[Elecraft] In a pinch low-amp alt to Rigrunner - Bell Power Outlet

[w4chl@amsat.org]

Fellow travelers w/ ham and electronics equipment,

Enroute to a mtn cabin (sans my little Rig Runner) I had the misfortune of 
having a connector failure with my custom power distribution harness for 
laptop requiring 16V (via N4UAU converter) and the FT-817 & Z11 
combination. Stopping at a nearby K-Mart after discovering the broken 
connector, I found an interesting little item:

Bell Direct Connect Power Outlet model 39042-P

Now it isn't up to the Rig Runner in fit and finish, but it is an 
interesting little 3 from 1 DC power distribution unit for auto DC power 
outlet (aka cigarette lighter outlet) to 3 mini-blade fused pair of spring 
connectors (similar to what I've seen on some low end home system audio 
speakers). The $17.99 unit includes a fused, hard wired auto DC connector 
(16ga ?) and master on/off switch on the little plastic unit. The 3A fuses 
seemed on the low side, so I picked up a package of 7.5A mini blade fuses 
to replace at least one of the standard 3A fuses.  16ga wire and soldered 
connections inside the unit certainly seems up to handling at least 15A 
total, though not through most auto DC "outlets". Changing the fuse 
allowed me to accomodate the peak 5A+ surges from the N4UAU booster. 
There's also a 2 spring connector pair version with another auto DC outlet 
built in. 

The Bell unit is easily opened with 6 phillips head screws to allow for 
adding some Power Pole connectors after slicing off the ubiquitous auto DC 
adapter and soldering in Power Pole connectors. Since returning, I've put 
a Power Pole connector lead on the 7.5A fuse, another on the 5A fuse, and 
a barrel connector extension on the remaining 3A fuse for the Z11. The 
spring connectors aren't much to write home about, but  with leads that 
are twisted or soldered together they work well, and in a pinch grab onto 
just about any 18 to 24ga wire. 

If anyone else cares to see it, I'll post a photo or two. Yep, could have 
picked up some wire nuts and just cut a few connectors off and twisted, 
but then we wouldn't be writing or reading much about taking this 
approach, would we ? Anyway, saved from very short digital mode ham radio 
sessions at WVa mtn cabin !

Cheers & 73s de Mark W4CHL
Chapel Hill NC  USA   http://rtpnet.org/parc


--- StripMime Report -- processed MIME parts ---
multipart/alternative
  text/plain (text body -- kept)
  text/html
The reason this message is shown is because the post was in HTML
or had an attachment.  Attachments are not allowed.  To learn how
to post in Plain-Text go to: http://www.expita.com/nomime.html  ---