Cross Band Repeater in a box-solar powered w/battery backup

Post by **jeepinbandtrider** » Wed Apr 13, 2016 12:00 am

A cross band repeater unit I built for motorcycle rally and Jeep event use.
This is the basic setup before I installed the wiring. Radio on the left (KGUV8D) Low cost UPS battery in the middle. This is an 8AH battery. Right is a charge controller 20 amp unit which is way overkill for this build as the radio draws very little power.

https://scontent-lax3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/ ... e=57852800

Setup in my front yard with camo netting installed
https://scontent-lax3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/ ... e=57BB5F3A

Broken down in "travel" configuration. You can easily cut the tripod, NMO magnet mount and 1/2 wave antenna out of the pack up and use a roll up j-pole antenna then you'd just have to carry the box and solar panel. With the reserve capacity of the battery this should easily be able to last though a night of light use. Solar panel is a small 15 watt unit but should be able to keep up with the light duty cycle this unit should see.
https://scontent-lax3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/ ... e=5772B442

Time lapse of setup and tear down
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxOE4Vj6 ... tml5=False

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTkYFqix ... tml5=False

*I had to hotlink my photos because apparently they are too tall for the forum.

Post by **RadioShooter** » Sun Apr 17, 2016 11:43 pm

Have you ran the unit to battery depletion? I am contemplating a similar setup with an 8 amp hour battery. If it is only good for 24 hours, then I need to rethink this approach.

Post by **NoSeeUm** » Sun Apr 24, 2016 9:37 am

Great idea. That would be an awesome addition to an amateur radio supported event such as a triathlon or bike race.

Post by **gary in ohio** » Mon Apr 25, 2016 5:38 am

jeepinbandtrider wrote:A cross band repeater unit I built for motorcycle rally and Jeep event use.
This is the basic setup before I installed the wiring. Radio on the left (KGUV8D) Low cost UPS battery in the middle. This is an 8AH battery. Right is a charge controller 20 amp unit which is way overkill for this build as the radio draws very little power.

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How about the controller to make the cross band repeater legally identify itself.

Post by **jeepinbandtrider** » Mon Apr 25, 2016 9:57 am

RadioShooter wrote:Have you ran the unit to battery depletion? I am contemplating a similar setup with an 8 amp hour battery. If it is only good for 24 hours, then I need to rethink this approach.

I have not. I just had it setup at a motorcycle rally for 5 days and even with the small solar panel battery life was not an issue. Then again even with the extended stock battery I could leave it on standby for over a day before it died.

Gary i haven't picked up an IDer yet. This last event over the past week I used it (which was the first time in operational use) I manually IDed (it was set for two way repeat) when the repeater was actually in use on each side of the unit.

I messed up and forgot my half wave antenna so had to use the quarter wave off my bike which affected performance.

Zombie Squad