Icom 7000 and 7300 as I have both work down to 12V reliably.
They get fussy at? around 11.8V.? ?That however is measured
at the rear panel connector.? Long wires and fuse issues even
at 13.8 can easily mean your low at the connector.
?
Note, I take the stock cable and cut it close to the radio and
put 30A power poles on that stub and the wires to battery
are #10 with high speed circuit breakers identical to the
one tentec used.? So voltage loss to wire and connections
are minimized.? When time permits the 7000 will get a
rear panel replacement for the Icom connector to
PowerPole.?
?
The spec is 13.8 +-15% means 11.73V when at the minus side?
and it means at the connector, not at the beginning of
6ft+ of cable.
?
But most lead acid without boost converter (or engine
running in a car/truck) can easily sag below acceptable
voltage level.
?
FYI I use solar/battery to run my station.? Thats 400W of
solar and 150AH of battery (floodded industrial NiCds)
so the DC bus is nominally 13.5V or slightly higher
normally.? Even after a contest weekend in january I've
never seen the battery below 12.9V (with 10 inches
of snow on the panels).? Never had issues.? Under those
conditions due to very direct connections, heavy wire( #10),
and mechanically secure fuses so the back of the radio
voltage is more doesn't drop far.? In my system .4V drop
is cause for alarm!??
?
For my FD battery a 100Ah LFE voltage like the NiCd
mentioned is not an issue until the battery is drained
to 80% depth of discharge, takes a lot of hours to get
to that point.?
?
When I ran lead acid batteries it was a issue as terminal
voltage for a charged battery was about? 13.1-13.2 and
could be as low as 12.7V which is close to safe low
limit.? At full power (21A measured) the 100Ah lead
acid battery would sag to under 12V.? Battery voltage
booster was a must to use at least 60% capacity.
?
--
Allison
