Power solutions

[VA7DH]

There are four type of power available, switching power supplies, analog power supplies, batteries, and fuel powered generators.  Each supply has it's pluses and minuses.Analog supplies: reliable but heavy. They consist of an iron core transformer, rectifier, filter, and voltage regulator. That big transformer being the large body of weight. Analog supplies tend to be more expensive because of the large transformer with all the copper on it and the use of larger more expensive filter capacitors. Still, electrical noise from analog supplies is similar  to batteries, almost none existant.Switching supplies: light weight less expensive, sometimes electronically noisy. These supplies have a rectifier, filter, switching circuit with ferrite core transformer, smaller final filters and voltage regulator. It's the switching transients that can be bothersome, mostly to HF radio gear. Military grade switching supplies are very quiet. You sort of get what you pay for with switching supplies. Some manufacturers take stupid shortcuts. Make sure you can take it back if it's not suitable. Go to the eHam reviews and see what other users have reported before putting your money down.Battery power: reliable, quiet. Of course there are different kinds of batteries, the kind we have in our hand helds, lap tops, power tools, and then there are the lead acid types in our vehicles or in our ham shacks. I will just mention the lead acid batteries. There are float batteries and then there are sealed batteries. Float batteries must be kept out doors or in a ventilated space, vented to outside. They give off sulfurous fumes when being charged plus hydrogen and oxygen, an explosive mixture in presence of an ignition source. Float batteries must be checked often, a monthly schedule may be adequate and the fluid topped up with "distilled" water. No other water should ever be added to lead acid batteries. Water occurring naturally has minerals dissolved in it which will gradually neutralize the acid making the battery useless.All lead acid batteries need to be kept charged up. A small smart charger used to keep up powered wheel chair batteries or golf cart batteries would do the job. A pulse type charger is good if you can afford the extra cost. Pulse chargers are claimed to help cut sulphation problems and make the batteries live longer. I use a 110 amp hour AGM (absorbed glass mat) battery for my ham shack. It's sealed but if it were dropped the acid would mostly stay withing the cracked casing of the battery and remain absorbed in the glass mat. Nice safety feature.  If you deep discharge any lead acid battery there will likely be some sulphation. Each time there is additional sulphation you lose some battery capacity until all you have is water, lead plates, and sulfur at the bottom of the battery. So, be good to your batteries if you want them to last.Generators: There are lots of choices to make in gen sets. If you are going to run your household from one then you need to assess your needs and buy accordingly. Gen sets rated at 5 KW may seem adequate but then it depends on the nature of the loads being placed on it. Lights are a fairly stable load once lit, whereas an induction motor on something like an air compressor will flatten the generator and may cause a brown out. This is because starting current for an induction motor may be over twice what it states on its plate. If you only want a gen set for a light and your radio then your needs may be a lot less. Perhaps a 2KW Honda Inverter generator may be what you need. The inverter generators have a constant voltage and frequency output because they do a conversion internally so doesn't matter what the RPM is, the frequency and voltage out are stable unless you overdo it with the load. You just need to remember to stop the generator periodically and check the oil level, change it if it's dirty, and make sure you have adequate reserves of gas or diesel. There  are propane gen sets too and they have benefits and draw backs. Propane left sitting for a few years will still burn in your propane gen set so is a great emergency fuel. On the other hand where are you going to go to get propane if yours runs out. A gas or diesel gen set is easier to find fuel for especially if you have a farm and a big reservoir for tractors, that sort of thing. Both diesel and gas have their problems. Gas gets oxidized over time and diesel grows a form of algae. So rotate your fuel every 3 or 4 months by burning it off in your vehicles and replacing with fresh.O/K that's it from me. Hope this has been of help to someone.Donn / VA7DHldsradio.ca

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