Autocom power Output

[Bohsfc]

Can anyone tell me if the Autocom 300 can put out enough power (7.2 volts to be precise) to power a radio at 4W or would I be better off having the radio prgrammed to run at a lesser output.

thanks in advance.

Rob

 

[Jacal]

Can anyone tell me if the Autocom 300 can put out enough power (7.2 volts to be precise) to power a radio at 4W or would I be better off having the radio prgrammed to run at a lesser output.

thanks in advance.

Rob

Think you may be getting yourself confused with voltage and signal but the simple answer is NO, just connect the radio to the bike.

"4W" is I believe the power output of the signal and wouldn't make a difference on the draw if it was set to half or 2 watts.

 

[trebor]

Can anyone tell me if the Autocom 300 can put out enough power (7.2 volts to be precise) to power a radio at 4W or would I be better off having the radio prgrammed to run at a lesser output.

In June 2008 I sent an email to Autocom asking what the max current rating is for the 9 Volt output on the Aux 1 port of the Super-Pro AVI. Richard Wallace replied saying that "the AUX1 socket runs 120 milliamps".

This means the maximum power the Aux1 socket can deliver is 9 x 0.12 = 1.08 Watt. However, this is not to be confused with the transmitted power of the radio. Trying to keep it simple; whilst the transmitted power of the radio may be, say, set to 1W, the radio will actually use more power in creating that radio signal, so using a transmit power of 1W would probably overload the Autocom.
Licence free UHF radios are only allowed to transmit at 0.25W, therefore these (i.e. the Autocom approved ones) can quite easily be powered from the Autocom.

The best check you could do would be to set your radio to the power you wish to use and connect a multimeter in series with the power supply to measure the current draw when you are transmitting. If this is greater than 120mA then you'll need to reduce the transmit power of the radio until it falls below this. Otherwise do as Jacal suggests and power it directly from the battery (via a fuse).

If you do try to measure the current drawn by the radio you must also modulate the signal (whistle into the mic) as this will slightly increase the current drawn.

Bob

 

[Bohsfc]

In June 2008 I sent an email to Autocom asking what the max current rating is for the 9 Volt output on the Aux 1 port of the Super-Pro AVI. Richard Wallace replied saying that "the AUX1 socket runs 120 milliamps".

This means the maximum power the Aux1 socket can deliver is 9 x 0.12 = 1.08 Watt. However, this is not to be confused with the transmitted power of the radio. Trying to keep it simple; whilst the transmitted power of the radio may be, say, set to 1W, the radio will actually use more power in creating that radio signal, so using a transmit power of 1W would probably overload the Autocom.
Licence free UHF radios are only allowed to transmit at 0.25W, therefore these (i.e. the Autocom approved ones) can quite easily be powered from the Autocom.

The best check you could do would be to set your radio to the power you wish to use and connect a multimeter in series with the power supply to measure the current draw when you are transmitting. If this is greater than 120mA then you'll need to reduce the transmit power of the radio until it falls below this. Otherwise do as Jacal suggests and power it directly from the battery (via a fuse).

If you do try to measure the current drawn by the radio you must also modulate the signal (whistle into the mic) as this will slightly increase the current drawn.

Bob

Great amount of info. Thanks for that.

Rob

 

[Bohsfc]

In June 2008 I sent an email to Autocom asking what the max current rating is for the 9 Volt output on the Aux 1 port of the Super-Pro AVI. Richard Wallace replied saying that "the AUX1 socket runs 120 milliamps".

This means the maximum power the Aux1 socket can deliver is 9 x 0.12 = 1.08 Watt. However, this is not to be confused with the transmitted power of the radio. Trying to keep it simple; whilst the transmitted power of the radio may be, say, set to 1W, the radio will actually use more power in creating that radio signal, so using a transmit power of 1W would probably overload the Autocom.
Licence free UHF radios are only allowed to transmit at 0.25W, therefore these (i.e. the Autocom approved ones) can quite easily be powered from the Autocom.

The best check you could do would be to set your radio to the power you wish to use and connect a multimeter in series with the power supply to measure the current draw when you are transmitting. If this is greater than 120mA then you'll need to reduce the transmit power of the radio until it falls below this. Otherwise do as Jacal suggests and power it directly from the battery (via a fuse).

If you do try to measure the current drawn by the radio you must also modulate the signal (whistle into the mic) as this will slightly increase the current drawn.

Bob

Hi Bob,

Just wondering about your info from autocom?
Is there any chance that the power could be 1200Mamps and not 120Mamps?

I am asking because I have bought a kenwood radio and before the seller programs it for me he wants to know the power level to set it to. And having passed on the info which you provided he did a test and this is his test results:


"I did a test today to establish the amount of current that the radio takes at various transmit powers:-

1 Watt Transmit takes 1 Amp (1000mA)
2 Watt Transmit takes 1.32 Amps (1320mA)
4 Watt Transmit takes 2.2 Amps (2200mA)


Based on these figures the autocom would not cope with the power coming from the radio.

In limbo land now as to what to do.

 

[trebor]

The info I got from Autocom was 120mA, you could always try contacting Autocom and asking them to confirm.

Bob

 

[Bohsfc]

The info I got from Autocom was 120mA, you could always try contacting Autocom and asking them to confirm.

Bob

Will give them, or Chainspeed a shout in the morning.

Cheers

Rob

 

[Rob J]

Will give them, or Chainspeed a shout in the morning.

Cheers

Rob

I heard that Autocom went into receivership last month and are no longer trading!!

 

[essjay]

if it's any good to you I wanted to power a 4w TK3101 from the Autocom. I exchanged a few emails with them and they said it sould be no bother. I bought a battery eliminator from them and never had an issue.

 

[trebor]

Will give them, or Chainspeed a shout in the morning.

Cheers

Rob

Sorry mate I've just realised the info I've given you is for Aux1 which I was going to use to power a none Autocom Bluetooth dongle. Of course the radio isn't powered from Aux1 but from another port (I'm away from hom at the moment so can't refer to the manual) which will have a different current rating.
You will need to speak to Autocom (I know they are in receivership but have they actually stopped trading?) or, indeed, chainspeed to confirm the rating.

At the time of my bluetooth project I was also looking into powering the radio differently, when answering your query I'd fogotten about the bluetooth project and got the two ports mixed up. Your message from yesterday got me thinking about it overnight and I thought you're right, the current does seem a bit low and then realised I'd confused the two ports, I apologise for the confusion. I blame it on old age!

Bob

 

[Bohsfc]

Sorry mate I've just realised the info I've given you is for Aux1 which I was going to use to power a none Autocom Bluetooth dongle. Of course the radio isn't powered from Aux1 but from another port (I'm away from hom at the moment so can't refer to the manual) which will have a different current rating.
You will need to speak to Autocom (I know they are in receivership but have they actually stopped trading?) or, indeed, chainspeed to confirm the rating.

At the time of my bluetooth project I was also looking into powering the radio differently, when answering your query I'd fogotten about the bluetooth project and got the two ports mixed up. Your message from yesterday got me thinking about it overnight and I thought you're right, the current does seem a bit low and then realised I'd confused the two ports, I apologise for the confusion. I blame it on old age!

Bob

Bob,

I just spoke to Sam at chainspeed and he confirmed that it is 120Mamps that the autocom puts out on radio power. However, when I gave him the figures that I received from the guy with the 4W radio which I bought, he started to doubt himself and was thinking it is 1200 instead of 120.
He did say that if you are not transmitting for long periods at a time it should be Ok though.
So I reckon I will just play it safe and leave it set to 1W.



BTW, I hope I didn't keep you up all night

 

[GSrich]

A 4watt radio being bike powered would be just on the brink of how much power the Super Pro AVi can provide. If the Super Pro doesnt like the amount of power provided it will do an auto shut down/off to protect the Super Pro's main circuit board.

So not really recommended but it can be done

Rich

 

[Bohsfc]

A 4watt radio being bike powered would be just on the brink of how much power the Super Pro AVi can provide. If the Super Pro doesnt like the amount of power provided it will do an auto shut down/off to protect the Super Pro's main circuit board.

So not really recommended but it can be done

Rich

Hi Rich,

YOu mention 'Bike Powered'? Are you saying that if I was running the radio directly from the bikes 12v supply or do you mean through the autocom with a battery eliminator attached to the radio?

I have asked the seller to set the radio to 1W in order to play it safe but do you think it would be OK on 2W without putting pressure on the autocom units circuit board?

cheers

Rob

 

[Jacal]

Sorry Rob but I must be missing something Why not just connect a battery eliminator straight to the bikes 12v....You can have the radio set at any output then.

 

[Bohsfc]

Sorry Rob but I must be missing something Why not just connect a battery eliminator straight to the bikes 12v....You can have the radio set at any output then.

There are 2 different type of battery elininator for the radio I have.

1 is a dummy battery with a cigarette style adaptor and the other is the one from autocom which has the grey lead, the 2 pin plug into the radio and red and black wires which connect to the battery terminals on the radio.

The latter is the one I have and don't really want to be buying anymore leads and adaptors.

But you have me thinking now if there is anyway of having the red and black wire on the autocom lead running to a 12v source on the bike?????

 

[GSrich]

Hi Bob,

My bad I meant bike powered via your comms. If you are looking running a Kenwood where the dummy batteries are used.

Running the Kenwood ran from the bike on a seperate power feed might cause ground loops issues or interference as the lead running between the Kenwoods and your comms will not be isolated or screened.

Rich

 

[Bohsfc]

Hi Bob,

My bad I meant bike powered via your comms. If you are looking running a Kenwood where the dummy batteries are used.

Running the Kenwood ran from the bike on a seperate power feed might cause ground loops issues or interference as the lead running between the Kenwoods and your comms will not be isolated or screened.

Rich

Cheers, Rich, Thanks for that.

I will just power it with the kenwood eliminator via the Autocom and leave it at 1W.

regards

Rob