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Repeater battery life

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(@drilldo)
Posts: 321
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We have a project coming up where we will need a repeater for our base radio. We are using Trimble 450 radios and CMRX corrections, and 25 watts. I have an almost new 100 amp hour battery.?ÿ

We are in very mountainous and rough terrain and covering an area that is about 15 square miles. Anyway the big hill where we want to put the repeater takes about an hour to get to from where our base and staging area is at.?ÿ

Will this repeater battery need to be retrieved and charged every night or will it last up there longer than that? The base will be running about 9 hours a day. Not sure if the repeater uses considerably less juice when isnƒ??t repeating or not.?ÿ

 
Posted : 01/12/2021 9:19 pm
(@jitterboogie)
Posts: 4275
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Take a solar panel up for daily charging.

We left our repeater on a mountain for nearly 3 months and never had to charge the entire time.

?ÿ

?ÿ

 
Posted : 01/12/2021 9:40 pm
(@drilldo)
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The solar panel is a great idea but I donƒ??t have one and donƒ??t have a local source and am headed to this job tomorrow afternoon.

 
Posted : 01/12/2021 9:43 pm
(@williwaw)
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This time of year in the mountains, the cold will be your biggest problem. You might get a couple days out of it if you can keep it warm with an insulated case and some hand warmers but if it gets cold youƒ??ll likely need to put it on a trickle charger every night. I use a similar setup and get 8-10 hours or so at 20F and significantly less below zero.

 
Posted : 01/12/2021 9:59 pm
(@frozennorth)
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Might be worth hooking two or three large batteries in parallel to save trips up the mountain.

 
Posted : 02/12/2021 9:19 am
(@mightymoe)
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You will need to charge it each night. I would want to adjust where it is if it takes one hour to get to.?ÿ

 
Posted : 02/12/2021 10:48 am
(@drilldo)
Posts: 321
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Posted by: @mightymoe

You will need to charge it each night. I would want to adjust where it is if it takes one hour to get to.?ÿ

Thanks. Not many options on where to put it. Very remote area. Two hours from pavement. Only one high spot that will reach entire project area and no way to get everything else up there an ATV can barely make it.?ÿ

 
Posted : 02/12/2021 10:57 am
(@john-hamilton)
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is there cell service out there? I am surprised how good the cell service is in places like North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, etc. Better than Pennsylvania, we have a lot more dead spots than those sparsely populated states. Of course it is mostly wide open terrain out there.?ÿ

I have several Trimble radios, low power and high power. I rarely use them, we now do everything over cell where possible.?ÿ

 
Posted : 02/12/2021 11:49 am