Hello Everyone, I am wondering what repeater operators commonly use when a 12v power supply as well as a battery charging and switching system is needed at a repeater site. My repeater has an internal 120v power transformer that feeds a 12v regulator box, and also has a battery circuit on the back of the repeater that will allow it to draw from batteries when the main power is lost. It supplies a very low current trickle to keep the batteries charged up, however if the batteries drain due to extended power outage it does not provide any sort of reasonable facility to charge them back up again.
The manufacturer recommends to take the batteries off, charge them externally, and then return them to float charge... however that's not very feasible if the repeater is located on a mountain or some other location that's not easily accessible on short notice. I'm thinking of just ditching the internal power supply and building a more robust off-board power supply and battery charging system that can switch onto the batteries and charge them up again when the main power returns. For use at home I like the PWRGate units which maintain the batteries nicely but I am wondering if others have used those at repeater sites with no trouble? Thanks anybody who has information to provide. This group is a wonderful resource for all things repeater-related. Yours, Mark Hagler W7WMH Seattle
