brewer
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Home base VHF
So I'd like to have a VHF in the house for communication. For now, I think I'll just transfer it into the house from the boat when I'm not boating.
My house is all 12V for now. Working on building my 110 system.
My question is, VHF's are already 12V, right? How much amps do they draw when turned on in the house? Will it run my batteries down a lot faster?
When I get 110 going, is there a way to use that for VHF radios?
Thanks.
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shari
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Mood: there is no reality except the one contained within us "Herman Hesse"
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good idea to have a base radio...I dont know how much power they draw....not much when idle but more when transmitting. Here at home we have a
fuente...they call it...an inverter and it sucks power.
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Hook
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You should be able to do a search on your particular model to see what it draws at transmit. It can be substantial, but you really dont transmit that
much from hour to hour.
At receive, it is negligible.
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Russ
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Antenna.... high as you can instal it.
Bahia Concepcion where life starts...given a chance!
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Hook
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Did some research for you. Generally, a VHF base station, transmitting at 25watts (not the same as the power it consumes) will draw about 5-8amp@12v.
When in the receive mode, they often draw around 0.2 amps @12v.
When you get 110v in the house, you will want to buy a AC/DC power supply that puts out AT LEAST 10 amps DC, if you want to use AC. These tend to be
somewhat expensive for a good one that suppresses radio interference in your transmitted signal and can handle long transmission periods. A Samlex
SEC-1212 is a good choice and will run around 100.00US.
But if you still plan on having lots of 12v connections in your house, it would actually be less power consumption to continue to use 12v, as AC/DC
power supplies tend to use up some power on their own.
Some people in outlying areas like Gonzaga just dedicate a single 12v car battery to their marine radios and provide for some means of charging them,
like a small solar panel.
[Edited on 7-18-2013 by Hook]
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chuckie
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Non scientific answer, I have an old President bought on ebay for about 20 bucks. It runs for about a month on an ATV battery before it needs a
charge. I dont leave it on, but listen to the Mulege net every day, and monitor boat traffic when I am sitting on the patio in the mornings. It is
hooked to an antenna which is mounted on the roof.Range is excellent, I can sometimes chat with folks on the other side of the SOC.
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bkbend
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When I upgraded my inverter and converted to 110V I left some of the 12V wiring for things like the radio. It's a waste of juice to convert to 110
and then turn around and drop it back down again. I also kept a kitchen and bathroom light at 12V in case the inverter went out at an inopportune
time.
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wessongroup
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All good info ..... no matter where ya are
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Bob and Susan
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a small 110v to 12v black box is perfect...
forget using a battery...you just have to charge it all the time
the draw is almost nothing on house current...
if you buy a crappy inverter you may hear "noise" (static) and you'll need to buy a "filter"
with ALL radios the trick is the antenna
and there is a difference
buy an expensive antenna and a cheaper vhf
make sure your vhf does both USA and International messaging
in the future cell phones will do it ALL so don't invest a lot of money
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chuckie
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Ah well..........
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Pacifico
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We use a battery for our base radio. You would be surprised how long it lasts. We just throw a trickle charger on it once in a while and it works
great....
"Plan your life as if you are going to live forever. Live your life as if you are going to die tomorrow." - Carlos Fiesta
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brewer
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Thanks for all the info. Sounds like I'll use one of my older batteries for it and have a trickle hooked up to it.
Thanks again.
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chuckie
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thats the deal....Why over complicate a simple thing....
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larryC
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Brewer
Your house is going to be 12v solar right? If so then just tap off of your battery bank to power the radio, that's what I do. You also don't need an
expensive fibreglass antenna you can get a 6db gain stainless steel antenna for about $30 on ebay. Most vhf radios will draw about 7 amps of 12vdc
during transmit so 14ga wire should be sufficient if the wire run is not too long and a 10 amp fuse would also suffice.
HTH, Larry
Off grid, 12-190 watt evergreen solar panels on solar trackers, 2-3648 stacked Outback inverters, 610ah LiFePo4 48v battery bank, FM 60 and MX60
Outback charge controllers, X-240 Outback transformer for 240v from inverters, 6500 watt Kubota diesel generator.
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bufeo
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Brewer, if you're in the Gonzaga area there are numerous folks there with set-ups such as you're looking for. Also over at Papa's or Punta Bufeo.
During the first two years of our having a place at Bufeo I kept a deep-cycle battery on a small solar panel charging in the garage. Then I would
exchange it for the in-house battery powering our base VHF.
Once we installed solar panels and had 110v I hard-wired 24V from the battery bank in the garage to the fridge in the house and dropped a 12V off of
that for our satellite phone and the VHF base. Worked swell.
Allen R
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chuckie
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Wow! all that to avoid hooking up an old battery to a VHF radio and charging it once a month....amazing....
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