This is a good video. Worth the half hour to watch it. If you're new it gives you all the starting points you need to consider and learn about so you know where/how to get started. If you're experienced it's a good check list for you to see if you have covered all the bases and are really good to go like you think you are. For whatever my opinion s worth I have been active in emergency things at both local and regional levels for about 50 years -- going back to tube radio days -- and have a complete dedicated portable/off the grid station HF thru 440. I was glad I took the time to watch this.
hi this video makes you think although my radio would work if the power and internet went down for some reason it high lights how i would power my radio for more than a couple of hours 2E0IGG
WOW! Great video. I do have a couple questions, What's the advantage of using a Lithium ion battery as opposed to a sealed lead acid battery? Secondly, could you elaborate on the small battery pack you are using?It looks like theres a small circuit attached to the top of it. I'd love to see more of your home emergency power setup, what kind of batteries are you using for it?
A very nice explanation on how to be portable and off grid. I used a similar system in the park yesterday, I used 2 X 100 watt semi flexible solar panels, a MPPT charge controller and a 100 A/H 12 volt Gel battery. I was able to easily power my Kenwood TS-480 HF rig and my laptop using a small 12V to 220 V AC inverter and run a 25 watt 2M rig. I could charge my cell phone using a 12V cigarette lighter charger plugged into the 12V battery. It is amazing what you can do with a solar panel, a charge controller and a 12V battery. ZS1LEM
If you're able, info and or links to your preferred components would be helpful for us to source the tested and proven pieces to these puzzles.
I used to be a lead acid guy myself. A few years ago we had Mark from West Mountain Radio come to our club meeting and discuss the relative advantages of both. The short answer is LiFePO4 batteries deliver about 95% or more of their rated output at a useful voltage. Many radios don't like the voltage that lead acids supply at the end of their discharge curve. I still have four 12V 155AH SLA batteries that I bought used a couple of years ago, and I will use them till they give up the ghost, but the do weigh about 100 pounds each and are a bear to move. The rule of thumb is a 100AH lithium will deliver the same useful power as a 200AH lead acid battery. They are expensive, but the price is coming down and you can assemble your own batteries from the many cell suppliers all over the internet. The circuit board is a battery management system. It limits the short circuit power that the battery will supply and will cut off charging if the cell voltage gets too high during charging. They are very light based on usable power delivered. Combine either battery with a portable solar panel and you can have a nice system. Here is a good place to start: https://batteryuniversity.com/ It's been an interesting journey...
Good summary. One more advantage to lithium, they can be recharged thousands of times. So, SLA may last you X years, whereas lithium is 5 or 10X.
Great video. I intend to show this at our local club meeting during our emergency preparedness session. I use a DC12 Mity GO-BOX with a 20 Ah LiFePO4 battery, Powerpole connectors, voltmeter and USB port. Works well for me for all my emergency needs. They also have a larger one called a DC12 MAX GO-BOX that holds larger batteries up to 50 Ah. They supply the box all built up with or without batteries. They are a good source for DIY parts for a power go-box. Look into it. W6MJM
Julian has a web page as well...very informative with lotsa videos and links to gear: http://oh8stn.org/
Julian's videos are like a ski lesson. If you get 5 good ideas and remember and productively integrate just one of them into your skiing, the lesson pays dividends every time afterwards. I'm a fan of Bioenno's stuff: https://www.bioennopower.com/ Their charge controller is too bulky tho, go with the Genasun.
I didn't get to watch the entire video yet so I don't know if this is mentioned, but one thing that is critical for off-grid power backup, especially when you have a limited amount of energy on hand (i.e. no solar/wind), is to minimize the number of power conversions that are done in order to operate whatever it is you need to operate. Every time you go through a power conversion, you're going to lose at least 10% and up to 30% of your energy, depending on the conversion. Consider this setup: Solar -> Solar Battery Charger -> 120V Inverter -> 12V DC supply -> 12VDC Radio There are three power conversions between the power source (solar panel) and power consumer (the radio). Assuming you have spent a fortune on this setup and all of your power conversions are 90% efficient, you are still losing 37% of all of your energy on power conversions. That's a pretty staggering amount of loss. It gets even worse with cheaper equipment. Now consider this: Solar -> Solar Battery Charger -> Battery / Radio There is only one power conversion, so 90% of your harvested energy is available. I think some MPPT chargers are even better than 90% efficient. The lesson learned here is to choose your solar system voltage wisely so that you can go direct from battery to radio. Many solar chargers are set up for RV use, and these are the ones you want for ham radio power backup as well.
Be careful on brand of RV charge controllers. We have one in a travel trailer that when it's charge controller is active the HF radio is useless from the level of RF noise put out by the charge controller. If we are in a campground I have to unplug mains from the trailer to do anything with the radio. This is even when the radio is operated off an independent battery not connected to the trailer in any way. Genesun makes a really quiet charge controller.
Emergency power ? Easy: There are 250 MILLION automobiles in regular use in the USA. There is a functioning, nominally charged 70 + amp-hour 12 volt battery in every one of them. There are likely dozens, hundreds or THOUSANDS of charged, ready to operate emergency BATTERIES within a half mile of where you sit reading this thread.
