Yaesu FT-817 Solar Powered Go-Pack - Part 2

This a review of a Yaesu FT-817 Solar Powered Go Pack. I built this solar powered case for my FT-817 radio so it can be used portable without the worry of power and keeping it self contained. It's all contained in the case so it can easily be taken to a picnic, on holiday or attached to the backpack for a QRP adventure. Total cost for all the bits excluding the radio is about $150-$180 (most bought off Amazon).
The parts can be found here:
http://astore.amazon.com/m0711-20?_encoding=UTF8&node=3

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Solar
• Power
• Go
• Pack
• HAM
• radio
• QRP
• FT-817
• FT-817ND
• Field
• Day

[MontanaFLSTF]

Were did you find the cable for the Mic jack on the outside of the case? Did you have to make it yourself? Thank you for sharing this idea.

[mjlorton]

@MontanaFLSTF Thanks for your comments. If you go to the show notes or my channel's home page you'll see a link to most of the parts for this project on Amazon. The cable and adapter are there.

Cheers,

Martin.

[mjlorton]

@MontanaFLSTF Thanks for your comments. If you go to the show notes or my channel's home page you'll see a link to most of the parts for this project.

The cable and adapter are there.

Cheers,

Martin.

[mjlorton]

@MontanaFLSTF @MontanaFLSTF Thanks for your comments. If you go to the show notes or my channel's home page you'll see a link to most of the parts for this project on Amazon.

The cable and adapter are there.

Cheers,

Martin.

[mjlorton]

@MontanaFLSTF @MontanaFLSTF Thanks for your comments. If you go to the show notes or my channel's home page you'll see a link to most of the parts for this project on Amazon.

The cable and adapter are there.

Cheers,

Martin.

[mjlorton]

@edwardwills You could put a 50 watt PV (solid or flexible) on the roof of your car and feed a solar charge controller connected to your car battery.

[edwardwills]

@mjlorton I want to hook the RT-2009 up to my car and run the radio without turning on the car and at the same time not drain the battery. What would I need for that then?

[mjlorton]

@edwardwills The RT-2900 uses about 7 times the amount of electrical power as the 817. The 817 uses about 450 mA on receive and 1.9 A on transmit. Depending on the duty cycle of transmit vs receive the 817 would last 8 hours or more on the 7 Ah battery and with the sun out the battery would almost be full.

To get reasonable usage on the RT-2900 you would want at least a 12 Ah battery and a 30 watt solar panel.

[edwardwills]

What would I need to power a Yaseu RT-2900 R VHF radio max is 75 watts, medium is 25 watts.

Power Requirement 13.8Vdc at 14 Amps.

[mjlorton]

@kf4cnm1048 Thanks for your comments, I'll drop you an email.