6700 current draw when off

AC9S

How much current does the 6700 draw when turned off.  I am a stickler for disconnecting everything when I am not operating and am thinking of using a battery backup - Westmountain product - to keep the frequency standard powered when I have the plug pulled.

Keith

AC9S

Steve K9ZW

Keith - you might want to chat directly with FRS as I'm not certain you can do what you want to do.

The Freq. Std, in a GPSDO Flex-6700 powers down when you sleep the radio.

About 2 year ago FRS said the the GPSDO would eventually be configurable to stay on and locked, though if it is configurable at the present version level I somehow missed it.

The idle power draw in receive mode is said to be under 2 amps (at the 13v) which works out to something like 10-cents of power per day.

Less power than my Rb-souce pulls interestingly enough.

73

Steve
K9ZW

http://k9zw.wordpress.com

Norm - W7CK

2 amps isn't much, unless your on solar/battery power, in which case all unnecessary power draws are scrutinized.  An unnecessary 2 amp draw on say a sailboat could be considered a lot of power.   Especially during a cloudy or rainy spell.  My station here is 100% solar/battery.

Steve K9ZW

A lot of hamshack gear and solutions are less desirable in situations where finite power rations are the limiting factor. 

In mains-power supplied situations the parasitic load of equipment on standby is hardly a factor. 

In a off-grid home the standby draw for a Flex-6700 in receive mode is also often going to be within the power budget for a system sized large enough to actually operate including running the computer and handling the transmit load.

Sailboats often use small systems where loads are more often run only when in use, and seldom allowed to run in standby. 

Swinging back to Keith's question - his interest in keeping the Frequency Standard of a Flex-6700 powered up separately by battery when the radio is off, and where he would plug in the radio when he wanted the entire unit to run, it doesn't look like possible.

73

Steve

K9ZW

Tim - W4TME

Powered off, a little less than an amp @ 13.8 VDC.  Powered on, ~2 amps @ 13.8 VDC.

Burt Fisher

What am I missing here? I shut off the power supply and it is zero.

Steve K9ZW

Perhaps Tim W4TME was reflecting the power use difference for receiving if idling without and also with the GPSDO enabled?

73

Steve

K9ZW

Tim - W4TME

The PSoC never turns off.  It runs all the time unless power is removed from the radio.

Burt Fisher

Why leave the power supply on?

KY6LA_Howard

1.  So that your systems are not stressed due to heat changes when powered on and off.
2.  So that you can have instant on
3.  So that the crystal ovens keep stabalized
4.  So that one can run remote

I probably could think of a dozen more

Bottom Line:  My station is always on

Burt Fisher

Since the 6300 barely gets warm to the touch I doubt there is much stress. I never left power to my 5000 and it survived. Instant on? I cannot think of a reason I would need a ham radio instantly. Frequency stable? I never noticed an iota of drift.
The remote reason is valid.


KY6LA_Howard

From You... my getting 1 out of 4 must be considered to be a passing grade.

Thanks

Burt Fisher

You are'far more capable than I. you don't need validation from me.

Walt - KZ1F

@burt, c'mon if you want zero amps drawn, switch off the PS.

Burt Fisher

I do that. I use about 225 KW per month. My car gets 60 MPG. I am not supporting terrorism with my use of energy

Tim - W4TME

Since this topic question has been answered, I am closing this post.