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| Working out your set-ups power consumption? | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Thursday, 3. November 2011, 15:00 (631 Views) | |
| SussexRob | Thursday, 3. November 2011, 15:00 Post #1 |
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26 Charlie Tango 424
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Hi all, Apologies if this has been done to death, or answers are obvious. I'm hoping over the next little while to end up with a set-up that means I don't have to go out in the car every time I want to play with the radio. I am trying to work out how many amps my set up could pull, in order to spec out either a power supply, or battery. I have an EA150, which I believe pokes out a max of 100W, but have no clue what the current drain is. Any ideas? I'm also trying to find out the current drain on my midland 98 plus, but figure that can't be huge. Once I know what my amp draws, I plain to either, get a PSU so that I can run the rigs at home (if I can stick an antenna up, as I rent), or, I'll have a garage on block, so may look at getting a sealed led acid battery to use, as the garage doesn't have power. Not ideal, as I'll have to bring it back to the house for charging, but better than nothing. Finally, those that do use batteries (I'm thinking Offplanet, Joe Jeep) for hill-topping etc, how did you pick the capacity? I'm assuming once you know the peak current drain on your system, you can work out how man Amp-Hours you want your battery to have. Thanks for your time and patience! |
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CB Handle - SussexRob 26-CT-424/26FB1986 Think you know scouting: Take a closer look | |
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| SussexRob | Thursday, 3. November 2011, 15:09 Post #2 |
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26 Charlie Tango 424
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Since posting I have found that the EA150 has a peak current drain of 10A, I think! |
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CB Handle - SussexRob 26-CT-424/26FB1986 Think you know scouting: Take a closer look | |
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| Radio Pixie | Thursday, 3. November 2011, 15:41 Post #3 |
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26 Charlie Tango 052
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Hi Rob I haven't measured the current drain of an EA150, but 10amps sounds about right. Typical current drain of a 4 watt CB is about 1.5amps. Some basic models are only 1 amp. I would say 2 amps to be of the safe side. As for power supply units, better to buy the biggest you can effort. So go for 20 amps plus. PSU's spec's are often overrated by manufacturers. So for example if you got a 12 amp supply, you may find in reality it can only handle 12 amps for short bursts and 8 amps continously. If you have no power in the garage, have a solar panel to charge a battery up. At least 20 Watt panel you would need with a regulator to prevent overcharging. With the design of any battery system, home or portable, you have to calculate the amount of current you are going to use over a period of time. So if we said for example that you was going camping with a 4 watt CB of 1.5amps on TX, and (say) 0.2amps on RX, and going to use it for 2 x 5 hour sessions. That would be 10 hours of use. Say that you TX for 20 minutes in every hour. That would be 0.5 amps used. RX for 40 minutes in every hour. That would be 0.13 amp used. 0.13 + 0.5 = 0.63 amps used in every hour. 10 hours of use would then be 6.3amps. So you would need at least a 7 Amp hour (Ah) battery. Hope that makes sense. Best wishes Dave |
73 from Dave the Pixie 26CT052 - G7OPC - CB & Ham Radioaficionado
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| SussexRob | Thursday, 3. November 2011, 15:51 Post #4 |
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Thanks Dave, really useful calcs there as I had based mine on a permanent peak drain, not considering that would only happen during Tx. I have also since found a data sheet on my rig stating that it has a current drain of 1.1A, so as you say, by assuming 2A, I'll be giving myself a nice buffer. It now really all depends on what my rental agreement lets me put up & do. Worst case is I have to put up and take down my antenna each time, and base myself in the garage. It sure would be nice to operate from home though. That said, I am still tempted to get a battery, as hilltopping could be fun, and I really liked Joe Jeep's set up with the ammo crate. Edited by SussexRob, Thursday, 3. November 2011, 15:52.
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CB Handle - SussexRob 26-CT-424/26FB1986 Think you know scouting: Take a closer look | |
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