[aprssig] backup pwr systems

[Ben Lindner]

Hi Keith,

Do you have a copy of the circuitry used by West Mountain Radio

Ben Lindner
VK5JFK

VE7GDH wrote:
> Ben VK5JFK wrote...
>
>> What sort of backup power systems do people use these days? eg.
>> Running a rig from a standard PSU while charging a battery at the same
>> time and when the mains power drops out the battery will take over and
>> run the radio. Then when the mains power is returned every thing is back
>> to normal, battery is charged again from PSU and radio runs from PSU.
>> Any body have any ideas on how to work this or has a circuit that I can
>> build
>
> There must be lots of variations. West Mountain Radio has what they 
> call a
> PWRgate. It consists of a couple of 80 amp Schottky diodes and some other
> circuitry to keep your battery charged. It acts as an OR gate to 
> isolate the
> battery and power supply from each other. The forward voltage drop of 
> less
> than 0.3 volts at 20 A. When the AC fails, the battery takes over
> seamlessly. The power supply should be adjusted to a slightly higher 
> voltage
> than normal to make up for the small drop across the diode. They say 
> that it
> is a four stage charger ideal for gelled or AGM batteries and can be 
> set to
> charge at a 1, 4, 7 or 10 Amp rate. I'm sure there are lots of 
> batteries out
> there just floating across a power supply with no proper charging 
> circuit.
> The PWRgate does a pretty good job and is better than nothing. I have a
> couple of these ahead of Rig Runner "power bars" also from West Mtn.
> Radio. Ahead of everything I have a 3 KW true sine wave inverter and a
> large battery bank, but I'm powering a bit more than a radio & a TNC.
> This is backed up by a 2 KW "inverter" type generator that also puts
> out a clean sine wave to keep things ticking along if the power is off 
> for
> more than a few hours. Some people have solar panels and a proper
> charge controller to maintain their backup batteries. I'll probably add
> these some time in the future.
>
> 73 es cul - Keith VE7GDH
> -- 
> "I may be lost, but I know exactly where I am!"
>
>
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