Wouxun KG-1000G Battery Backup

[WRZR901]

I recently bought a Wouxun KG-1000G based on the reviews online. The radio is serving my family well. There are many other families in the area with GMRS radios. With that being said, the winter storms that rolled through this weekend have made me start thinking about a battery backup for this unit. I would like a simple lipo battery that I can hook directly to the radio zfor emergencies. Also, I would like a 48 hour run time with approx 50% duty cycle. 
 

I found a battery calculator online but can’t find the specs for the KG’s RX requirements in Amperage. I know the calculation for TX. 
 

Does anyone have a recommendation of a Lipo battery and charging system for this radio? 

[WRYZ926]

I figured I would put out the warning for you and any other people that are thinking about using LIPO4 batteries. I've seen too many of those get ruined by using the wrong charger.

[SteveShannon]

2 hours ago, WRZR901 said:

I recently bought a Wouxun KG-1000G based on the reviews online. The radio is serving my family well. There are many other families in the area with GMRS radios. With that being said, the winter storms that rolled through this weekend have made me start thinking about a battery backup for this unit. I would like a simple lipo battery that I can hook directly to the radio zfor emergencies. Also, I would like a 48 hour run time with approx 50% duty cycle. 
 

I found a battery calculator online but can’t find the specs for the KG’s RX requirements in Amperage. I know the calculation for TX. 
 

Does anyone have a recommendation of a Lipo battery and charging system for this radio? 

A fifty watt radio might draw about 12 amps while transmitting and maybe 1 or 2 amps while receiving. If you truly mean you’ll transmit 50% of the time that’s 288 amp hours for transmitting and 48 amp hours for receiving or 336 amp hours for for 48 hours. (Double check my math - I’m half asleep and doing it in my head)  

I’ll leave the recommendations for batteries to others but I suspect you want LiFePo, rather than LiPo. My experience is with SLA, only because I have a lot of them. 

[BoxCar]

The accepted usage ratio is 80/20 with the radio transmitting only 20% of the time. So for 48 hours of backup, you would expect to draw 15 amps for around 9 1/2 hours, which I feel is high for a GMRS station. I would set the transmit figure to around 8 hours or 4 hours per day for a total of 120 A with 80 A on receive.

[tweiss3]

Bioenno (LiFePO4 batteries) provides two quick charts with run times:

Normal Duty Cycle (80% RX, 20% TX)

Field Day Duty Cycle (50% RX, 50% TX)

Using 50/50 for a 50W radio, you are looking at something like a 60AH battery to get 48 hours. If you turn the radio down to 10W, and cut your duty cycle to hourly or every 2 hour check ins, you can get away with much less battery.

[Pjshaw]

The big draw back is you can't charge LIPO batteries at or below freezing temperatures. A 100 AH lipo battery is expensive compared to a flooded lead acid battery. I live in a cold climate also so I use a large flooded lead acid marine battery with a 100w solar panel and MPPT Renogy charge controller. It cost about the same as just one 100AH lipo battery. The battery is a backup to my backup. I have a portable generator and installed a transfer panel to safely connect it during a power outage. Half my house is powered from the generator which includes the furnace and fridge. 

[WRQJ559]

If you go Lifepo, go big, I tried my kg1000g+ on my little 10ah lifepo4 and it would shut off at high power when transmitting. On medium it worked fine.

[OffRoaderX]

I use my KG-1000G+ in a Hardened Power Systems/Midland MXPW500 with a 10Ah LiFePo battery and it lasts for days, transmitting and receiving.. I usually use it on Low/Mid power, but it works fine (just not as long) at high power.

[CALO50]

Generator.

[LeoG]

Just picked up my first LiFePO4 100Ah battery.  On sale from Amazon, pretty good reviews.  Built in bluetooth to monitor the BMS.  Never heard of the brand, but lots of people seem to like them so for $150 I'll give it a shot.  Charging it with my variable bench power supply since I don't have a dedicated charger for it yet.  Backup for my repeater.

[WRYZ926]

I am going to suggest getting the correct charger for LIPO4 batteries. A charger for lead acid and AGM batteries can actually damage a LIPO4 battery.  I don't know if a bench top power supply will cause any damage or not.

I have a 50 AH LIPO4 battery in the shack and it does pretty good. I have only used it a couple of times during power outages while participating in a Sky Warn net. I am using the Redodo brand batteries and a Redodo charger.

[LeoG]

As long as I keep the voltage proper it'll be just fine.  I currently have it on constant voltage at 14.5v and the current will vary and get lower as it charges.  The BMS will take care of it if something goes awry and shut the battery down.