[Mobile-Portable] Using a Blade-Type Fuse as a Power Connector?

[WD8ARZ]

Part of a mobile power system I worked out a few years ago ran into this 
issue too. It entailed tapping power physically at the vehicle, worrying 
about not draining the vehicle battery, not damaging the equipment during 
vehicle starting, having some equipment operating time after engine shutdown 
before I get out with excessive battery drain, wanting a separate battery 
feeding the ham gear for the ultimate isolation to the ham gear with the 
issues it brings .... etc etc etc .... Part of the etc part includes keeping 
mind that the finals of most transmitters, especially HF gear are always 
connected across the DC power cables even when the rig's own power switch is 
turned off, leaving it vulnerable to starting transients.

Specific to the topic of this thread, more than one kind of fuseable device 
was needed, and inline fuse's was one of them. I chose the a battery fuse a 
terminal kit to protect vehicle cable feeding the distribution system from 
West Mountain Radio: 
http://www.westmountainradio.com/rigrunner/battfusetermkit.htm  It gave me 
an easy installation, the items needed to do it, used easy available fuses, 
and a reasonable protected package. Is this the 'blade' kind of fuse you 
were referring too?

However, to deal with the rest of the system needs, I took on the rest of 
the needs of the system, and that is what is included in the detail below:

Here are some ideas to power and protect that ham base, mobile or portable
station..... all from the same battery system.

You can isolate / protect your vehicle or portable battery and the equipment
attached to it by using some sort of power isolator. Two items listed below
should take care of that:

APO3 Timed Switch, kills the power to PG40S after the vehicle is shut off to
prevent draining / damaging the car battery after a preset period of time,
say ten minutes. It also keeps the power off the PG40S and equipment during
vehicle starting, protecting that system from starting transients.
http://www.aprsworld.com/apo3/

Smart Battery Isolator that can pass 150 amps (it was on back order when
asked about a few months ago before they could make more, so I held off on
that order). Battery isolator (or split charge relay) allows an auxiliary
battery to be charged by the vehicle's system, yet not participate in engine
starting. It also prevents the starting battery from being run down by your
equipment when the engine is off.
http://www.powerstream.com/battery-isolator.htm?nowritefs

Why go for two standard power supplies, or one large one, when investing
that money into a battery system that can be used on the base, mobile and
portable grab and go emergencies that require more than 22 amps? A smaller
than standard power supply will easily charge such a system, and you
probably already have that supply. Connect the transceiver  right across the
battery. The battery handles the load and keeps the amp draw off the PG-40S.
The 20 amp power supply I used to use on a ham rig is feeding the PG-40S
full time, and it loafs along at just a few amps or less most of the time.
Some times five amps if the power was off for a little while. Even after
using the battery with out charging for eight hours or so, the charge rate
hardly hit 12 amps or so.

Power gate PG40S backup power system to provide dual auto switching power
and charging of a Gel Battery, mobile or base. Doesn't get hot. This is more
an isolator and switcher. It is also a charger and power / charge alert
system to boot.
http://www.westmountainradio.com/SuperPWRgate.htm

Rigrunner 4008 (comes with battery case package) using Anderson Powerpole
connectors for power distribution to multiple equipment. Note that all
outputs are also RF filtered from each other, and fused.
http://www.westmountainradio.com/RIGrunner.htm

Sealed Gelled 73 Ah Battery to go into the DCtoGo Battery box. (Other
batteries can  be used, check out the manual for the PG40S at
http://www.westmountainradio.com  Don't forget to compare specs, safety, and
expected life cycle, and not just price when choosing an alternate battery)
http://www.westmountainradio.com/MKbatt.htm
http://www.westmountainradio.com/rigrunner/M24SLDG.htm

Powerpole Crimp Tool for making more cable to rig hook ups with spare
connectors.
http://www.westmountainradio.com/PWRcrimp.htm

Battery Fuse & Terminal Kit to protect vehicle cable feeding the
distribution system.
http://www.westmountainradio.com/rigrunner/battfusetermkit.htm

Couple Power Pole Connector to HF Radio Fused 6-Pole Connector. Beats
making up these manually! hi hi
http://www.westmountainradio.com/rigrunner/ppl-24.htm

On the base, I even use a large UPS to feed the charging power supply.

73 from Bill - WD8ARZ
http://hflink.net/qso/

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "kd4e" <doc at kd4e.com>
To: "Mobile-Portable Reflector" <mobile-portable at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Wednesday, February 17, 2010 4:38 PM
Subject: [Mobile-Portable] Using a Blade-Type Fuse as a Power Connector?


>I recently spotted a blade-type fuse in a
> heavy duty plastic housing (in contrast to
> the cheap junk often seen).
>
> It occurred to me that these might serve a
> dual purpose as the fuse and the connector
> for DC power to Ham gear.
>
> Anyone attempted this?