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Repeater Back-up Power

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WQOC472

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Hello all,

I have a motorola repeater for GMRS I am wanting to install a back-up power system for it. I am using a Pyrmid 20A Power Supply to power the whole system.

Any Ideas of a good back-up power system? We use this repeater for Severe Weather Operations. Obiviously at times during storms we lose power.

I have a Battery i can plug the repeater into when we do lose power. But i am wanting to be able to switch the repeater from the power supply to the emergency back-up power with out having to physically go to the repeater location and switch it.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreicated!!

Thanks!
 

ramal121

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I'm not a great fan of repeater power supplies that provide a provision for a back up battery. Most just provide a constant voltage trickle charge. While OK for maintaining a fully charged battery, they lack when the battery is used for a length of time and needs a good charging current to fully restore them.

I prefer a battery bank with its own charger, a quality "smart" PWM charger, hooked to it and disconnected from the power supply while it is up and running the repeater. I would like to see about 1/10th the amp-hour capacity as a charging current (100AHr battery and a 10 amp charger)

What is needed is a switching relay to connect the battery to the repeater when the power supply craps out. I make my own out of those black ice cube 30A relays. Or you can buy a commercial thing like this:

Electrical Installation Accessories; Bus bars, terminal strips, fittings

To use one of those, I'd cut out the big resistor for a trickle charge and use it as a switch box.

What I've used recently with good success is these:

Home

A nice thing to do if your repeater will allow, is have an audible (beep) warning on transmissions when on battery to give you a heads up that the power is out at the site.
 
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jackj

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Do what the phone companies do. Power your equipment from a well regulated charger and float a battery string across the DC supply line. Use a charger that is sized to supply about twice the full load current drawn by the system. If the repeater is powered by 14v then set your charger to 13.4 volts and use deep discharge batteries. The only thing you will need to do is visit the site every month or two and check the electrolytic level in the batteries. Use distilled water, not de-ionized water, to replenish the level.

In case of a power failure, the batteries will start supplying the load current without any need for switching. You want to use deep discharge batteries for two reasons, you will need to add water from time to time so you need cell caps that can be removed and the batteries won't be destroyed by a deep discharge. The supply voltage of 13.4 volts is low enough to keep from boiling the water out of the batteries but still high enough to fully recharge the batteries after they have been on-line. You will need a charger rated at 2X the repeater's current rating because it will need to power the repeater as well as recharge the batteries when they are low. Batteries intended for a fisherman's trolling motor will work fine. Don't worry about charger ripple, the batteries will filter out the ripple.
 

WQOC472

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May 4, 2010
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@ramal121 The switching relay looks like what i am looking for. Where can i find one? and how much do they cost?
 

WQOC472

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May 4, 2010
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266
The repeater draws about 10 amps. Its just a small little GMRS repeater. Like i said currently i am using a Pyrmid 20amp power supply to power the unit.
 
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kb0nly

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I second the Iota... Thats what i have in shack here to.. I own two of the Iota DLS-55 models, one with an IQ4 smart charger for the main shack supply and a deep cycle battery that keeps it running without skipping a beat in a power failure. My other one is just my bench supply.
 

Rob_K

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I second the Iota... Thats what i have in shack here to.. I own two of the Iota DLS-55 models, one with an IQ4 smart charger for the main shack supply and a deep cycle battery that keeps it running without skipping a beat in a power failure. My other one is just my bench supply.

And I third this. I have a dls-45 with iq4


A nice thing to do if your repeater will allow, is have an audible (beep) warning on transmissions when on battery to give you a heads up that the power is out at the site.

The feb or march Qst had an article on how to do this.
 
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