Woodman75
KKI 2845
Suggestions on how to set up battery backup for uniden sds 200. Regular car battery with trickle charger would be OK?
Battery backup for uniden sds 200
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Ubbe
Member
That might work. But I would go with a real UPS. They don't cost much and most of them have a connector for an extra external battery. As the charger circuit just checks the voltage you can have as big car battery as you like. Some use 24v and needs two car batteries.
If you also have a computer it could trash the harddrive at a power loss so have it connected to the UPS as well, even if you do not intend to work with your computer during a power outage you can at least switch it off properly without damaging its harddrive.
/Ubbe
mmckenna
I ♥ Ø
It's usually not a good idea to use standard car batteries inside the house. They are vented and can release hydrogen in some conditions. If you do use a car battery, put it outside or at least in a very well vented area.
Gel cells are a better choice.
A UPS can work, but there's some inefficiency involved:
AC from the wall to the UPS
UPS converts to DC for the battery.
UPS converts DC back to AC for the outlets
AC adapter converts it back to DC for the scanner.
The benefit to the UPS is that it's an all in one package, plug and play, plus you can run other loads off it. Just don't expect a really long run time from most consumer sized units.
One option that bypasses some of that inefficiency would be to use a DC power supply with a battery revert option.
The DC power supply will provide 12 volts to the scanner. It'll also keep a gel cell battery properly float charged. When the power fails, the battery is already online and will run your scanner.
Gel cells are a better choice.
A UPS can work, but there's some inefficiency involved:
AC from the wall to the UPS
UPS converts to DC for the battery.
UPS converts DC back to AC for the outlets
AC adapter converts it back to DC for the scanner.
The benefit to the UPS is that it's an all in one package, plug and play, plus you can run other loads off it. Just don't expect a really long run time from most consumer sized units.
One option that bypasses some of that inefficiency would be to use a DC power supply with a battery revert option.
The DC power supply will provide 12 volts to the scanner. It'll also keep a gel cell battery properly float charged. When the power fails, the battery is already online and will run your scanner.
To add to @mmckenna post...
Just run the radio from 12v input with something like this...
The NOCO battery clamps can be removed to use the ring terminals only...
The NOCO has more than enough power to keep the battery charged with the scanner running and to recharge after running on battery...
Just run the radio from 12v input with something like this...
The NOCO battery clamps can be removed to use the ring terminals only...
The NOCO has more than enough power to keep the battery charged with the scanner running and to recharge after running on battery...
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Woodman75
KKI 2845
Ok thanks for all your responses. Help me greatly. Art
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I've got a couple CyberPower CST150XLU (thanks Costco!) running my home network hardware, computers, and radios. We've had several power blips here and everything kept on running like it should....
Ubbe
Member
I always use AGM batteries at radio sites. They are bit more costly but doesn't emit any gases and handles both cold and warmth better than standard batteries. If they crack they do not leak. You are allowed to have them indoors without any extra precautions, at least in my country. If you got the money they are the prefered choice for home use. Of around 100 batteries only 2 have been replaced due to bad capacity over a 5 year period.
/Ubbe
KB2GOM
Active Member
So you would plug the NOCO genius into the wall (the mains); it connects to the battery to continually charge it; at the same time, the SDS200 is powered by the battery. If the mains power fails, the battery keeps running the SDS200; when the mains power comes back, the NOCO recharges the battery and the battery keeps running the SDS200. Have I got it right?
I've used several different models of NOCO branded chargers since they first hit the market.@KB2GOM
You got it...
You have to make some pigtails up... Faston to ring terminal... The battery is faston terminals... Or however you want to terminate it...
The NOCO is a charger/maintainer... Can be connected to the battery Indefinitely... Will not hurt it...
They do good for what they are built for in a commercial setting but I found them to be very bad with causing radio interference in several bands when used at home with radio gear.
The NOCO chargers are of course switch mode power supplies as well as some complex custom circuitry to perform their so called maintenance mode charging and auto battery type detection. The result is a charger that may not be radio friendly. I had to stop using mine as it killed several bands or caused RFI across small areas of the normal VHF/UHF scanner bands. The worst noise was in the HF bands though.
My NOCO's have been around several years now so it's very possible today's models have been improved as far as reducing RFI goes.
I doubt I'll buy another to find out though.
My NOCO's were also their larger or higher current models as I have a fairly high current demand when all gear is powered on. I can't say if the higher current NOCO's are noisier than their lower current models. I couldn't use their lower current models as my current draw was higher than they could supply which resulted in battery voltage falling below a normal float voltage.
I havn't had that issue with mine... Then again the NOCO and the Batt are not close to my radio either...
After all... The 200's wall wart is a switch mode power supply...
Any switch mode power circuit will spray some RFI...
Even a UPS will spray RFI...
After all... The 200's wall wart is a switch mode power supply...
Any switch mode power circuit will spray some RFI...
Even a UPS will spray RFI...
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I got rid of my switch mode wall warts where I could. Everything is run from a master rack of large batteries charged by a large linear supply with current regulation for those times the batteries are depleted during a power outage and then commercial power is restored.
I usually average about six years from a set of large AGM type batteries
Most of the SMPS noise is down below 30 MHz so most people would never notice it until they get into HF/LF monitoring.
I also had a hard time isolating noise from UPS units that keep the computer equipment running. That was not that hard though as the UPS can be mounted a long distance from the radio equipment.
My bigger problem is probably all the clock oscillators running in many modern day electronic devices! Some of that stuff like in routers or switches can be hard to tame.
Astron does sell a line of switch mode power supplies that are fairly radio quiet. They are in the amateur radio market though where no noise is important.
The technology is getting better for SMPS powered devices but some of the cheap stuff you find on Amazon or eBay can sure be bad for the radio hobby! Just like many cheap LED light bulbs.
The SMPS wall warts that have come with many of my scanners did not usually cause issues with the typical frequency ranges scanners operate on but a good majority were found to be noisy below 30 MHz.
I'm probably an exception though as I have well over 100 devices that used SMPS's for the power source.
The main thing is if you use one and it causes no noise, you are good to go!
Uniden itself makes a battery backup solution that includes most of the SDS200 features except for the network connection, albeit with a somewhat smaller display. Runtime on battery ranges from a few hours to as many as 10 or 12 in optimum conditions.
It is called the SDS100...
But, more seriously; I have had great results using cheap sealed lead acid batteries like those used on home alarm systems or the replacement batteries for UPS's. I had a UPS go bad and recovered the battery from it, it ran a pair of 996's for days.
It is called the SDS100...
But, more seriously; I have had great results using cheap sealed lead acid batteries like those used on home alarm systems or the replacement batteries for UPS's. I had a UPS go bad and recovered the battery from it, it ran a pair of 996's for days.
mmckenna
I ♥ Ø
Yeah, I'd be concerned about RFI and the desulfation cycle on those chargers. Might work fine, might result in a lot of hash.
You probably don't need desulfation functionality for a small battery like this, and not for a good gel-cell.
You probably don't need desulfation functionality for a small battery like this, and not for a good gel-cell.
mmckenna
I ♥ Ø
Yeah, I'm running about 20 sites off of GnB 48 volt 600a/h or 1000a/h systems and while they don't usually outgas, they can if they are abused by a faulty charger. Locally, building code requires hydrogen sensors in the rooms. We have those tied into the fire alarm systems as a supervisory alarm. Our dispatch will alert me if one goes off. So far the only time we had one go off was when a sensor failed. We also have it tied into an exhaust fan that vents directly outside the building. But I'm running some pretty high end rectifier plants that have a lot of safeguards built in to prevent issues.
An old Motorola system, installed by Motorola, was left with the chargers cranked up to 15 volts. When we took over the site from them, I went up there and found the tops blown off several of the batteries.
I've also had one motorcycle battery ignite in a garage when the cheap charger failed. Makes a mess. Luckily it was sitting on the bench.
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