5 watt radio. One 20AH battery works adequately. One 15 watts PV is OK, 2 would be better. A good charge controller is a must.
You will want to take advantage of the profile switching features to protect against low voltage and/or high/low temperature. --- In [email protected], Mark Cheavens <mcheav...@...> wrote: > > That is a VERY loaded question that has MANY variables. Many of those > variables are items that we cannot answer. > > Where is the digi located? (Latitude, Longitude, Local climate). How > much activity is in the area. (What percent of the time will the > transmitter be transmitting). (The obvious maximum is 50%). Cloud > cover and minimum sun hours per day. > > How many days would you like it to run in the worst case situation? > Rain, Snow, Clouds for X number of days before the unit stops working. > > How many days would you like to take in full sunshine (after the > storm) before the battery is fully charged so that it is ready for > the next storm? > > I have multiple solar repeaters and digipeaters. Most are in the high > desert area of the US. My criteria (was) a 15 day storm period with 6 > days to fully recharge. > I had most of my systems fail last winter twice. The first was on day > 16 of near zero sun, and the next was after only 3 days of sun and > was down for another 7 days. > > I spent WAY to much time hauling frozen batteries and resetting > locked OT+'s last winter! (all over 10,500 feet and using snow shoes...) > > All sites now have low voltage cutoffs set MUCH higher, and have > double the solar capacity. I also removed all linear regulators with > switching supplies. Thus improving the standby with the same sized batteries. > > I should now have about 20 days reserve and 3 days to fully charge. > The reserve would be longer but the low voltage disconnect happens at > a higher voltage thereby reducing my effective capacity.....VERY > double edged knife. > > Mark > KC5EVE > At 05:20 AM 7/16/2009, you wrote: > > > > > >Hi FOlks, > > > >I am looking to set up a T2 5w o/p solar powered digi. The ham radio > >side I am fine with, but there seems to be conflicting information on > >the web about what I need from the solar side. Has anyone done this? Can > >you tell me what size panel and battery you used? > > > >Thanks > >Steve > >M0BPQ > > >
