[Fwd: Re: What battery to use?]

[Paul Heller-2]

Mark Baugh wrote:

>Hi guys,
>I am gearing up for a portable station for emergency
>communications and have decided to use my K2/100 and
>KAT100 combo.  I want to be able to power it with
>batteries, if the need arises.  Have any of you "high
>tech" Elecrafters used a battery to power a K2/100?  I
>don't know whether to chose a deep-discharge marine,
>an SLA/gel cell or AGM battery.  Let's not beat this
>horse to death, but I would like some help on what the
>best choice would be.  I've been thinking about using
>something on the order of a 50-60 Ahr size.
>
>  
>

I used my K2/100 with an 80 ahr deep-discharge marine battery over field
day weekend and it worked out well - left the rig running all weekend,
made 350 or so CW QSOs, and voltage was down to 11.2 by the end of the
weekend so it would have gone a while longer.  I used that battery
because I happened to have an extra one - it's sitting inside a plastic
Wal-Mart battery box, but because it's in the house I'm going to swap it out for
an AGM battery - no fumes, no maintenance, no way to spill acid.

--

/Paul Heller W3PH
 [hidden email]
 http://www.his.com


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[Paul Heller-2]

Robert Tellefsen wrote:

>Paul
>What is an AGM battery?  Don't think I've heard that term before.
>Thanks and 73
>Bob N6WG
>
AGM = Absorbed Glass Mat

As I understand it, the original application was for military aircraft -
they can be mounted in any position and don't give off hydrogen under
normal circumstances.  I've used the Optima 'D31M Blue Top' model in
several long-run UPS applications and they've really worked out well.  
Wal-Mart marine batteries are cheaper (1/3 - 1/2 the cost of AGM) and
supposedly have more AH capacity, but the AGM batteries seem to have
significantly more capacity, last for years, and you don't have to worry
about acid spills or fumes or hydrogen.  Supposedly they won't leak even
if the case gets cracked, though I haven't tested this scenario and hope
not to ;-)

There are some vendor writeups with more info at:

http://www.reactual.com/metaefficient/archives/deep_cycle_batteries/index.html
http://www.windsun.com/Batteries/AgmTech.htm
http://www.1st-optima-batteries.com/
http://www.dcbattery.com/agmtech.html

A number of eBay sellers carry these.

/Paul

--

 /Paul Heller W3PH
  [hidden email]
  http://www.his.com

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