[wxsig] Keying Kenwood HT and Current Consumption questions

[Shane Justice]

Hi Mark,
I just put the 238+ on my AstroFlight Watt Meter and checked it's  
power consumption. The meter shows 260mA @ 13.6 volts, or  
approximately 3 Watts. This power consumption is with or without the  
temp/humidity sensor connected ( I am not powering the fan at the  
moment ). This is with the display backlight ON. Now, I've never  
calibrated the "Whatt Meter", so I don't know how accurate it truly  
is, but at least this is a back of the envelop, ball park number with  
which you can calculate power requirements.

If it's going some place cold, remember batteries don't yield power  
well when too cold, and plus up the size of the battery for that, as  
well as the number of days you DON'T get sunshine. That also tells  
you to size your solar array appropriately to charge that battery for  
continued use over less than perfect days. A battery management  
system for controlling charging, as well as discharging, is a smart  
idea, if you want your creation to last a long time in-place, and  
with minimum visits to replace the big, old, heavy batteries.

I assume you are thinking of remoting the weather station? I have had  
similar thoughts- I'd like to put together a combination WX station/ 
digipeater for use on remote mountain areas here in Arizona. I've  
been thinking about solar panel-replenished battery power. At a high  
enough altitude, with a high-gain antenna, one needs very little  
transmit power to adequately cover a large area.

73,
Shane
KE7TR