David Struebel wrote: > You might also want to consider the approach shown in the article on p > 76 in the November 2008 issue of QST where > a boost regulator has been placed in line...This will allow the > equipment to still see 13.5 to 13.8 volts even where the battery has > discharged below the > 12 volt level. > > 73 Dave WB2FTX
I'd REALLY want to take a very careful look at a boost/buck regulator setup that was going to be used at a high-RF site for both noise it creates (the article did delve into this a bit, but a big commercial RF site is a bit of a different "world" when it comes to having too much RF noise around), and also how it BEHAVES when in the vicinity of large RF fields (broadcast, other repeaters, etc etc etc.) I doubt the two products shown in the article have adequate shielding and RF filtering to survive at some of our sites... either "survive" meaning they'd act weird, or "survive" meaning someone doesn't throw the thing out in the snowbank outside, after noticing it's clobbering their receiver with broadband noise. Generators have gotten so good that it's hard to argue for batteries of any sort, unless you have a VERY dedicated crew of people willing to replace them on a WRITTEN schedule, etc... for years. You can handle the 20-30 seconds of down-time to get over to generator power when the power dies, and you STILL have to have some dedicated folks willing to travel over to fuel the generator during extended outages. Best deal ever? Be in a site where there's someone a LOT more "important" than you who needs the generator backup, and ask them politely for a feed, and be willing to pay the full hookup costs. That is a great way to go, if you can get it. Next best is a nice well-funded shared system between all the hams on a particular site. Worst of all... a site-managed system. Why? If it's not cost-effective for them to send someone to test the generator on a regular basis, keep it fueled, etc... they won't. And you won't know until you need it. Our "core" system had batteries in preparation for Y2K. Eventually the batteries fell into non-maintenance, and were ripped out to get the system's reliability numbers back UP. An unmaintained battery system hurts more than just losing power once in a while. The auto-switching generator setup that's now available at ALL of our sites, in one form or another, is the best of both worlds. Nate WY0X
