12V Emergency power backup for a single scanner

[bob550]

Heck, just buy 250 acres of land and install your own solar farm:



You'll be the envy of your neighborhood!

 

[RU55]

I used a simple 12V regulated power supply with a 12V 7AH gel cell in parallel for a long time to power a car stereo at work. I put a diode in series with the positive terminal of the battery to drop the voltage to about 13.5V. It worked great, when the power went out the stereo kept playing.

The same idea could be applied to a scanner.

 

[RU55]

Come to think of it, another method that I use is to use 18650 batteries. You can get modular plastic parts that allow you to assemble 18650 lithium batteries in whatever configuration you need. I typically use three 18650 cells in series for 12 volts. It makes a compact battery pack that is very handy and has a good capacity for small hand held radios.

Youtube video on making E-bike batteries

 

[MUTNAV]

Come to think of it, another method that I use is to use 18650 batteries. You can get modular plastic parts that allow you to assemble 18650 lithium batteries in whatever configuration you need. I typically use three 18650 cells in series for 12 volts. It makes a compact battery pack that is very handy and has a good capacity for small hand held radios.

Youtube video on making E-bike batteries

The Ryobi 18 volt and 40 volt batteries also use 18650 batteries as their elements, just a thought. I have some dead ones I was thinking of rebuilding.

Thanks
Joel

 

[KC3ECJ]

I have a few of these 12 volt UPS's. AT&T and Frontier used to give them out with their voip service. They are common in goodwill and on ebay. Look for the "rev B" versions.
They take a common battery that is easy to change with no tools. Puts out 3amps on 12volts.

Getting to know the Belkin Residential Gateway (RG) Battery Backup REV B, BU3DC001-12V

Getting to know the Belkin Residential Gateway (RG) Battery Backup REV B, BU3DC001-12V

www.belkin.com

View attachment 128995View attachment 128996

Watch these Belkin units.
I had one inflate a battery.

 

[dlwtrunked]

The opposite of that is what I run into, sometimes called "analyses paralyses" I start with a simple idea, then research it, and the idea morphs until an idea becomes unmanageable, or takes a lot longer than it should. This isn't the same as indeciciveness.

For example: Lets say I want an Oscilloscope, what features should it have depends on what current and future things I plan on doing with it, there are lots of options, is it worth paying for a certain feature for just convenience, or its it a necessary feature or performance level? It can go on and on.

IMHO, in the case of a battery backup, a "just enough" solution may be fine, stuff can be added later if desired, it wont detract from a current units performance. I imagine few people use whole house UPS's and prefer something like a battery pack for radios, another seperate one for fridges, etc...

Thanks
Joel

You'll morph after spending and buying stuff that was not enough for the future--it takes a while.

 

[Omega-TI]

Want to see something funny? The APC Unit I mentioned earlier is selling for : $69.99
while the APC replacement battery for those who want to go bareback is selling for : $65.81

So for only $4.18 more, you can get the the whole thing!

 

[bearcatrp]

Heck, just buy 250 acres of land and install your own solar farm:

View attachment 129120

You'll be the envy of your neighborhood!

Until a hail storm comes through and breaks all the panels. Expensive fix. If you plan to have kids, don’t hang around those large farms. The radiation emitted from those panels may grow a flipper arm on you.

 

[dlwtrunked]

Until a hail storm comes through and breaks all the panels. Expensive fix. If you plan to have kids, don’t hang around those large farms. The radiation emitted from those panels may grow a flipper arm on you.

I would be careful posting things like that, someone might take the radiation joke as having some truth.

 

[RU55]

Until a hail storm comes through and breaks all the panels. Expensive fix. If you plan to have kids, don’t hang around those large farms. The radiation emitted from those panels may grow a flipper arm on you.

You might be surprised how well solar panels hold up to hail. Of course, if the hail is big enough...

 

[Kd8lzl]

I bought a deep cycle battery from a farm store that is popular. Just keep it around for Just in case i need it for something. Not too long ago my power supply for my ham stuff quit working, and I drug it in and hooked it up to my ftdx3000. It would run it at 50 watts cw for a couple hours, and a few hours of listening before charging. I imagine it would run a scanner for days nonstop before it would need a charging. Pretty good insurance for 50 dollars or so.

 

[krokus]

I bought a deep cycle battery from a farm store that is popular. Just keep it around for Just in case i need it for something. Not too long ago my power supply for my ham stuff quit working, and I drug it in and hooked it up to my ftdx3000. It would run it at 50 watts cw for a couple hours, and a few hours of listening before charging. I imagine it would run a scanner for days nonstop before it would need a charging. Pretty good insurance for 50 dollars or so.

How did you charge that battery?

 

[prcguy]

You can fit a megawatt of solar on about 5 acres, that should be enough for even the most serious CBer.

Heck, just buy 250 acres of land and install your own solar farm:

View attachment 129120

You'll be the envy of your neighborhood!

 

[Kd8lzl]

How did you charge that battery?

I charged it with a regular automotive battery charger when It was needed while I was not using my radio.

 

[Ronnierozier2]

You just need to be careful charging the car battery in your house as some gases are emitted from the car battery during charging.
When batteries are being recharged, they generate hydrogen gas that is explosive in certain concentrations in air (explosive limits are 4.1 to 72 percent hydrogen in air).

Lithium or AGM dont outgas Lead acid does.

 

[Ronnierozier2]

I took an old. fairly sizeable computer ups and pulled out the small dead battery and then extended the leads and hooked them to a small car battery. worked great for several years. you just have to watch out and not overload the UPS even though you have a small car battery attached due to the inverter inside the UPS ketting hot. I could get about a week of usage out of this unit on small electronics like scanner and cell phone and a few LED lights 1-2 watts.

you can find a dead ups just about anywhere that someone deems DEAD when it just needs a new battery and do what i have mentioned above

 

[buddrousa]

And if you care to read all the post the post I referred to was talking about using a CAR BATTERY possibly in a house.
Having a Electronics Degree for over 45 years and working helping a friend in the 2way industry I know the difference.
Also a friend put a car battery on a home UPS did not pay attention to the size of the load set the UPS ON FIRE.
This is why it is best to know what you are doing or buy the correct tool for the job.

 

[Ronnierozier2]

He

And if you care to read all the post the post I referred to was talking about using a CAR BATTERY possibly in a house.
Having a Electronics Degree for over 45 years and working helping a friend in the 2way industry I know the difference.
Also a friend put a car battery on a home UPS did not pay attention to the size of the load set the UPS ON FIRE.
This is why it is best to know what you are doing or buy the correct tool for the job.

must not be that smart then

 

[buddrousa]

It was not me it was a untrained do it yourself you are not going to make many friends here unless you change your attitude just friendly advice.

 

[bob550]

I think this thread has been beaten to within an inch of its life.