Ted, KN1CBR
It seems to me simpler to set up a source of 13.6 vdc to power your
SUV "portable" station. Running dc leads from the vehicle battery is
simplest but you need to guard against discharging it so much that
the vehicle will not start. With engine running you will get about
14.2vdc at the battery which will only help (but your gas mileage will suffer).
But using dedicated 12v deep-cycle battery for the radio will insure
against starting issues. Not sure if you plan to install radio in
SUV or just have it to set up on say a picnic table or folding
table. If the latter, the battery can be situated close the radio
and use the standard dc power leads of the radio equipment. You can
recharge the radio battery when driving or just running engine in CG
by use of some No. 12ga wire from vehicle battery to the radio
battery (good for up to 10A charging current if under 20-foot
length). Use a isolation diode if you don't want the radio battery
involved in starting (which draws probably 200A from the vehicle
battery). Probably a 10A diode would suffice for charging the radio
battery. Wire up the system and measure current using multimeter to
be sure before getting a diode.
This will not keep the radio battery from discharging when operating
100w on HF because the radio is probably drawing 15A on peaks. If
recharging only when driving it will likely take close to an hour for
full recharging (depends on the volt-amp rating of the radio
battery). I used a system like this when living in a remote cabin
without power. It look about 45 minutes running the truck to
recharge the cabin battery (which was placed in the truck with wiring
for this purpose). I had a 100AH Marine Diehard (Sears) battery.
Diode will not keep from discharging the vehicle battery so have a
way to disconnect the radio battery when operating (unless you plan
to keep engine running). Marine electronic shops stock things like
dc disconnect switches and isolation diode units if you do not want
to make your own. Also several ham suppliers handle such items.
Last year I bought a new 4x4 pickup and installed ham radio equipment
(KX3 + KXPA100, etc.):
http://www.kl7uw.com/Mobile.htm
Truck has two batteries (diesel) so I did nothing but run off one of
the batteries (but I used No. 8awg).
73, Ed - KL7UW
http://www.kl7uw.com
Dubus-NA Business mail:
[email protected]
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