Jim: Be careful what you ask for. Solar arrays are not rated for average. Probably because there is no such thing as an average sun. I'd like to say they are rated for peak power but that is somewhat illusionary too. How much power you actually get from an array depends on many things. You will want to get some sort of charge controller for sure. That is so you can match the charging requirements of your rig and battery to the array. DO NOT expect them to be the same without a controller. I will offer a little data I collected on a 12x18" array in Southern California in June. I had a rig and 7AH gel cell in parallel. My peak solar current was 225ma (.225 x 13.8 = 3.1w) and the rig was drawing right at 200ma in receive. That meant I was pushing 25ma into the battery to replace what I used on transmit. If I could have kept that going I would have been happy. I used the ammeter to aim the array at the sun. The problem is the sun is always moving. In twelve minutes my array power was down to less than 1 watt output. That meant after five minutes I was taking power out of the gel cell to help power the receiver. If I really wanted to charge the battery I had to turn the rig off.
Ratings: The manufacturer rated the array at 5 watts but they said it was the equivalent of a 10 watt array by using their controller. This was a glass covered array not suitable for back packing. If I were back packing I would want the more expensive roll-up arrays. Then you need a frame to hang them in. I have never seen any guaranteed ratings on solar arrays. Caveat Emptor. 73, Fred, AE6QL -----Original Message----- From: elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net [mailto:elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of jimk...@aol.com Sent: Thursday, April 18, 2013 1:29 PM To: elecraft@mailman.qth.net Subject: [Elecraft] Solar Power for KX3 Rather than reinvent the wheel, does anybody have experience or suggestions for a small solar array sufficient to keep a KX3 with internal batteries going during daylight? I would assume 10 watts average over a reasonable TX duty cycle would be enough.? Something strong enough or flexible enough to withstand packing for air travel would be desirable. 73?? -? Jim?? K8MR ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
