Bruce,
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I do encourage people to know what they are doing.
It's good we have this conversation to alert them of the dangers of large batteries.
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Most of us think nothing of barrelling down the road at 70mph wrapped up in a steel cocoon
with 15 gallons of gasoline and a lead acid battery.? A battery protected by automotive fuses.
That's considerably more dangerous than anything we've discussed here.
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I'm sure many in the forum have a lead acid battery sitting under the desk for backup power.
An LiFePO4 battery is a better choice, for both safety and performance.
I remain convinced that an automotive fuse inline with 16awg wire is sufficient
to safely power a QMX from a large 12v battery.
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Jerry, KE7ER
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Let's not get too carried away with special $150 fuses and such, that only discourages the use of these batteries.
Large high current batteries should be treated with respect, but are very useful for the amateur.
Used properly and with some understanding of what's going on, they are not dangerous.
Jerry.?
To save you any more Arc welding experiments :? The maximum breaking capacity I've ever seen quoted for ATO fuses is 1kA at 32V..? ? Which is a lot ... surprisingly so . . but in some cases, close to a battery,? not enough..
For the record I really cannot agree that safety should be put aside to encourage those less experienced (aka no idea 'what's going on') to use large battery storage without proper protective devices but it's up to you for you I guess.?
As I was saying the T fuses are the expensive way to do it properly and it's already identified that there are several better cheaper ones that also do the job safely and properly and/or even better.?
