I remember a thread from awhile back where someone posted a pic of their solar portable set up and I have a few questions for that person. Namely, which Ah battery would be the best choice. I'm vacillating between a 6 and a 12. 12 would be better, but being bigger and heavier, is it worth it?

Had some money burning a hole in my pocket so I thought it'd be a good time to get my SHTF rig put together. The plan is to put an FT 818, a few dipoles (or one multiband), panels, battery, and charge controller in a faraday bag. (Feel free to mock me if you must... )

From what I am reading the FT-818 is no longer available. I don’t think that Yaesu has announced a successor.
FWIW,
I use a KX3 w KXPA100 (100 watts) SSB for 3-4-5 hours doing POTA and only use 50% of a 4 year old Bienno 9Ah battery. So, a QRP radio should run for many days on a 6Ah OR 12Ah battery.
Billy. KG4SZS

quote:

Originally posted by p113565:
From what I am reading the FT-818 is no longer available.

Correct. It was discontinued, but I have one. Just don't have the panels or battery yet. It's only a 6W radio, so I'm thinking that the 6A battery would keep me going for plenty long with 40W panels charging it.

I think that battery size is way too small.

I’ve mentioned here before of my ham radio solar, but I've never posted a pic. For a low power rig, I'd go with a 50 AH LiFePO battery, cost is reasonable, and you may want to run a laptop or tablet for logging contacts, a lamp for evening/night etc. They will run longer and better than regular batteries. N5USS here.

I've have been accumulating components for a solar power station for mobil/portable ham radio. Did this around the Black Friday sales last Thanksgiving to Christmas. Sales were very good.

I have purchased a 200 watt folding solar suitcase solar panel. There are Two 100-watt solar panels hinged together that closes up like a suitcase, has a couple good metal latches, very sturdy. This also has a built in solar charge controller. Comes with a nice protective zip up case. Weighs 35 pounds, seems quite well built. Unit is from Renogy. Renogy Solar Suitcase LINK

I also have a 100 amp hour LiFePO 12 volt battery (Lithium Iron Phosphate). You can discharge these down to almost nothing and not harm the battery.

Please feel free to email me with any questions, I will answer what I can and can refer you to other resources.
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This message has been edited. Last edited by: OKCGene,

For my home set up, I have a Bioenno 20Ah LiFePo battery with 120W panels (similar to yours - metal folding...and HEAVY). Set it up in the yard yesterday with my FT991 and everything ran great. I may pick up another battery for it down the road, but this will work for now should the need arise (although it wouldn't last too long if I'm operating at 100W for any duration).

This build though, I'm looking for something small and portable and still functional. I'm trying to be able to fit everything in a small backpack or Maxpedition sort of bag and have it be comfortable enough to carry. The 6Ah battery weighs in at ~1.5# and the 12 is ~3.5#. I'd rather not go too much heavier/bigger just for comfort's sake if I need to go somewhere on foot. I'm not going to be doing any net control type activity with this set up, just purely SHTF mostly local/regional low power NVIS type comms.