Care and Feeding of a Sealed Lead Acid Battery

This is the battery of choice for long term operations in

emergency communications, and is required for remote or field

operation of 100 watt HF and UHF/amp set ups. Many Em Comm ops

obtain these batteries for little or not charge, when the

batteries are removed from UPS or back up systems, where the

installation has a time out rule, even when the battery functions

perfectly. Universities, hospitals, and government offices are a

good source for your battery.

These batteries are also available new at reasonable costs.

Mouser has a number of pages on batteries at its www.mouser.com

page. And Google will turn up pages on other manufacturers,

including a good one for Power Sonic, which is used by Elecraft

for its K2 battery.

And wherever you obtain your battery for Em Comm use, there are

important rules about charging and maintaining your battery. The

general rule is to limit fast or bulk charging to 10% of the

battery rating. For example, a 7 aH [amp hour, meaning 1 amp for

7 hours theoretically], should be charged at no more than a .7

amp rate; and that means with most chargers, no more than 1/2

amp. There are several sources for the science of these

batteries and the charging, but check out the information at one

a remarkable site with lots of information.

A good source for a quality charger is A&A Engineering, which has

a great little charger, available in both kit and pre-made form.

They are on the web at www.a-aengineering.com. The Smart Charger

in the 1 amp size is a good choice for most Em Comm ops.

Anderson Power Poles are the interconnection standard for ARES,

and there are commercial sources for power strips with the Power

Poles built in. You can find power strips from MFJ at

www.mfjenterprises.com and from West Mountain Radio at

www.westmountainradio.com [call theirs the RigRunner]. Check out

Power Werx on web for Power Pole products.