Hello Operators This is Julian, a Ham Radio Operator and US Expat living in Finland. The channel focuses on portable, off-grid, grid down power and practical ham radio communications for preparedness. The goal is teaching operators to use portable power, HF radios and data mode communications as a utilities for off grid comms or during a grid down scenario at home or in the field. This usually translates into 2 videos, and 2 blog posts monthly. I am most active on RU-vid, Instagram, my Facebook fan page and blog. So please do find me @oh8stn
The channel - Ham Radio Off-grid - Ham Radio Data Modes - Portable Ham Radio - DIY LiFePO4 batteries - Portable solar power - Tutorials - Field tests and reviews. - DIY Projects
The channel motto is Maximize Capability, Minimize Gear! This is a family friendly channel.
Would you like to sponsor, collaborate or support the channel? Check out my FAQ at www.oh8stn.org/sponsorship
73 Julian OH8STN SurvivalTech Nord #oh8stn #hamradio
This reminds me that I need to try this with my x6100 on the next Winlink Wednesday. I've done QRP on Ardop P2P with my IC7100 to KN4LQN, but he's only about 200 miles from me and the IC7100 is a great radio. Using a worse radio I wonder if will affect the results?
I cannot find in the Xiegu X6100 extended manual that you can charge it by using USB-C in the DEV or HOST port. Your video suggest that you can do it, or will it damage the Xiegu?
I truly believe that it would be a good idea if all of you looked at the solar battery banks because they’ve dropped in price significantly. I have Jackery, Bluetti and EchoFlow of different sizes. The battery banks have AC for devices starting at about 300 W and they go up to thousands of watts depending on your requirement. For example, I just bought one that has 3400 amp hours and that along with the 300 W foldable solar so was $1900 which is more than what most of you want. I’ve been really happy with all of them that I’ve bought so far
I just had the power outage three days ago while I was waiting for the newest battery bank, but I have Everything important to include my iPad and T-Mobile home Internet router plugged into them all the time. I woke up at 3 AM and was warm because the air conditioning was off, but all of my Internet was running and it’s been off for several hours already
I USE THE SAME TYPE FOR MINE I GOT THE SURFACE AFTER YOU DID A VIDEO WHEN U FIRST GOT IT SO SAME SENARIO BUT I HARDWIRED IT STRAIGHT TO ANDERSON POLES KEEP MAKING THE VIDEO AND WHERE DID U GET THE ROLLUP SOLAR PANNEL FROM PLEASE Dylan m0dsy
This was a great video, Julian. I'm in agreement that we need to have everything standardized, including charging sources. In my gear, it has to be either rechargeable via USB or a 12v cigarette port source. I only got very few now that don't, which I use a step-up converter to charge the 12v source like an HT via USB. I'm glad ham radio manufacturers are finally listening.
There's other Microsoft Surface related information on the blogs. Enjoy and thanks for watching. 73 Julian oh8stn oh8stn.org/blog/category/microsoft-surface/
Nice. Do those USB C power adapters put out much RFI? I'm excited to give this a try. I attempted to run my Surface Go off the inverter output from a Jackery device but the interference was horrendous.
In fact the noise is the reason I use them. They don't produce very much noise at all. I'm sure we could find some cheap ones, which will destroy HF. Just stick to the popular brands with good reviews. 73 Julian oh8stn
I made a 50 ah battery box with two power pole connectors and also two USB A and two USB C ports. All these are for charging/ running different things like cell phones, small fan or small lights while doing POTA. My biggest problem was keeping my laptop charged, so I installed a DC to DC step up transformer for this. It steps the voltage up from 13.2v to 19.5v. It is rated at 4 amps so it’s plenty big for my laptop. I made a home brew cable for charging. Works great
Hi Julian, I've been looking for a simple solution to charge my 10ah lithium battery off a 12vdc power source such as a vehicle. Cheers Steve VK7SL. P.S. Like what you're doing, have set up Powerfilm panels and Genasun controllers for my off-grid station. Running CF-20 Toughbook.
Thanks Steven. Keeping in mind a "12vdc" LiFePO4 battery needs 14.2-14.4 volts for a full charge, DC-DC is very difficult. Victron makes one, but it is extremely noisy. If you don't need to charge while you operate, it might be a good solution. What I did was purchased a 12-48vdc adjustable current limiter from ebay. I limited the current to 2 amps, between my 24 volts battery and the 14.2 volt LiFePO4 battery I wanted to charge. Then I used the Genasun GV8 Boost for 4S LiFePO4. The output from the current limiter to the solar input on the Genasun, and the battery output from the Genasun, to the battery terminals on my LiFePO4 battery. That worked well, with very little noise. 73 Julian oh8stn
Sorry about being "away". Between working on the Caravan, taking care of family, and trying to get sleep. I may not post as often, but I'm not going anywhere. WX permitting, I'll be in Lapland or just below the Arctic Circle with the camper in a few days. I'm just finalizing the radio install, additional solar panels, and getting the propane fridge to work. Interesting things in the works. 73 Julian oh8stn
I hadn't seen a USBC to square Lenovo cable. I did power pole to car adapter brick marketed as a laptop car charger. I'll have to get one of those USB power meters and compare the efficiency
Yes, that Lenovo plug is deceptive. hey kept telling me I could charge my Lenovo Yoga C940-15 with USB-C PD, but never said uow. I tried to use the Thunderbird port which was a no go. Then I happened to find that Lenovo square to USB-C PD cable, and it was clear. Had been banging my head on the wall for nearly a year :D I just dropped the link for the USB-C multimeter in the description.
It looks like the camper is coming along quite nicely. The on advantage you didn't mention of parallel charge controller that is more important when portable is PV panels shading. One charge controller per panel can net significantly more power when shading is an issue.
Thanks Julian. I'm a fan of the cigarette lighter combo as well. Are you running a fuse block between the battery and radio/computer? I see something at 7:32 but I can't tell what it is.
I know I should use some fuses, but I don't always do it. Sometimes I simply don't have the space or want to run light. When I'm in the car or operating out of the caravan, I always use the fuse block, the wind camp one, the very same model I use in the off-grid ham shack. Anyway, thanks for the great question and for watching. It's very much appreciated. 73 Julian oh8stn
USB-C 78W socket on my battery box takes care of my laptop, phone and the power poles power the 705 and any other HAM gear.. Love the wireless setup using WFview. allows for all digital mode apps without buying the extra icom software which should have been free in my opinion but I digress. Last thing I need to do is wire up and integrate the solar charger into the battery box I made. I integrated a Drok bi-directional battery monitor into the box so it give me the details of usage and counts up and down Amp hours so I have a good idea where the 30ah batter is and if temp high or low or Volts drops or Wattage usage goes beyond a set point drops the relay signal and it all shuts off..
Thanks Julian for turning your financial investment into knowledge for operators to continue lifesaving comms in the coming SHTF. Great service to the community sir. ❤
This is something I want to make for myself one day. Keep making those videos, as they are not only very helpfull and entertaining but also very inspiering
Great video! As my home is completely off-grid I commend your setup. I'm actually surprised there aren't video series on bringing a basic setup off-grid cheaply. My 300 amp hour solar setup maybe set me back maybe $600. Cheap price to pay to never worry about power.
Thank you very much for all your work, insights, and generous sharing! I am building a power system based on the one you show in this video with the Genasun GV-10, Powerfilm 160W crystalline panels, a PowerQueen 50AH battery, and an Anderson power distribution hub as shown. I am planning to connect the charge controller to the battery via a cable that plugs into the power distribution hub instead of connecting it directly to the battery as you have shown (using split battery cables). Any reason not to wire it this way? Electrically, it is the same and the currents seem ok but I wonder if there is a reason that would favor the direct connection. Thanks! Dave KI7OOZ
OK!, give me a clue!!!! This battery is for emergency comms so.. What's to stop someone else bluetooth connecting to your battery and being malaevolent and turning the battery off..... If I want power for a comms system I want simple full control of the power. Don't put steel washers in the power path, I knew of a touring coach (bus) that couldn't start the engine to get off a ferry boat because a steel washer had become hot in the current path and burned. The engine alternator supported all the TV's etc while driving but after turning off on the boat the engine would not restart because of one cooked steel washer.
Do you know if there's a wired option for the controller? It's probably a Bluetooth serial device so I bet there's a header on the PCB for debugging if nothing else.
My favorite option is symmetry, so three on the back roof. The one positioned under a angle might work, but then your depending on the position of the caravan.
If you go to either Amazon or their web page they don't go into enough detail about that app about it actually being able to measure current in current out which is phenomenally better than some of the other batteries with applications.
Hi julian, Thanks for sharing. You see that the battery's for off grid you getting better and better with all modern gadgets in it. Bluetooth monitoring and all that stuff. One other components extra tn buy. Thanks again for sharing Ron, Pd3ron
When you select “cells” it should display a bar graph depicting the individual cells so you get a visual representation of the cell balance. Well balanced doesn’t mean diddly to me. My initial impression of the app is it is clunky and could use a more visually dynamic presentation. Apps should be designed for a complete newbie but with selected functions displaying more “engineering” grade data.
