[Elecraft] Fwd: [NJQRP] snow storm battery pack

Tue Dec 9 21:08:00 2003

Hi,

I thought this might be of some interest for use in KX1, K1 and K2, and 
portable rigs in general.  I have Tom's permission to forward it.

Enjoy,

>Date: Mon, 08 Dec 2003 20:22:12 -0500
>From: TJM <[email protected]>
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>To: [email protected], LIQRP <[email protected]>, [email protected]
>Subject: [NJQRP] snow storm battery pack
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>Battery pack;
>
>I was sitting in the house this weekend looking for something to do...
>On Long Island, we had 2 feet of snow or more in driffs... the W1FE
>tells me to get out of the kitchen (she's cooking away) and go build
>something.
>
>So I look in my junk box and find a bunch of Nicad C cells. I had picked
>these up during the Summer at a ham-fest for $10 a dozen. They were
>no-named bulk cells rated at about 2500-3000 mahr. I figured I'd do
>something with them sooner or later.
>
>I'd like to make up a battery pack, but sometimes the hardest part is
>making a nice case... looking around some more, ( lots of time on my
>hands during the storm ) I stumble on a VHS plastic tape box.
>It turns out the C cells fit very nice in the case and I can easily fit
>in 10 C cells , a fuse , and the wire with coaxial plug. This will give
>out 12 to 14 volts ( nicads will be 1.4v per cell or so right off charge
>but settle down to the 1.3v range ) which is below a lot of rigs that
>use 15v max input.
>
>I arranged the cells as shown in the pic, (see address for pic if not
>attached ) http://users.erols.com/tjmc/battpack.jpg
>after soldering up, add a fuse inline, a few dabs of hot glue to hold
>all, cut a small slot on the front, opposite binding, for wire, add a
>wire which fits back in the box (power-pole connectors) with thr rig
>plug... presto!
>A fused battery pack in a nice box, holds the cable and it closes up
>tight for only $10.
>
>Notes;
>1)Some VHS boxes have protrusions for the tape, if you don't have a box
>without, the plastic cuts fairly easily (so do fingers, BE CAREFUL !)
>2)The batteries terminals must be scuffed up to solder , a few light
>strokes with a file will do
>3)DO NOT use excessive heat when soldering batteries. Pre-tin the tabs
>and the wires first, I used 18g wire to interconnect batteries.
>4)I used a 3 amp fuse for the max draw of my rig, fuse to your needs but
>remember that the fuse really needs to blow if output is shorted! :)
>5)There is room for a max of 12 C cells in the case, so a larger voltage
>can be made up if needed.
>6)The power-pole conncetors allow easy connect for the charge cable
>
>All best
>Tom aa2vk
>
>
>
>--
>         ********************************************
>         *  Member of NORCAL, NJQRP, LIQRP, HFPack  *
>         *                K2 #1213                  *
>         *  LIQRP Web Page : www.qsl.net/liqrp      *
>         *  Personal web page : www.erols.com/tjmc  *
>         ********************************************
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73, Chas,  W1CG
K2 462b, 3571 