Counting - Radio #2 - Yaesu FT-817ND - Portable Power Monitoring

A few weeks back I did a post about portable power for my portable QRP station.
Well, last Friday I received the Turnigy 2 in 1 power meter. Today I spent some time setting up the unit to go between a power source (battery or power supply) and a load (radio).
Here are the unit's main features and specs:

Features

Accurate voltage/amperage/wattage measurement
1.5" TFT backlit color display
2 channel operation (CH1 8.4V/10A max, CH2 60V/100A max)
Adjustable amperage/voltage alarm

Specs
Servo meter input CH1: 8.4V/10A max
Power meter input CH2: 60V/100A max
Display: 1.5" TFT
Dimensions: 58x45x9mm
Weight: 41g

From factory, the unit comes with some very thick wires, as it is rated for 60V, 100A max. Since I will not be using such high voltages/currents, I decided to save some weight and make my life a little easier for soldering Anderson Powerpoles. Perfect system integration was my goal.

So, here's how the unit looks like after conversion for thinner wires and Powerpoles:

The unit is equiped with a 1.5" TFT backlit color display. I had no idea that the display would look so good. While indoors, colors are bright and strong, but be warned: under direct sunlight... well, it's not that good and in some circumstances it will be difficult to read the information displayed on the screen.

Starting up the unit, looks like this:

It's a feature, not a defect, but when the unit starts, until the voltage stabilizes, the unit displays a voltage alarm (configurable via menus):

The menus are acessible via top buttons:

For detailed information about the above buttons (and extra input and output port) please see the unit manual, available here.

So, on and all, a great addition to the portable station. All is well when it ends well. Here's a couple of pictures with the unit already integrated with the FT-817ND. Hopefully, as weather gets better, the next pictures will be from the field.

 Until then... 73.

Counting - Radio #2 - Yaesu FT-817ND - Portable Power Setup

So, the weather is finally getting better and as we move into sunny days I really need to finish my portable station.
No station works without power, so today's post will be about what I will be using to power the little FT-817ND portable station.
So, let's see what's already available to power the rig.

On the right side of the picture there's on old laptop PC power supply, salvaged from my parts box. I have described it before, so if you want to know more please see here. This power supply is useful when operating from locations where mains is available. During the Summer holidays I'm sure it will see some use.

On the left side of the picture there's a SLA battery. My Dad offered me this one. He told me that it was a surplus battery, removed from an alarm system. SLA batteries come in different sizes ans shapes. This one is a 12V 7Ah with a nice shape (although a bit heavy).

In the middle there's the FT-817ND power cable. Since I'm using Powerpoles on the whole system, changing from mains to battery and vice-versa is very quick and really easy.

It's not here yet, but to keep a watchful eye on Volts and Amps I have ordered a Turnigy 2 in 1 power meter. This will go between the power source (battery or power supply) and the load (radio). This is how this meter looks like:

The meter has two channels, both visible on a small TFT display. I will only be using one channel, but the extra channel may be useful down the road. You can find more info about this meter here.

Finally, to keep my SLA battery topped while not in use, I am using a motorcycle battery charger.
Here's the battery in more detail:

And here's the charger (it used the same power cord as the power supply):

And this is how it all goes together when charging:

The charger is an Oxford Oximiser 900. I got it second hand on ebay and, of course, it was converted for Powerpoles usage:

So, what's missing?
Well, in the future I may look into adding some solar powered solution to the portable station so that I can operate more hours away from mains.
I have seen a solar panel that I liked, but it's expensive. It's the PowerFilm F-15-600 and here are the specs:

• Operating Voltage: 15.4
• Wattage: 10
• Current: 0.6 amps
• Width (mm): 533 mm
• Length (mm): 602 unfolded; 88.9 folded
• Width (in): 21 inches
• Length (in): 23.7 unfolded; 3.5 folded
• Weight (kg): 0.33 kg
• Weight (lb): 0.73 lbs

So, we'll see first how it goes with the battery only...
Share your ideas on portable power. Let us know what you are using on your own system.
I hope you enjoyed this post and that it gave you some ideas for your setup.
Until the next post... 73.

Counting - Radio #2 - The Yaesu FT-817ND

I have been setting up a small station so that I can use it portable mostly during weekends and during next Summer, while on holidays.
The heart and soul of the station is a Yaesu FT-817ND transceiver. It will work together with an LDG Z-817 tuner. Different homebrew portable antennas are planned, among them a 20m wire Delta Loop and a 10m cubical quad.
Here's a nice schematic, done by Lawrence, N7JFP, on how everything will go together after the station is complete (right now I have no plans for the SignaLink USB interface, but how knows... maybe I'll end up using one).

My good friend Pedro, CT7AEZ, got me into working portable and I really want to continue doing it, eventually joining him for some SOTA.
Anyway, today I managed to get some Anderson Powerpoles soldered and ready to work with the FT-817ND. This was my first experience with the Powerpoles and I must say that I am very impressed with their versatility.
So, here are the pictures of the work done this afternoon (a couple of hours).
The pack of x10 15A powerpoles as received from an eBay seller:

  

Each conection takes 4 pieces as in the following picture:

A surplus 5A laptop power supply, that I had in my parts bin, was the ideal candidate for powering the FT-817ND. I still have to take a look at the power supply under my oscilloscope to see how the output looks like. I measured it with my multimeter and it outputs 12,29V.

So, I started out by cutting the original connector and by soldering and assembling the powerpoles:

I checked the internet on how to assemble the powerpoles. The following pictures were very helpful during the assembly process:

And here's how the Anderson Powerpole connector is built on the inside:

After I finished the powersupply I did the FT-817ND power cable. This will be very usefull in the future as I can use the same cable on battery power or using a mains fed power supply:

Power supply and radio cable done:

And, after double checking that the radio plug respected +12V on the center pin and GND on the outer pin, I tested everything with the FT-817. Success!

On and all, I had a couple of hours of fun doing this. The Anderson Powerpoles rock and I will be using them a lot in the future!

Stay tuned for more portable ham radio stuff. Soon enough the weather will allow to use the portable station outside, and that's where all the fun is.