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Quantar, on just 12v?

Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2008 5:12 am
by asdfg
Hi, I am interest about Quantar and battery question. Is it possible to connect just 12v battery on Quantar, and when AC fail how it work, is in that case is low power?
Thanx!

Re: Quantar, on just 12v?

Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2008 7:33 am
by asdfg
For explaination: We have a Quantar, on location, and we wont to use +12vVoutput to charge battery for some other accessories, and we will use battery output on Quantar to charge battery and battery will supply other accessories. What will be happen if AC fail. If Quantar will stay working with low transmitting power or what!?

Re: Quantar, on just 12v?

Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2008 9:21 am
by xmo
Here's what the planner says:

PRIMARY VOLTAGE OPTIONS
Battery Charger and Emergency Reverting (X30 ) * = Provides an adjustable,
regulated power supply to trickle charge a battery, and automatically reverts to
battery operation upon loss of primary power. This option is not recommended
in situations of frequent AC power interruptions, due to the limited recharge
capability of the power supply. External storage batteries attach to the station
through connector location 25 on the backplane bracket. Includes a low voltage
disconnect feature, which disconnects at 10.5V for 12V batteries, and 21V for
24V batteries. Requires only 12V batteries for 20 and 25 watt models and only
24V batteries for 100, 110 and 125 watt models.
*Note: Output power may be reduced up to 3dB in the battery revert mode to
conserve battery life. Full rated RF power is only available for terminal voltages
of 13.5 to 15V(12VDC: X30 option) and 27 to 30V (24VDC: X30 option) at
the station DC input connector.

Re: Quantar, on just 12v?

Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2008 5:59 pm
by RKG
You have two choices: either a DC-only power supply, which runs off the battery or batteries, which are simultaneously supported by a good, three-stage charger -- or a 110VAC power supply, which is supported by a good quality inverter, which is supported by batteries, which are supported by a good three-stage charger.

You should not plan on running a 110VAC power supply on batteries directly (as if in revert mode), and you should not use the Quantar revert PS board to "trickle" batteries (as it will "trickle" them to death).

If it has not long since faded off the archives, there is a long thread on this of a couple of years ago. Search on the term "Heart Interface." It is a battery-based power source for running Quantars that is a variant of the second option above, using an off-the-shelf marine device that incorporates a state-of-the-art charger, a heavy-duty inverter, and a super fast (about 20 msec) transfer switch. For a single, 100-Watt Quantar, the Heart Interface, plus two 8G31DT gel cell batteries, plus associated wiring, will run your machine off utility so long as available and then for 2-10 hours on battery (without killing the batteries) (depending on duty cycle), for under $1,500. I have several of these going, one for nearly ten years, and they have been both foolproof and totally maintenance-free.