[TenTec] DC Power Supply Backup

[George, W5YR]

Bill.

I keep a large RV deep-discharge battery connected across the output of my
Astron VS-35M power supply - suitable breaker in line, of course. If I lose
mains power, the battery will run the PRO2 for hours on end of listening and
quite a few transmissions, especially at my usual QRP levels.

One should ideally take power directly from the battery through a suitable
fuse or breaker and then connect the supply to the battery through an
isolation diode as a precaution against destroying one or more pass
transistors. The diode drop can be compensated in a variable supply like the
VS-35M by just cranking up the output voltage a bit.

I highly recommend an auxiliary battery such as you suggest and I am using.
Your power supply plus a suitable battery *is* a UPS - on steroids!

73/72, George
Amateur Radio W5YR -  the Yellow Rose of Texas
Fairview, TX 30 mi NE of Dallas in Collin county EM13QE
"In the 57th year and it just keeps getting better!"
<mailto:w5yr at att.net>





----- Original Message -----
From: "Bill Tippett" <btippett at alum.mit.edu>
To: <tentec at contesting.com>
Sent: Wednesday, May 21, 2003 9:02 AM
Subject: [TenTec] DC Power Supply Backup


> I've ordered an Orion and for the first time will be
> using an outboard DC supply (a used Astron RS-35M
> is on the way).  I often get short power glitches since I am
> in a rural location and am concerned about getting resets
> on Orion since I understand it takes awhile to reboot (how
> long?)  I'm thinking of getting a small battery (motorcycle)
> to place between the RS-35M and Orion.  This would stay
> fully charged and might help prevent unwanted resets by
> brief power glitches.
>
> Has anyone ever done anything like this?  Is it even
> necessary or is there enough residual energy in the PS
> filter caps that brief interruptions (typically <10 sec) are not
> a problem?  I  don't really want to buy a UPS large enough
> to power Orion but is there a simpler solution?
>
> 73,  Bill W4ZV
>
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