[VHFcontesting] BATTERIES

[Steve (K1IIG)]

 Barry, 
FYI, Car batteries are not the best choice for Roving but will work. Car batteries are designed to be charged and discharge just like in the car. They also do not like to be float (trickle) charged. To get around this people use a smart charger that removes the charge when it reaches full charge and then kicks in when it drops below a certain level. Car batteries are designed for CCA cold cranking and not designed for reserve usage. 
Marine batteries are designed for that type of service and can be float charged with no ill affects hence are a better choice for Roving. Running 2 car batteries in parallel might not be the best choice either. When not being charged, they will drain against each other if not disconnected. They do make a dual deep cycle marine battery that can perform as a car battery and reserve battery. I probably did not explain this clear enough so check out this site for a better description. https://marinebatteryguy.com/

Years ago I was told there are only 6 manufacturers of wet (flooded) cell batteries, Gould, Exide and a few others. Here is an interesting cut and paste I found.
How many car battery manufacturers are there in the world?
As of May 1, 2013, there are three major automotive starting flooded battery manufacturers in the United States. There are four absorbed glass-mat (AGM) starting battery manufacturers and there are four flooded deep cycle battery/major deep cycle battery manufacturers in the United States.

There are dozens of brands of batteries made to different specs. Interstate seems to be one of the most popular car battery.

73's
Steve
K1IIG

 
Interesting battery discussion. Also interesting that the IC-910 seems to
take significant d.c. power.
I've recently acquired an Icom IC-9100 and I'm trying to choose the 13.8v
portable power source. Last weekend in the Sept VHF contest the rig was
set up for the first time with my SUV, and I discovered that my usual
single automotive (Sears Diehard) sealed lead-acid battery is
insufficient. This battery has worked well with an FT-897 and an IC-7100,
but the larger power drain of the IC-9100 causes the rig to reset itself
on xmit.
Is there a way to calculate how long two car batteries in parallel would
last?
I already have a small Honda generator although I don't usually bring it
along unless I'm using an amp. 
Thanks in advance, 
Barry K7BWH 
Seattle CN87us

-----Original Message-----
From: VHFcontesting [mailto:vhfcontesting-bounces at contesting.com] On
Behalf Of Alan Larson
Sent: Wednesday, September 13, 2017 3:42 PM
To: vhfcontesting at contesting.com
Subject: Re: [VHFcontesting] The digital modes and the Sept contest

> Hi Alan.  That is useful info re the ic910.  I'm just curious what 
> type of batteries are you using.
>
> I've had considerable success running my ic7300, FT736, multiple 
> Icom706MkiiG's, an icom 735 IF radio, 300 watt amps on 50 and 144 MHz, 
> transverter, etc..  from two 12 V 100 AH Agm style batteries.

  Over the years it has varied, but typically I would have 25 - 30 amp
hours of sealed lead-acid batteries in parallel with the starting battery
of the diesel VW.  Solar would be attempting to hold that up.

> I took another 100 AH battery with a solar panel with me during the 
> June contest and used it to run an inverter that in turn powered the 
> battery chargers for the computers and also powered another charger to 
> top off the two radio batteries.  I had ample power for approx 6 to 8 
> hours of operation including some MSK144 at close to full power on 50
MHz.

  When operating from a small motor home, I have used 200 AH of battery
feeding an inverter feeding a switching power supply to run the rig.  In
the more space limited Volkswagen, a small Honda generator has proven to
be the most convenient option.  (This includes consideration of the
difficulty of getting all the items inside the Jetta.)

  For low power operation, I would still choose solar if available, but I
wanted full power from the rigs.

        Alan
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