VE6AB Mobile Ops
The Charge In Your Batteries
Running a 12 volt shop for a lot of years, I have seen the parasitic draw in vehicles go from an average of 20 mA through 40 mA and continuing to increase over the years.
Then you take that vehicle and add a few aftermarket devices and guess what....the parasitic draw is killing the battery in less than a week or two, if you are not starting it up and driving it on a daily bases.
Today its not unusual to see the parasitic draw on the battery of vehicles with the multitude of electronic components located throughout, and with the addition of a few aftermarket devices in the range of 80 to 90 mA,
So we come full circle to our mobiles that we install a multitude of ham gear in, and these devices are drawing power when they are shut off, yes they are.
My mobile has a two AGM batteries powering the vehicle (one is the engine crank battery) and my radio stack, and I felt there was a need to disconnect the power from the batteries to my radio stack for the times that I may be away from my vehicle for a week or more.
Now be aware that when I make reference to disconnecting my radio stack, this also includes other electrical devices like a 12/110 volt inverter amongst other current drawing electrical devices.
Commonplace in heavy duty equipment are manually operated disconnect switches in the main feed line from the battery.
I had been meaning to install one of these disconnect switch's in the main power feed line to my radio stack for some time.
After purchasing a disconnect switch rated for 225 amps continuous duty, I looked for a convenient place to mount it.
I found the perfect place to mount it as seen in the lower left of the photo, making it convenient to operate from the drivers seat upon exiting or entering my mobile.
My radio stack and the other devices powered from this feed, may now be powered down completely when I feel its required.
I may have to tone down the color of that disconnect switch, although it's easy to find in the dark!
Click on the photo for a closer look.....
Note....In the photo the disconnect switch (yellow) is in the off position, thus the powered down radio stack.
ham radio mobile electrical systems.....
http://ve6ab.blogspot.ca/2015/01/ham-radio-mobile-electrical-systems.html
