Brian:
We have plenty of gel cells for Field Day, and, as you noted, don't
really need to use the solar panels at all. However, we get 100 bonus
points when we make QSOs using a battery charged via solar energy. You
can't forget bonus points!
73's,
John AA0VE
Brian Alsop wrote:
It seems like it would be cheaper and easier to do away with the solar
panels and charger. Use the money to buy a few more batteries. Charge
them before FD and you're good to go.
Think about this. It may even rain on FD! The solar panels would
only be good as an ad hoc umbrella or tent during the rain.
73 de Brian/K3KO
John R. Lonigro wrote:
Andrew:
This is exactly what we do at Field Day every year. We "search and
pounce", so our transmit duty cycle is relatively low, but after
operating all afternoon, the 7 Ahr battery used with the QRP K2 is
almost fully charged (assuming sunny weather, of course). We use two
5 Watt solar panels in parallel, each costing less than $40, hooked
up to an inexpensive gelcell charger, to keep the battery from
overcharging (probably not necessary with these solar panels).
73's,
John AA0VE
Paul wrote:
Andrew,
When reading the other posts and seeing those large Solar Panel
wattages, I think they are using a K2 but with the 100W option. I
can't imagine needing a 33W solar panel to power the base K2 model.
On a nice day, I guessing you could hook up a 7 Ahr gel cell and
have it charged with a 5-10 Watt panel and work for a long time. The
battery supplies the TX power when you need it and during the RX
cycle the Solar Panel is catching it for power used.
You might try posting your question on the Yahoo QRPSolarPower
newsgroup.
73,
Paul
_______________________________________________
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
_______________________________________________
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
_______________________________________________
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
