At 09:56 AM 02/27/10, you wrote: >I have been following the 9.6 Volt Micor Voltage information. One >post indicated that if one were to replace the Stock MICOR Supply >with a switcher and add the 9.6 Volt circuit, the monthly electric >bill to run the repeater could be significantly reduced. Is this due >to the fact that the switcher, in the standby mode, draws much less >current and therefore cost less to operate or is it this combined >with efficiently when the repeater is in operation. I have stock >MICOR and MASTR II Supplies and would like your expertise on the >merits of replacing them with one large switcher or a couple >switchers. As always thanks in advance for your input and sharing >your experiences with us. > >73 JIM KA2AJH Wellsville, N.Y.
I'm only mentioning this as food for thought. Over 10 years ago I was shown a Micor station that had been modified to reduce the electric bill. I do not know if it was GMRS, UHF amateur or 2m amateur, and I never heard if it was a short term test or a long term installation. I do not know how much the power bill was reduced, but it was probably significant. We were up at a site that had individual AC power metering for each customer. There was a row of power meters on one wall, and each customer had a 120v 30a twist lock outlet in a box mounted on the ceiling. A heavy cord dropped down to each rack. We were there to swap out a transmitter and verify the duplexer tuning. After we were done the gentleman I was with showed me an interesting system that was in an open frame rack on the other side of the room... it belonged to someone else, but was in the same building. A diagram was taped to a rack panel in the rack and the information below is from my memory of that diagram. The owner had isolated the main channel receiver, the control receiver, and the repeater controller (an Scom 5k) from the stock Micor supply and powered them from a 12v 7.5ah gell cell charged by a separate switching supply that had been carefully adjusted to the proper float voltage. The notes on the diagram stressed that the voltage had to be adjusted to better than 1/10 of a volt or it would shorten the battery life. The stock supply remained connected to the transmitter, and the AC to it was switched on and off with the PTT line run through a time delay relay so the AC would stay on for 10 minutes after the input signal went away. In your case you could do something similar. The gell-cell would be optional - the site had reliable power, I don't know why the system had the gell cell. Mike WA6ILQ
