Hi I had several more questions on the solar controller
Will the controller work with Volkswagen panels? Yes these panels work very well with a small battery and the controller. This is a good match for a K1. A K2 really needs a little more power so two or three VW panels can be paralleled. These panels can be had for the asking at some VW dealers or for a few dollars on EBay. They are placed in the windshield and plugged into the cigarette lighter socket of VW's to keep the battery charged while shipping or on the dealers lot A very nice solar setup can be assembled with an EC1 project box from Elecraft and a Powersonic PS-1228 battery. This battery will fit nicely in the EC1 with room to spare for the controller. This battery is 2.8 amp hours so it should run the K1 or K2 with no problem. A 5 to 10 watt panel in full sun will keep it charged even while operating. Can the controller be left connected to the battery indefinitely? Yes the controller goes into a maintain or float mode when the battery is fully charged. The shottkey blocking diode disconnects the controller when the panel output drops below the battery voltage so there is only a few micro amps of current flow when the panel is in the dark. For larger setups I have used a 35 amp hour SLA battery of the type used on power wheelchairs and a 70-80 watt panel with the controller. This will operate a K2/100 at 50-100 watts out. This was the setup for field day last year used by one of the operators here Does the price include shipping Yes in the continental US by first class mail Thanks Don Brown KD5NDB _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: [email protected] You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
