Steve,
Thanks for the info. I had suspected that the lighter plugs were not up
to the demand of powering the Argosy. Can I assume that the real power
input to the Argosy is 50 W on high and 5 watts on low. Actually the
manual says 9 amps on transmit and 0.5 amps on receive. RTFM wins
again. If I assume I talk 60 % of the time that comes out to about 4
AH at full power. Again, assuming figures don't lie that would give me
about 1 .5 hours of operation at full power with a 7 AH battery or
about 6 hours at low power? Does this line up with what you have
experienced in the field? I picked the battery size because that was
the first battery I saw listed on Ebay. What battery and size do you
use? This is a new area for me. Also have you found a small charger
for portable use?
Thanks,
John / WA1JG
On 3/27/2012 3:21 PM, Stephen Roberts wrote:
> John,
>
> As far as power, you have to consider the output of the radio. If you're
> going to only operate at 5W, then you could use a smaller SLA (sealed lead
> acid) battery, like the kind they use in security light backups or APC
> computer backup power units. Of course your mileage will vary depending on
> the battery's amp hour rating, your radio's current draw at transmit and how
> much time you're actually transmitting. As far as the car is concerned, you
> would probably be better off connecting directly to the battery itself rather
> than use the cig lighter power outlet. I know that many lighter outlets
> cannot deliver enough amperage to give you the power that you need. If you
> operate directly from your car battery or another battery of similar size,
> then make sure you follow the directions for the argosy and use the circuit
> breaker so you don't fry anything. And be careful. A car battery can kill
> you. Another option for power would be to use lipo or lifepo batteries.
> Another subject all
t
> ogether, but if you plan to do more QRP location stuff, it might be
> worthwhile to check them out.
>
> I'm going to be doing the same next month with my Argosy in Maine and I plan
> to take a BuddiPole, a painters pole mast and an end fed 10/20/40 dipole.
> I'll probably take a tuner as well for the Buddipole. I'll probably take my
> spare lawn mower battery along for power as I don't intend to stray too far
> from where I'm staying.
>
> 73
> Steve
> KB1WUD
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