[Elecraft] FW: [K3] K3 Off Grid

[Gerald Manthey]

That was suggested Chester.
It works too. You can kick around numbers and theory all day. Real world is
the best way and you have to remember, temp plays a major part too.
I have lived off grid for two years. My experience has been through trial
and error.
Mind you I don't run just ham equipment, I run a whole house.

Type of battery, method of charge , temp and age of battery bank all play
into how long you can run before you reach 50 percent battery power rating.

He was given many good examples of what would work and how to charge them.
And he also made the choice to get a good quiet generator so that not only
ham stuff and be run but also needed things in a disaster or emergency.

I have seen people say solar and are wind turbine are not worth it. Well
when you have nothing it is. Also knowing that my system is rated for 25
years, I can afford to put some away for new system and new technology. And
I must say it is great not having utility bills.

But, I have enjoyed following this thread and learning how others have and
would do it.

Oh and if any one is curious
1 - 12 volt system for led lights and ham stuff.
600 amp hours.
Solar and wind turbine to charge.

1 - 48 volt system to run all my A/C needs. 800 amp hours. Solar / propane
generator with self start and stop.  And home made steam engine that runs a
48 volt alternator .

Fun stuff.
73's
Gerald - KC6CNN
 On Mar 5, 2014 4:47 PM, "Chester Alderman" <aldermant at windstream.net>
wrote:

> Gosh Engineers...why not just suggest to Paul that he use the most simple
> method of finding out the voltage and current the K3 draws by pressing the
> K3's METER button????
>
> 73,
> Tom - W4BQF
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net
> [mailto:elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Lynn W. Taylor,
> WB6UUT
> Sent: Wednesday, March 5, 2014 5:23 PM
> To: elecraft at mailman.qth.net
> Subject: Re: [Elecraft] [K3] K3 Off Grid
>
> Here is how I'd do it, your mileage may vary.
>
> I'd measure the power draw at 100 watts key-down, and the power draw for
> receive.
>
> I'd assume 50% duty cycle.  You can skip a lot of math by either ignoring
> the receive power draw (if it's low enough) and dividing by two, or adding
> them together and dividing by two (averaging them together).
>
> Multiply that number by the number of hours you need to be able to operate
> -- and that's your target capacity in amp-hours.
>
> That should over estimate the battery, so if that size wasn't economical,
> I'd buy one slightly smaller.
>
> That should insure that the battery does the job for years, even when it's
> starting to fail.  It should also make sure you can keep operating if the
> emergency was longer than initially planned.
>
> Yes, there are a lot of factors, like operating mode that this appears to
> ignore.  I'm simply assuming things like full power or nothing when the
> operator might be running SSB or PSK-31 at 20 watts.
>
> I'm also ignoring portability, which I would not do if I was operating for
> fun.
>
> 73 -- Lynn
>
> On 3/5/2014 1:15 PM, Steve Baum wrote:
> > There are so many things to consider when you try to calculate battery
> > requirements for emergency operation, is it really possible to
> > accurately predict how long a given battery will last?
>
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