• To anyone looking to acquire commercial radio programming software:

    Please do not make requests for copies of radio programming software which is sold (or was sold) by the manufacturer for any monetary value. All requests will be deleted and a forum infraction issued. Making a request such as this is attempting to engage in software piracy and this forum cannot be involved or associated with this activity. The same goes for any private transaction via Private Message. Even if you attempt to engage in this activity in PM's we will still enforce the forum rules. Your PM's are not private and the administration has the right to read them if there's a hint to criminal activity.

    If you are having trouble legally obtaining software please state so. We do not want any hurt feelings when your vague post is mistaken for a free request. It is YOUR responsibility to properly word your request.

    To obtain Motorola software see the Sticky in the Motorola forum.

    The various other vendors often permit their dealers to sell the software online (i.e., Kenwood). Please use Google or some other search engine to find a dealer that sells the software. Typically each series or individual radio requires its own software package. Often the Kenwood software is less than $100 so don't be a cheapskate; just purchase it.

    For M/A Com/Harris/GE, etc: there are two software packages that program all current and past radios. One package is for conventional programming and the other for trunked programming. The trunked package is in upwards of $2,500. The conventional package is more reasonable though is still several hundred dollars. The benefit is you do not need multiple versions for each radio (unlike Motorola).

    This is a large and very visible forum. We cannot jeopardize the ability to provide the RadioReference services by allowing this activity to occur. Please respect this.

XPR 8400 battery back-up

Status
Not open for further replies.
F

FastusBirdus

Member
Joined
Aug 22, 2013
Messages
36
Looking to implement a back up power system for my seven XPR 8400 repeaters.

Wondering what the most reliable, lowest maintenance method would be. Cost is a factor too.

Obviously, I could install a bank of seven lead acid batteries using the factory connection and the repeater's internal trickle charger. That's a lot of batteries though, and constant trickle charge might not be the best for the service life of the batteries. Furthermore, there is no way to monitor the condition of the battery. I would like to at least figure out some sort of isolator circuit so I could use one battery to back-up multiple repeaters.

I could use some UPS's, but it seems a little clunky and inefficient to use an AC UPS to power a AC to DC power supply, but maybe this is a fair trade off in terms of maintenance.

I've also got a pre-selector that also would need to be backed-up, but that is low enough draw I'm sure I could piggy back it off whatever I decide to use for the repeaters.
 
N

N4DES

0598 Czar
Joined
Dec 19, 2002
Messages
2,260
Location
South FL
Can you provide us with the type of facility that the repeaters are located it?
If it is a shared tower site, is there anyone with an on-site generator that you can piggy back off of?

The newer gel type batteries typically have a 10 year life span. I would look at that instead of lead acid.
I have a 100AH running my HOA's UHF repeater and it lasts for just about a week before needing a recharge. Yes one for each repeater would be expensive initially, but over 10 years they would more than pay for themselves.
 
F

FastusBirdus

Member
Joined
Aug 22, 2013
Messages
36
System is located at our manufacturing plant. It only serves that facility. Antennas are located on the building. It's not a shared site.

The only generator on site is nowhere near my repeater room. That back-up generator serves our network servers. To run power from there would not be economical. Everywhere else in the facility we use UPSs.

Historically, our power is very reliable. Just this past week we had an outage due to some storms, so the issue got elevated even though the lights were only out for 15 minutes. First time in the five years that I've been the radio admin that we've had to deal with more than a blip. Our contingency plan previously has been to switch to our talk around channels, but the limited indoor range just doesn't get the job done.

I was looking at some fairly generic 50 AH batteries for each repeater. For the length of time I'm wanting back-up, 100 AH could probably serve all seven repeaters. I'm really only concern with protecting for a fairly short term outage. If the lights are out for more than a couple hours, we're sending everybody home until the lights come back on. I could also throw a portable generator up there for an extended outage.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top