Everything You Need To Know About Portable Ham Radio Power But Were Afraid To Ask
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- Опубліковано 6 лют 2025
- From Selecting The Right Size Battery To Wiring & Incorporating Solar, This Video Shows Everything You Need To Get Started In Portable Ham Radio.
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Little geek, and big geek.... what is the pelican box one named ? gargantuan geek ??
I haven't decided yet, but I think I'm going to call it "The Football". In reference to: The nuclear football, officially the Presidential Emergency Satchel, is a briefcase, the contents of which are to be used by the president of the United States to communicate and authorize a nuclear attack while away from fixed command centers, such as the White House Situation Room or the Presidential Emergency Operations Center. Functioning as a mobile hub in the strategic defense system of the United States, the football is carried by a military aide when the president is traveling. What say. you?
Great video for those new to portable ops. One thing I did, I put green/black Powerpoles on my solar panels and charge controller inputs. All else is red/black pairs. This helps keep things sorted, and the 18-19 volts from the panels separate from the 12-14 volts on the radio side.
Thanks for the run down of how you power and charge your radios. Very helpful video.
A good check on your calculations is to use the AH meter to see much juice you actually used vs the spreadsheet. The calculations are a great learning tool to understand your personal operating style. Know thyself!
Very interesting and useful. Great presentational style. Clear, concise and uncomplicated. Thank you. Phil, Suffolk, U.K.🇬🇧
I purchased one and appreciate your customer service and innovation for ham radio gear!
Happiest of birthdays, brother Mike. The couch is still open for whenever you make it out here, my man. I still owe you a beer or two for all the awesome videos and advice. 🤙🏾
Great video Mike, can't get enough good ideas for portable operation!
Excellent, no, Awesome presentation Mike. Thanks, and 73.
I’m glad you mentioned the settings you use for the spreadsheet given your style while activating POTA, because I have found almost the exact same; that I use anywhere from 4 to 6 Ah of battery for my activation, so an average of 5. Seems like a pretty powerful and useful spread sheet. I wish I had of known about it earlier because my 20 Ah LiFePo4 is way too big and heavy for my portable hike-in activations. I would’ve been better off with a 12Ah.
Heh, yup - I went with the 12Ah ones, and so far the time they last is “longer than I care to talk”, even over multiple activations. If you do need to go longer, having two of them means one can be sitting on a charger while the other is in use, which is way more convenient than one big battery.
@ yep sounds about right to me! I take the 891 portable in my backpack and only talk for about 1 hour, maybe 2 hours at the max. And with SSB at 100 watts, 20Ah is just pure overkill. Need to get a 12Ah and seriously cut down on some size and weight!
I have a 30Ah LiFePo battery for my 710 and mfj 939 tuner. I have never run that battery down too far. After hours of receiving and medium transmitting on 100 watts. I couldn't be happier with it.
12.8 v?
@hellsbells8979 definitely.
Great video. I built 4 boxes. 2 with 20ah lifepo's and 1 with 8ah lifepo and 1 with 2x6ah lifepo. I can run radios, computers and lighting with these for many hours. I use the little inline amp meters and they've been good enough so far. I also have usb connections on all the boxes but rarely use them. Thanks for some good ideas.
Hi Mike, thank you for your video I do like the way you describe your video, I also have build battery boxes and have made use of a 30Amp relay to disconect the battery with a switch from the whole batterybox witch makes it easy to controll the complete unit.
73 and 88 where tey belong.
Great video Mike, I absolutely loved the boxes that you built, great idea and well executed.
Great explanation on battery power!!! Thank you for sharing you experience!!! 73 Mike!!!
Thanks, Mike
Funny catching you on the air while U was watching this 😊. This was an especially really useful video.
Happy birthday Mike! 🎂🎂🎂🎈🎈🎈
Very useful video. I have subscribed to your channel. You might want to consider suggesting to your viewers that they use the manufacturer's specifications for current draw on RX and TX on any given radio. It eliminates the measurement step, and eliminates the requirement to have the DC power meter (although it is a good thing to have).
Oftentimes, you get worse-case current draw from the manufacturer's specifications, which may cause you to select more battery than you need. My measurements vary greatly from the data sheets.
@@Philip-KA4KOE I absolutely agree with you regarding the current draw. I suspect that the manufacturer's (OEM) numbers are worst case, and that the typical ham will never see that. However, you can use the OEM numbers if you are in a pinch or need a quick solution, and then know with a good level of confidence that you will have the capacity that you require with reasonable reserves.
You could also use a very accurate USB energy meter such as the FNIRSI FNB-58 inline. It can handle up to 20v and quite a bit of power and would provide you with all the metrics and a graph that you would need.
nice setup Mike!
Thanks Mike. FYI, the manuals for the panels I have say that panels connected together, either in series or parallel, should be the same. I haven't tried mixing panel brands, wattages, output voltages, etc but if you do I'd check the manuals first. If you need to mix panels the conventional approach would be to have a separate controller for each panel array to provide isolation. Batteries in a bank should also be matched. As far as I know there's no problem having more than one controller feeding a single battery or battery bank. YMMV, cheers.
While I'm sure there's some merit to that, I can tell you I have connected all kinds of sizes and brands of solar panels together without issue (all the same voltage panels of course). I would imagine companies say not to do that as more of a way to protect their butts from having to deal with warranty issues. "Oh, your panel stopped working, how did you have it wired up? You had another brand panel connected to it? I'm sorry, that voids your warranty." That kind of thing. As a retail sales manager in the construction industry for ~15 years, I can tell you companies will look for any reason they can to not take the blame. I don't see a point to have multiple CC's though. That doesn't make sense. Most panels are made to be put together either in series or parallel, then fed in to the CC and then to the battery.
I'm jealous of your weather down there. We've got snow already up here.
Well done....
Thanks Mike, it was very useful to me. At youtube, I heard a comment from the Elecraft founder about the BMS in their batteries: You can connect the solar panel (yielding typically 20 V) and the radio simultaneously to the battery. As long as the battery charges, it is ok. But when the battery is full, the whole 20 V go into the radio, which can damage it. I did not try it, because I am too cautious, and therefore cannot recommend this.
I was also worried when I heard that. IIRC, the instructions for my controller says not to do that. Also,do you have any videos showing how you cut the holes in the battery boxes? TU de AD0L
Hmm, that sounds weird. A BMS and a charge controller are two completely different things. I don't think I would plug a solar panel into the Elecraft like he describes. A BMS should have over voltage protection, but charging from solar without a charge controller is 100% not what it is for.
I have an entire video showing how I made the battery box. ua-cam.com/video/E2EzffOhysg/v-deo.html
Happy BD! Maintain situational awareness!
Happy birthday Mike
Check the specs on your battery to make sure it is OK to use it on its side. I have a 20AH that specifically says to only operate it upright.
This a great video at explaining how to put this whole system together. But you fail to tell the cost in which this can run into the $1,000 mark and beyond pretty quickly.
Great video Mike!
The cost is irrelevant in this video. I'm merely showing what to do, not necessarily what to buy. These are just the things I have and use. Prices vary vastly on all of this stuff, from radios to batteries to panels to watt meters to charge controllers, etc, etc, etc. The only way this would run into the thousands is if you made it run into the thousands. Which, as you stated, you absolutely could, but certainly don't have to. The lesson is "this is how you do it". What particular products you chose to accomplish the end result is entirely up to the user. Hope that makes sense.
@ yes it does.
For the cost of the solar charging setup, one could get a larger capacity battery. Granted that only works if you will have access to power before the battery runs out.
I agree. As cheap as the Chinese lithium iron phosphate batteries are I just bought another battery instead of a solar panel. Instead of charging my battery while I'm operating I just charge it when I get home. I do have a DC-DC charger in the van for some flexibility. That way I can charge my battery while I'm driving.
Great video! Are you going to be selling your big geek battery boxes again anytime soon???
Happy birthday 🎊🎉🎂🎁🎈!
A really well done presentation! My questions: Especially in the tan coloured box as it looks more airtight, how do you control for off gassing safety from the battery? Are there ready-made boxes that can be purchased if you already have a LiFePO battery purchased? How does one dispose of an old LiFePo battery at the end of its life? And (finally!) how does this battery handle extreme temperatures and capacity? 73 DE W8LV Bill
Off gassing isn't really a thing with LiFePO4 batteries unless there is a catastrophic failure. In which case, you'd have bigger things to worry about than the air tightness of the case. LiFePO4 is extremely safe compared to other lithium ion chemistries. They are incredibly robust and it takes an awful lot to have an unscheduled rapid disassembly. They usually won't catch fire, though they can, but they will certainly get extremely hot and put off an incredible amount of highly toxic, foul smelling gasses. Ask me how I know: ua-cam.com/video/wZWZ4G4_V24/v-deo.html There are ready made boxes for them I have seen, but couldn't site any one in particular. Ham Radio 2.0 just did a video on one but he had to modify it a bit to get it to his liking. As far as disposal, I couldn't tell you. I haven't had to dispose of one yet. Except for the one in the video I linked to. I think the oldest one I have is about 8 years old. As far as temperature, they can be used (discharged) well below freezing up to ~140F. You certainly do not want to charge them below 32F, that can and will damage the cells. If they're stored at constant high temperatures up towards that 140F I would expect to see some cell degradation over time. So storing the battery in your car in the Texas heat all the time like I do, I wouldn't expect it to last quite as long, but were still talking many many years of life out of it. And even then I would expect it to still have ~80% of its capacity. Of course, your milage may very.
Mike What about using a portable power station like the Bluetti AC200Max. I know it's heavy and not for backpacking, but would give plenty of power. It also has a DC output of 30 amps
Your thoughts?
Nice video. Thank you for your channel. Have you run into solar controllers that are very noisy at HF? I have one that can not be run while I operate. Gotta replace it. Walt KT0D
I know you’re a fan of HarborFreight, they are coming out with their own power stations this month. Would you recommend a small power station in place of the battery options you have shown.. Thanks for your very informative videos.
If it can handle the current draw of the radio, sure. A lot of those I've seen max out at 10 amps DC so make sure to check the specs.
@@hamradiotube You were correct: The PREDATOR 350 Power Station, 350 Running Watts, 294 Wh Capacity Auxiliary Port: 12VDC, 10A, from the spec sheet. Thanks!
Horror Fright had a great sale on jump boxes maybe 7-8 years ago. I bought one and since it was DOA I figured I'd take a look.
1-Power switch not connected.
2-Voltage meter not connected.
3-Battery just dropped in the case, no tape, no adhesive, no nothing.
It went back the next morning. Ask yourself, with that kind of quality control, do you really want a more complex power station from them? Fire extinguisher optional and extra.
The marine 12vdc power code changed about 20 years ago, because a 12vdc ground is the same color black as the 120vac hot wire. People got killed.
The new code is RED AND YELLOW for 12vdc wiring. Leave the black wires for AC HOT and you might save a life. Yes, that would mean phasing in the yellow powerpoles.
But since BLUE is also used as an AC standard in the rest of the world, using it for DC solar isn't a great idea either.
Nice and thnk you. No mention of RFI from the charger controllers I'm going to guess there is some but .... ??
The ones he uses are RF quiet.
They're all RF Quiet except for the one in Little Geek at 18:56 where I have an arrow pointing to it with the words "not rf quiet" underneath. 🤣
@hamradiotube oh the tiny little guy LOL 😆 . Guessing I'd would have got that question wrong on the final exam .... .. ..... .. Back in the day Hoffman enclosure company was toying with embedded ferites in their polycarbonate enclosures. I wonder if they ever marketed it. I'll go Google it.
Great video! 73!
Item 3 has nothing to do with pileups. That’s a power factor ratio based on the mode. No matter if you transmit in a pileup or not, that number remains constant. Item 5 (which is for some reason also labeled 3) is the only field you should have changed based on Tx time.
Great video for battery / solar noobs Mike. Now If only you had this much passion for APRS 🤪
Rule of thumb. If your radio draws 16A on transmit then you need a 16Ah battery minimum.
Most 100W radios draw 1A on receive.
If you only transmit 25% of the time then you will go through 4A for TX, 5A total including RX for the hour (it’s 4.75 but let’s round it up).
You want 4 hours of air time?
4*5A=20Ah.
A 50Ah battery will give you 10 hours of airtime.
No spreadsheet required.
Mike curious, a typical POTA kit for you, what's your weigh?
Hmm, good question. The POTA kit I use most (my 7300/Gigaparts Explorer bag) weighs 21.6lbs and my Big Geek battery box weighs another 13.2lbs.
What’s up with your video audio? Time to checkout all connections.
Wireless dropout, not a physical connection issue. I had the same issue with my dji wireless lavs and now I always record as a backup
My tablet is having garbled audio too. It could be internet crashing, due to cyber monday traffic?
He just had a little too much caffeine 😅
Not that you’d use it for POTA, but I happened to be looking at the IC-7610 specs today. 3A on receive. Sheesh.
I actually have used it for POTA. It draws a little over 2 amps on RX.
@ ahh thanks for the info. It looks like they exaggerated on the specs. That’s good. Great video btw.
Yeah they tend to do that. If I remember right, the specs for the 891 say it draws 2 amps when in reality it only draws 1.
I noticed on your 30 amp hour battery box that the battery was on it's side. Is this battery orientation an issue rather than having the battery terminals on top?
With these LiFePO4s it doesn’t matter.
You have a link to the circuit breaker that is on the 100ah box ? Don't see it on the list or Amazon list
nvm found it :)
@@dienadel30do you have a link or name so I can check it out?
Nice presentation, Mike.
Regards to Satan.
When were you last on the Washington Post Road (US-1, as on your T-shirt)?
US-1 has some special significance in my life but in South Florida we call it Federal Highway.
Those cheap in- line wattmeters are great, except the cheapest possible gray on blue displays are barely legible. ALL OF THEM. I understand at that price I'm not buying lab equipment, but I'd like a didplay I could at least SEE.
Adding a comment to even out the number of comments.
Man the only thing you missing is a lab coat and a white board. Keep up the good work.
Nice demo explaining it all Mike.. thanks for sharing. !! k0klb
My pota is a pipu camper with 200 Watts hahah
I was is scared to ask this I almost peed myself. :) I sure hope Mike has on pants sitting there at that park LOL :)
I do have on pants, but there is a piss jug just off camera lol!
Hey Mike, I’m looking for some assistance with my portable set up. I’ve been trying to find the right configuration for what I’m trying to do & this particular video is the best vid for what I’d like to accomplish with my set up. Is there any way you could assist? I can shoot you my email address offline.
Fabulous video! Great explanations that were easy to understand. WØRHP
Thanks Mike this is one of the better explanations I have seen, my aim in the coming year is to get more into doing POTA activations, and this may putting together my battery box go a little smoother. 73 de VE7WNO