Actually, I had a question that is in a similar vein. I bought a buddipole, and plan on taking my K2/100 camping. I began to research batteries, such as gell cell and glass matt batteries, and solar charging. My guess is that I might operate about 4 to 5 hours per day, running up to the full "gallon." Operating modes would be SSB, CW and while my laptop batteries held up, PSK. I also plan on being out in the woods for probably a week at a time.
There is so much on the web, I just cannot separate out what would work, from overkill. In spite of reading several treatises, I still am not sure whether I would want a gell cell or a glass matt battery. My question (finally) - I'd like to hear from people on the list who have a battery/solar recharging system that works well and will run the K2/100 for the 4 to 5 hours per day, listing the components he or she is using. Given the size and weight of batteries, I had hoped to use a 36 Ah battery, and then recharge it with solar power. But it seems that these batteries charge rather slowly, and that might not be possible. For example, I think it is powerportstore.com that has a 1.2 amp flexible solar panel recharger that puts out approximately 5.6 - 7 Ah per day. The solar panel is about $ 500.00. The general size/weight and price is ok, but it doesn't appear that such output would be sufficient to fully recharge a big battery. I think I'd rather duplicate what has worked for someone else, than try to reinvent the wheel. Thanks in advance. Tom W6EIJ _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com