Power Supply Box vs. Battery for base setup

[SvenMarbles]

Completely separate from my radio tinkering, I’ve also lately gotten into playing around with small solar setups. 
 

In doing so it lead me to trying running my radio from it (obviously lol). Well it works great! I’ve got a 30Ah LifePO4 battery wired to a small solar setup, as well as a standard pug in charger/maintainer box wired in as well in case solar just isn’t available. All neatly packed into a box on the floor under my desk. 
 

Eliminating the solar component entirely, this battery and charger would seem to me as a great solution to completely replace power supply boxes. The cost is comparable if not cheaper. And it then allows for you to have a margin of backup power on your radio where a power supply box would simply be dead should the mains power become unavailable. 
 

Should people be exploring this option instead of power supply boxes altogether? 

[SteveShannon]

2 minutes ago, SvenMarbles said:

Should people be exploring this option instead of power supply boxes altogether? 

Yes

[Guest]

I run a 100ah battery and trickle charger for my 20w “local” unit hooked to my comet 712 

it works wonderfully for local comms and when the power goes out.  And that power does go out often here between wind, and “maintenance” but this type of system does not put out anywhere near 13.8v.  So I’m not really sending full 20w to the antenna.  My cheap little 20w tyt doesn’t care.   Some radios or owners will only run 13.8-14.1v

now my big 50w radio hooked to my 9nc is on a 80a power supply pushing a clean and perfect 14.1 volts just as my trucks alternators put out.  This allows my 50w radio to put out max power all day.  But this system goes down when the power goes out.  I do have 9000watts of house generator that I use if the power is going to be out for a while.  Now as far as price my 80a power supply was only $120 and the 50a and 30a are even less money so this is the much cheaper option.  
 

now one could use a bank of batterys and then a converter from 12v/24c/36v/48v dc to 120vac then back down to 13.8vdc but what a pain for little gain.  This is especially what modern home solar system do and it’s very inefficient and terrible for wasted power.  
 

I think every one needs battery back up and solar should be a huge part of that back up plan just as a generator should be.  Your set up looks good and obviously works well for you.  Keep it up and keep inspiring others to do the same. 

[WRYZ926]

Having some type of battery backup is always a good idea. And there are different ways to set it up. I do agree that inverters going from 12V DC to 120V AC and back to 12V DC is inefficient but sometimes that is the best setup for people.

I normally run my radios from a 120V power supply but also have a 50 AH LIPO4 battery for when the power goes out. Now I can't run very long on that single battery without a way to charge it. But it works for running my dual band radio during power outages. And that allows me to check on people and participate in the local Sky Warn nets. I just won't do a lot of rag chewing while using the battery. And I am still researching the best option for my house for solar panels to keep my LIPO4 batteries charged.

And you can turn the power down on your radio if you do not need to run full power. That will help make a battery last longer.

[Guest]

I know it’s not really on topic but I always encourage people to have a pig tail from an HT radio to coax so they can transmit with the HT on the big high up home antenna if the need arises. Hts will be much easier to charge then a big battery. 

[LeoG]

Been picking up items for solar backup.  This Amazon Black Friday has been good for that.  Recently they had a lightning sale on some 100 watt panels I've had in my list and I picked up 2 of them for $110.  And then again they had a black Friday sale on those same panels for the same price so I picked up another 2.  And they had a 100Ah LiFePO4 in my list on sale for $150 so I picked that up.  I have a setup in my truck with 200 watts of panels, a 125Ah AGM battery and a Victron MPPT solar charge controller.

I have a small Victron charge controller but it maxes out at 10amps into a 12 volt battery so it's underrated for the 400 watts of panels but it'll still charge a battery.  Trying to get 1KW worth of panels and eventually 4 batteries for a 48v (51.2v) system along with an inverter to run with it.

[WSFJ540]

I’ve been looking into this too as an alternative to a dedicated power supply.  How is the volume of the charger unit when the fan is running?

[LeoG]

My bench power supply's fan is not loud.  Not like some of those jet engine cooling fans you hear about on some inverters and chargers.  I've decided to take advantage of the sale and now have a total of 4 of the 100Ah batteries.  Going to eventually set up a 48 volt inverter with solar charging.  Gotta get another 600 watts of solar for a total of 1000.  Even though I know 2KW is likely necessary.

[DONE]

On the opposite end of this spectrum.  I run 6 repeaters off of 24 volt power.    The battery plant (commercial term for battery strings and a charger) is 5 strings of 105 AH 12 volt AGM batteries and a modular rectifier (charger / power supply) that is 180 amp out at 48 volt full load.  The supply is grid powered right now, but none of the radios connected to it even notice when the AC power fails.  At my current load the batteries would carry that equipment for at least 2 days.

The 24 volt power is derived from 48 to 24 volt inverters that are 40 amp each.  There are 5 units that are setup in parallel for a total output of 200 amp at full load.  I am no where near that and have run the repeaters on 2 of these units with my current load.

 

Future plans

I am going to install a 100 amp 48 to 12 volt buck converter for 12 volt items and additional DC distribution setup for 12 volts.

I also am going to be installing a 48 to 120 volt AC inverter for the few devices that can't be run on DC power.  Some networking equipment just doesn't support DC power or the power supplies to run off DC are silly expensive.

Obviously solar and wind are things I am going to be looking at in the future as well for charging and carrying the site load.  The problem is as the static load increases, the amount of solar needed increases as well.  Meaning if I have 20 amps of static load (load without radios transmitting) I need at least 30 to 40 amps of charge current from the solar / wind system to maintain the charge in the battery plant and carry the static load.  So it's not as simple as getting some 12 volt panels and connecting them to one or two batteries through a small charge controller.  Systems like that are GREAT for home installs that are for running radios and some LED lighting.  And that lighting is of course available from RV stores.  But it's not enough to run bigger loads.

Currently the stuff I have on the plant:

two GMRS repeaters

Two ham repeaters

two high power base radios (repeaters configured as base stations for simplex operation)

Two 800 repeaters for a public safety backup system for the county

ADREN MESH system (ham WiFi)

multiple microwave links for the site and public safety

IP console system connecting a number of base radios

 

The base radios (rack mounted mobiles) are on a second battery plant that is 12 volt.  It consists of a 75 amp charger / supply and 6 12 volt 75 AH batteries.

That 12 volt system also runs my 2 HF radios.

 

 

[LeoG]

And it'll only last 2 days?