Repeaters with Battery Backup

[nokones]

9 hours ago, jsneezy said:

He owns a few repeaters. I think Diamond Point is his as well. I didn't know Towers 600 went private. As far as I can tell, it's still using the same tone, at least from my HT sitting in my bedroom as of now. I'll go request permission before any further use though. I don't want to make things worse than they are with everything going on with the repeaters up that direction. Since I live in San Tan Valley, I tend to stick to Pinal 675, Mt. Lemmon 650, and webhiway-tucson 725, for the most part. If work takes me out that way, or if the other repeaters are quiet, I'll monitor Shaw Butte or Towers 600. Maybe a PTT-ID system like SWCRS is using on the Pinal repeater would be beneficial on Shaw Butte. It would at least filter out anyone not using a specified and allowed PTT-ID. 

Yes he owns Diamond Point as well all the 575 repeaters (Mt. Elden, Greens Peak, and the new Signal Peak). 

I don't believe Signal Peak is linked yet or if it will be. Last Tuesday, I was on a Jeep run and I noticed that Signal Peak covers very well on the back side of the Four Peaks and I'm sure it should cover out your way like a blanket.

I think I am hitting Signal from my driveway in Sun City West at least I'm kicking something on that freq and tone with a noisy kickback.

I thought he was going to implement what was done on Pinal last year instead of making just a PL change on the Towers 575. That would have prevented his current situation he has now. Looks like Shaw Butte is back on the air without any changes.

[WRKC935]

Yeah, back to the topic.

While they are NOT cheap per battery, the Interstate DCM0075 battery seems to be a real workhorse and has a lifespan when properly float charged and maintained of at least 8 years.  I have a number of these that were pulled at 3 years from being in tornado sirens that act as the battery plant for my 12 volt system currently.  THe 12 volt system predates my 48 volt system by a few years and it's still going strong. 

The 48 volt system is similar but uses 110 amp hour batteries that are also pulls from equipment that by code has to have new batteries every three years. 

 

[WSAM454]

4 minutes ago, WRKC935 said:

Yeah, back to the topic......

 

 

Is that possible???

[gortex2]

Mine are similar but various models. All pulled from service due to contract requirements but still all perform perfect. Maintaining a DC plant can be time consuming sometimes but the benefit is huge. I couldn't afford the batteries I have on top of equipment. I think thats why not many sites have backup power. Even at home with my standby generator neither repeater is on generator. They both have batteries for almost an hour of standby and limited use. After that I'll figure out other means. Normally over an hour other needs are more important than talking on the radio. 

[WRKC935]

3 hours ago, gortex2 said:

Mine are similar but various models. All pulled from service due to contract requirements but still all perform perfect. Maintaining a DC plant can be time consuming sometimes but the benefit is huge. I couldn't afford the batteries I have on top of equipment. I think thats why not many sites have backup power. Even at home with my standby generator neither repeater is on generator. They both have batteries for almost an hour of standby and limited use. After that I'll figure out other means. Normally over an hour other needs are more important than talking on the radio. 

Well, yeah,  I don't have much invested in my setup either.

The batteries are as mentioned before.  I get them for the core charge on them.

Now the rectifier (48 volt charger and maintainer for those of you that aren't aware) came from a system wide upgrade a customer did.  He got a number of spares from another agency that did a similar upgrade and I ended up with two of those when he upgraded his and they would no longer act as spares for him.  I got the two 6 bay frames (6 module power supplies) with the DC breaker panel and monitoring unit.  I also ended up with 25 or so power modules.  So I have ZERO need for 48 volt power at this point.  I am actually only running 2 of the 6 modules currently as that's all that is needed with my current load to maintain the batteries.

The 48 to 24 volt buck converters were pulls from a telco site that is owned by a tower company I do work for from time to time.  They had no need of them and they were given to me.  I had to replace the capacitors in them to get them up and going again, but they work fine.  I also was able to get the 24 volt DC distribution panels from the site.  I also picked up a couple 70 amp feed panels at Hamvention one year for 10 bucks each.  Those are in the repeater racks distributing the 24 volt power in those racks to the repeaters. 

Plan is to add a 48 to 12 volt high current buck converter for the 12 volt gear, or maybe do several of them (one per control station rack) since the majority of the power I use is 12 volt.  I am looking to start converting my Ethernet switches and routers over to DC as well so I can run all the critical gear on DC plant.