[Rover] Power Droop (Ev Tupis)

[Tim (KE3HT)]

Hi Ev, I had this problem as well. In my case this was a sign of the battery
weakening from use while the engine was off. Normal Car batteries are
designed to start the car not run things without the alternator running. The
battery actually died and the problem went away with a newer battery only to
return a year later. 

A couple of ways I solved the problem. #1 was to have a second battery in
the vehicle that has a diode to make it only take power to charge. Then the
starting would not affect the secondary battery. This was a pain to have all
the time and like any battery they die sooner or later. 

My son, an audiophile, lead me to a better answer. In boom box audio systems
they suffer similar problems. They add a honking big capacitor to their
system in part to take up the slack of having long wire runs with to small a
wire. It also stops the BOOM pop when they start the car with equipment on!
I added one of his capacitors right next to my radio and the problem seems
to have gone away. A capacitor is like a battery but only for short periods
of time. 

I don't know if it will help you but it worked great for me. It should last
longer than a battery as well.

I will be at the NEWS meeting this weekend!

,,,Tim
KE3HT/r

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Tue, 14 Apr 2009 14:40:34 -0700 (PDT)
From: Ev Tupis <w2ev at yahoo.com>
Subject: [Rover] Power Droop
To: Rover email remailer <rover at mailman.qth.net>
Message-ID: <231741.18109.qm at web52009.mail.re2.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii


Hey Guys...I have a couple of vehicles that apparently have enough voltage
drop during engine start that it causes my transceivers to reset.  Without
getting into all of the ugly details, I wonder if anyone has experience with
"droop protection". (be nice)

I'm thinking that maybe something as simple as a big-ol' honkin' capacitor
(like what is used for mobile stereo bass boosters) might be all I need, but
I thought I'd ask the pro's first.

Ev, W2EV



      


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