They were kept charged by a 200-watt solar panel on my roof and offered significant advantages to other 12V sources of power: no RF noise and no power outages due to storms.
Reliability to the max.
Then came LiFePO4 - a game-changer, a 120VAC-to12VDC power supply obsoleter. Goodbye, big ol clunky Astron.
My current (pun intended) shack supply for the past two years has been a 50AH LiFePO4 battery that runs my Hermes Lite 2 (and other radios), Neptune 100W amp, LDG autotuner, GPS clock and my keyer. Sometimes the FT-891 is online, but either way, I'm using 100 watts from the home QTH.
The battery is good for a 7 hours of non-stop, contest style activity; or, all day the way I use it, and that's if it's not attached to a trickle charger...which it always is.
Pure DC, no ripple.
I rarely operate for more than two hours a day and when I do, it's not non-stop transmitting and receiving. It's mostly just receiving. The battery doesn't break a sweat, even with the whole 100W shebang powered up. Step away for a meal and a bit of TV and the battery is fully charged by the time I can get back in front of the radio.
Same advantages of the old solar set-up but with a lighter, much smaller battery that has a better discharge curve and no special maintenance charges needed.
Less expensive as well - that wasn't the case at first, but it is now. LiFePO4 is cheaper than old-school lead-acid.
I still have the Astron but it is now the back-up for the batteries (I've never needed it) rather than batteries being the back-up for the PS.
I know someone out there is thinking: "That's not the way to care for LiFePO4 batteries - you won't get maximum life out of them if they're often on a trickle charge".
Yes, that may be true. Rather than 2000 charge/discharge cycles, I may now only get the equivalent of 1800. I'm okay with that, given the advantages of the set-up.
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This exactly how I am planning my new shack: LiPo batteries on a solar array.
ReplyDeleteI wish I could make use of solar power here but my house is oriented the wrong way.
Delete73,
John
When it comes to sunshine, my whole country is oriented the wrong way.
ReplyDeleteSame for me Franki, but I am considering some solar charging with battery solution for my shack in the future. At the moment LifePO4 is the way to go. I think there will be even better batteries in the near future. Nice to read the 50Ah battery is doing well John. Use of batteries has some advantage especially when you have regular power outages. 73, Bas
DeleteYou'd think any house in FL would be good for solar, but of course, I bought the only house here whose roof doesn't face south. Maybe I can tap into my neighbor's system with an underground cable...
DeleteHey John, do you have the trickle charger connected full time? Is it the same AC charger that you would normally use to charge one of those batteries? Does the battery have separate charge and load connections?
ReplyDeleteSorry for all the questions - I have a much smaller (8Ah) Bioenno LiFePO4 battery that I use for portable ops, but it has only a single connector that's used for both charging and normal use (not at the same time), so was wondering if the larger batteries are set up for simultaneous charge/discharge connections.
I've been thinking about switching to battery power for the shack, so your post was intriguing...
73 de W0ZF
I usually do have the trickle charger connected and I have two pairs of connectors installed: a PowerPole (for the output) and a coaxial round connector for the charger. This is the same set-up as many Bioenno batteries have and I use a 2-amp Bioenno charger to keep the Nermak battery charged. I don't know if it's "recommended" to do it that way but in email correspondence with Bioenno, they confirmed that either connector on their batteries could be used for either charge or discharge, so I'm applying that to the Nermak as well.
DeleteSo far, no ill effects, and I've had it this way for months.
73,
John
LifePO is definitely the way to go. I cannot believe that my two (4.8 & 8.4Ah) LifePO's are still working perfectly going into their sixth year!!! I've been considering a bigger battery for the shack in our static caravan. Looks like 50mAh will be more than enough, judging by your findings.
ReplyDelete73, Tom, M7MCQ.
www.m7mcq.com
50AH is a lot of capacity for CW & SSB - FT8 uses quite a bit more juice for a given RF output level though...and speaking of caravans, we just bought one ourselves.
Delete73,
John