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View Full Version : Which Power Supply to get?


WannabeCowboy
05-11-2008, 02:43 PM
My wife and I just bought our first RV, a 5th Wheel, and I would like to have the capability of rag chewing on HF. This may sound like a stupid question, but if we're in an RV site that offers a 30amp hookup, what Power Supply should I get for the RV to run my IC 746 on?
Thanks
Doug N4CQD

Andy N1ORK
05-11-2008, 04:50 PM
I've had good luck with a Samlex SEC-1223. It'll do 23amps continuous, enough to do a 100w rig. It's small and quiet even with the temp-controll fan going. And it's fairly inexpensive, about $90. But I guess the best would be to have a seperate battery for the rig that would be charged from the internal power unit of the RV. I guess much less RFI and noise.
73!

Radio
05-11-2008, 04:55 PM
:hello: Welcome to Open Roads Radio!

I found an Astron RS-35M at a swap meet for a good price. Yes it's a big clunker, but the price was right and it matches the one in the home shack.

Price means a lot to me.... ;)

I have also lugged around an ordinary car battery which kept me on air for 500+ contacts one week. $29 at Walmart. NO RFI.

Manual Garcia O'Kely
05-11-2008, 08:36 PM
My trailer has a 6 amp charger that is extrememly RFI unfriendly - like an s5 generator. I unplug the AC from the trailer when I operate HF.

I have an Astron switcher that's robust and lightweight, also my FT-897 has the bolt-on switching supply that seems to work very well for that particular radio.

Regardless, a 30 amp AC service is plenty for a 100 watt radio so no worries about any sort of overload unless you are already marginal on power - if you are, then consider using your house battery 12 volts for power - but you may want to switch off your charger if it's as noisy as mine is [either way actually].

The modern switching power supplies for radios seem to be pretty quiet in my experience so you don't have to haul a heavy linear supply unless you want to.

wa8yxm
05-12-2008, 07:02 AM
I don't have the ICOM but my Kenwood TS-2000 likes automotive battery voltage

The Progressive Dynamics 9180 with charge wizard feeds it (And the house battery) very nicely The output is clean enough that disconnecting the house battery makes no difference to the TS-2000

w7wv
05-12-2008, 08:36 AM
You can use a power supply if you wish but why? Why use up any of your 30 amp supply in the 5th wheel?
If I were you I would just wire the rig to the house batteries in the trailer and not worry about the additional expense of the power supply.
I have done the same with my rig in my MH.
Your IC-746 only draws about 12-14 amps on peak transmit in the SSB mode. I had one and ran it mobile for some time in my truck. It will draw more if you operate CW of course.
Not knowing you habits I find that I boon dock on occasion and need the DC capability for the radio. If you have a genset you can recharge your house batteries at the same time for the radio.
As this is your first RV you may find some places that boon docking without power and such available is to your liking. For example with our past RVs we have found many places to fish that are not organized camp grounds of course with no power available. With an AC supply only you would have to run a genset to use your radio. And for many gensets are not an option at many times as their use is restricted in many areas during some time slots to avoid the noise.
Just an idea.

kd8wdave
05-14-2008, 05:14 PM
Working off the 'house' batteries is the cheapest way to go, and your 'converter' will keep the batteries up just fine.

cheers