[K3PZN-List] Health Dept Drill 12/1 Battery evaluation

[Philip Karras]

Andy,

Yup, sounds about right. I think the best solution is for us to bring a battery to any site we're sent to so we know we have a good one, or two. I maintain two 75 AHr deep cycle batts for home use which will probably go up to three now that I have a way to run the sump pump if needed via battery to 2.5KW inverter.

Now, I just need a good 500W generator to recharge the batteries efficiently, or at least more so than via the car alternator! Anyone know of one for ~ $300 or less?

73 de KE3FL,
Phil
AEC Carroll County
OES, ORS, & VE
http://cs.yrex.com/ke3fl
http://www.qsl.net/caret
http://blog.solidsignal.com/content.php - Karras' Corner
 

________________________________
 From: "wo3l at comcast.net" <wo3l at comcast.net>
To: Philip Karras <ke3fl at yahoo.com> 
Cc: Steve Beckman <n3sb at qis.net>; k3pzn-list at mailman.qth.net 
Sent: Wednesday, December 5, 2012 6:27 AM
Subject: Re: Health Dept Drill 12/1 Battery evaluation
  

Thanks Phil, I think everyone noted the battery wasn't going to do much.  I'm not sure I'd recommend staging a battery in these kits given that there isn't going to be a way to keep them floated in the long run so they'll just be dead if we went to use them. If we feel strongly that we need to keep batteries on hand I think we'd be better off making a battery charging shelf in the bunker for it so we are at least looking at them from time to time for bulges and other signs of impending failure. I think I'd prefer to not keep them around since they are perishable and hazardous. 

Andy


________________________________
From: "Philip Karras" <ke3fl at yahoo.com>
To: k3pzn-list at mailman.qth.net
Cc: "Andy Leeds" <wo3l at comcast.net>, "Steve Beckman" <n3sb at qis.net>
Sent: Wednesday, December 5, 2012 5:15:46 AM
Subject: Health Dept Drill 12/1 Battery evaluation


Problems with the Battery supplied:

1. We found the battery was dead. If this is a lead acid battery it probably won't be much good in an emergency since it will probably be dead at that time & not be able to be brought back to a useable condition.
 
2. Even in top condition the battery is too small to do much good if power failed for an extended period of time.
 
Suggestion: 
A larger deep-cycle battery, about 20 - 30 AHr size, on float charge would be a better choice. Even on float charge it would need to be checked every year to be sure it was still in usable condition.
 
73 de KE3FL,
Phil
AEC Carroll
 County
OES, ORS, & VE
http://cs.yrex.com/ke3fl
http://www.qsl.net/caret
http://blog.solidsignal.com/content.php - Karras' Corner