I don't use a booster either. I run from solar charged RV battery at the cabin. when I see that the voltage is getting low (below 12V) I reduce power to 50W and at 11V I go to bed. The trick here is short heavy supply cables. I have about 6 feet of 10 AWG with a 12 inch 12AWG jumper at the rig. I found that the 10AWG into the rig was to stiff and would pull out if things were moved. except for only once on PSK that I think was a problem at his end not mine, I have never had complaints of splatter or degraded audio even when the voltage aproaches 11V.
David Moes VE3DVY > > > Bob, > Not sure why you'd need a boost regulator. The K3 is one of the > very few > HF transceivers that specifies it will work fine down to 11v. I've > used > mine for years from a 12v SLA with no problems at all. Use 100AH > SLA(wheelchair battery) at home (use Powergate to charge/control > voltage), > so most of the time K3 supply is sitting at 13.8v. However, I often > unplug > AC when storms are near. I often forget to plug AC back in and the K3 > runs > on 12v for weeks of daily nets before I notice low input voltage. > (Couple > of hours a day at 100 watts tx, SSB). > When camping with Boy Scouts, I usually use a 26AH SLA. Never had > a > problem with that either. However, I usually run around 40 watts > power to > help conserve energy. That's usually just a weekend. > If you want to be able to run another brand transceiver from > battery > power, then, yes, you do need the boost regulator. Elecraft rocks! > Oscar, WB5GCX > ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
