[aprssig] Backup Remote Power cord ops

Thu Dec 2 15:15:50 EST 2021

Jesus Christ people.
--
Kenneth Finnegan
http://blog.thelifeofkenneth.com/

On Wed, Dec 1, 2021 at 8:24 PM Earl Needham <earl.kd5xb at gmail.com> wrote:

> Annnnnnd......
>
> They make a great heating coil if you keep it on the reel and run much
> amperage through it.
>
> Maybe more heat than is safe.
>
> By 7 3
> Earl
> KD5XB
>
>
> On Wed, Dec 1, 2021, 4:55 PM Stephen H Smith via aprssig <
> aprssig at lists.tapr.org> wrote:
>
>> On 12/1/2021 4:59 PM, Robert Bruninga wrote:
>>
>> When preparing for winter APRS (and other) backup power I found it
>> possible to fit up to 175' of power cord on the  Home Depot power cord
>> reel.
>>
>> Just pull off the 20' of #14 power cord  and rewind with up to 175' of #18
>> Zip cord..  Rated at 10 Amps the reel can still carry plenty of power the
>> distance if precautions are followed and it can still fit under the car
>> seat if
>> needed.
>>
>> I did this about a decade ago!   Used a generic orange cord reel from
>> Harbor Freight that had 30 feet of 16-3 cord on it.  Took it apart, removed
>> the cable, and replaced it with 200 feet of Monoprice premium "oxygen-free"
>> (an affectation in the audiophile community) speaker cable.  This stuff is
>> two-conductor 14-2 zip cord in a clear PVC jacket. One conductor is
>> stranded natural copper color; the other is silver (tinned copper) (so you
>> can tell the polarity for stereo speaker hook ups.  If you are really
>> serious about polarizing 2-conductor AC cords, the two colors are a lot
>> easier to see than the almost invisible ridges on one side of AC zip cord.
>>
>>
>> At swap meets, Field Day, etc, the safety-enforcers always freak out when
>> they think they are seeing bare wires on the ground!
>>
>> ___________________________________________
>>
>> *** COOL NEW GADGET! ***
>>
>> For power in the field, I just took the plunge and invested in a Jackery
>> "portable power station".,   This is a 25-lb 10x10x12 inch box with a 1
>> kilowatt-hour lithium battery inside. The battery is surrounded by TWO
>> DC-DC converters and ONE DC-AC inverter:  One outputs 5 VDC to two USB-A
>> jacks and two USB-C jacks.   One outputs to a 10 AMP 12 VDC car lighter
>> jack,  The inverter outputs 110 VAC pure sinewave to  THREE 110 VAC
>> three-prong AC outlets.  The AC inverter can output up to 1 KILOWATT!
>> I've tried it - it really can power a 3/4-horse table saw or a small
>> microwave oven, a coffee maker, or my 800-watt electric weed whacker..
>>
>> On the input end, it has charging jacks for a normal 12-VDC car power
>> jack (a.k.a "cigarette lighte jacr"). It CAN ACCEPT 10 TO 30 volts input,
>> so the power station can be charged on large trucks or military vehicles
>> with 28 VDC systems.  It can also be connected to  a provided 250-watt
>> 100-250 VAC-input power brick.    Finally, it has a built-in solar charge
>> controller that can be connected to "bare" solar panels - no external
>> charge controller needed.    The device comes with a Y-shaped cable with an
>> mystery junction box in the center that allows you to connect two similar
>> 12-18 volt solar panels in parallel to the single port.
>>
>> The front panel has a nice LCD display that shows:
>>
>>    A bar-graph battery level "gas gauge"
>>
>>    The number of watts coming in from all charge sources
>>
>>    The number of watts going out to loads on all ports.
>>
>> I have used this device several times now at ham events including swap
>> meets, and a presentation on APRS that I gave to the Traverse City,
>> Michigan ham club last week.  I call the Jackery my "cordless extension
>> cord".  Sure beats chasing around unfamiliar venues looking for AC outlets
>> and stringing vast lengths of extension cords!
>>
>> Now that the winter season has arrived, the swap meets around here
>> (Michigan) are all indoors at auditoriums, union halls, high school gyms,
>> etc. There is always a mad scramble at these events for sellers' spaces
>> near the wall,  to get access to the scarce AC outlets.  Now, with the
>> Jackery, I can take any table in the middle of the room, and  plunk the
>> power station down under the table.    I then plug in everything  AC or DC
>> into the one power supply:  Phone and tablet chargers, 12 VDC transceivers,
>> AC supplies for 100-watt class HF transceivers, laptops, desktop PCs,
>> computer monitors, my drone charger, and even my Acer 1080-HD video
>> projector.   The Jackery has had no problems powering all this stuff for
>> the typical 5 hours of the average swap meet.
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------
>> Stephen H. Smith    wa8lmf (at) aol.com
>> Skype:        WA8LMF
>> EchoLink:  Node #  14400  [Think bottom of the 2-meter band]
>> Home Page:          http://wa8lmf.net
>>
>> -- APRS over FLdigi Modes  --
>>    <http://wa8lmf.net//FLdigiAPRS/index.htm>
>> <http://wa8lmf.net//FLdigiAPRS/index.htm>
>>
>> 60-Meter APRS!   HF NVIS APRS Igate Now Operating
>>    <http://wa8lmf.ddns.net:14447/> <http://wa8lmf.ddns.net:14447/>
>>
>> Flying Digipeater!
>>    <http://WA8LMF.net/FlyingDigi> <http://WA8LMF.net/FlyingDigi>
>>
>> 12 Copies of UIview in Action on One Acer "NetbooK" Computer!
>> Live Off-The-Air APRS Activity Maps
>>    <http://wa8lmf.net/map> <http://wa8lmf.net/map>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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