods.pdf

The main point is that for float charge, AKA constant voltage,
0 degrees C 14.1V
25 degrees C 13.7V
40 degrees C 13.4V
I have charged my gell cell at 13.6V for several years with no
problems.
Terry