BlakeBlog

SureFire Rechargeable 123A Batteries

SureFire appears to have finally found a rechargeable 123A form-factor battery that they're happy enough with to put their name on it. The batteries are $6 each, and are available in two-packs as well as a combo with a charger that works from the wall and from vehicle (12V) power supplies. From the product shot it looks like they're using K2 Energy's LFP123A, which uses lithium-phosphate technology.

SureFire's traditional lithium batteries, which typically sell for around $2 each, will last about twice as long as a fully-charged rechargeable—but SureFire notes that the maximum output levels should not be different between battery types. K2 asserts that their batteries are good for over 2,000 charge cycles (SureFire more modestly claims only "hundreds") but they don't provide any details on their performance characteristics as they age.

The big challenge for rechargeable 123A-style batteries is that they typically operate at ~4.2V, whereas the lithium versions produce only 3V. This can have the nasty effect of overpowering and damaging some electronics and incandescent flashlights that are only expecting 3V cells. It looks like these batteries haven't solved that problem, as SureFire has a disclaimer not to use these cells with incandescent lights.

As rechargeable AA and AAA batteries have improved dramatically over the recent years—witness the fantastic eneloop batteries from Sanyo—rechargeable 123A batteries have been hobbled by the high voltage problem. This, in turn, has lead to a lot of people turning away from 123A-powered devices in favor of ones that use AA or AAA cells. I'm glad to see a big name step up and support a rechargeable 123A form-factor battery, even though it appears they haven't addressed the high voltage issue. And, though their runtime is a bit anemic, the ability to recharge them makes them a good value if you 123A-powered devices frequently. They're also invaluable in situations like large-scale disasters where normal supplies aren't easy to obtain but recharging existing cells from portable generators is possible.

I am Uninterruptible (Again)

For the past year or so I've been running without a uninterruptible power supply (UPS) for my computers. That's pretty unusual for me, since I've used UPSes for at least 20 years. I got my first UPSes while in Maryland, since at the time I was playing with old SPARC hardware that really hated power interruptions, but they served me very well for all my computers when I moved to California in the midst of all the rotating blackouts in 2000-2001. Since then, however, various battery and hardware failures have left me with no operational UPSes.

I've been fortunate that California's power has been fairly reliable the past few years, but now that I'm working from home full-time, I figured I'd better get my act together and get a UPS for my home server and networking. The difference between 2000 and now is that I really have only a single traditional "desktop" computer: my old G4 Mac mini, which I use as a server. All the other computers in the house are laptops or iPads. It's kinda amazing to realize that I don't have some big tower with half a dozen fans running somewhere any longer.

Even though all those laptops have their own built-in UPSes, that Mac mini needs some backup power, as does all the networking equipment. So, I decided to get another APC UPS. Frankly I would have preferred one of Tripp-Lite's on-line systems, as they're better able to handle bad power, but I couldn't find anyone having any success using Tripp-Lite UPSes with Macs. OS X recognizes APC's UPSes without any additional software to install, so for this application it looks like APC is the only game in town.

Another welcome advance in the past 10 years or so is that UPSes have become a lot less expensive, and modern computer equipment uses less power than ever, so I can get away with a smaller UPS. For example, I used to use an APC Smart-UPS 1500 to power a Sun deskside server for about 15 minutes. This was just about enough backup power to give the system about five minutes of runtime before having to initiate shutdown.

If I recall correctly, that 1500 cost around $800 when I bought it. Now, however, an APC Back-UPS 1000 costs only $130, yet it still has the essential communications capability to allow a connected computer to shutdown when the UPS battery is almost drained (something that used to be exclusive to the more expensive Smart-UPS line). And, it'll run my mini, the attached Drobo, my wireless network, and the uVerse network interface for nearly 80 minutes before the battery runs out!

APC also has come up with the idea of slaving one of the power outlets to a master outlet, meaning that when the device plugged-in to the master outlet turns itself off, the UPS will shut off power to the slaved outlet. At first I didn't think I'd have a use for this feature, but it turns out that my Drobo won't power-off even when the mini completes a shut-down. So now the mini's hooked into the master outlet, the Drobo's plugged-in to the slave outlet, and both power down completely when the mini shuts down.

One note of warning about this feature, however: make sure you set the power-saving threshold as soon as you've plugged your devices into the UPS and before you've turned those devices on. I just plugged my mini and my Drobo into the UPS and turned them on without setting the threshold. The next thing I knew, the UPS was turning the Drobo on and off every few seconds. After setting the threshold it's working as expected, and fortunately the Drobo seems none the worse for wear.

Icom's IC-T70A: A Worthy Competitor to Yaesu's FT-60R

 I just got my May 2010 issue of QST and saw the ad on the inside front cover for Icom's new IC-V80 and IC-T70A handheld transceivers. With the IC-T70A it looks like Icom has finally come up with a worthy competitor to Yaesu's FT-60R.

It matches the basic functionality of the FT-60R quite nicely, but a couple of key advantages include:

1) An optional Li-Ion battery, while the FT-60R's still stuck with Ni-MH,

2) IP-54 (dust protected, splashing water OK) and MIL-STD 810 protection, while the FT-60R doesn't have an IP rating (Yaesu calls the case construction "water resistant"),

Most importantly, the BP-263 battery case holds six AA batteries and allows the transceiver to transmit at full 5W power. This is an important capability for emergency communications folks, since we have to assume that we aren't going to be able to recharge batteries for extended periods of time. So, we like to see handhelds that can transmit a full 5W signal while running on AA batteries. The recent trend in handhelds, though, has been to make them very small and not worry about full power transmitting while on AA battery power. Yaesu's FT-60R has been the only handheld, dual band transceiver to accomplish this feat until now.

The IC-T70A still uses an SMA antenna connector, just like the FT-60R. I wish they would have used a BNC since it's more rugged, better performing, and there's plenty of room on top of the transceiver for it. According to the specs it burns through battery at about twice the rate of the FT-60R on receive, and about 50% faster on transmit, but Icom claims 10 hours of battery life with the Ni-MH and 13.5 hours with the Li-Ion battery. (Yaesu doesn't provide any battery life claims, but I typically get about six hours of use with my Ni-MH pack.) The IC-T70A is about one-half ounce heavier than the FT-60R with the Ni-MH battery, but it'd be lighter with the Li-Ion battery.

The IC-T70A is currently selling at Ham Radio Outlet for $225, while the FT-60R sells for only $185.

For about $40 more you get a transceiver that's a little more rugged, and that can use a Li-Ion battery for day-to-day use. Of course, the Li-Ion battery (and extra charger) bumps the price up $63 and $69, respectively. That's a lot of money; I might be tempted to stick with the Ni-MH battery until it dies, then upgrade to Li-Ion. (It sure would be nice if you could just buy the IC-T70A with a Li-Ion instead of the stock Ni-MH.) I certainly won't be selling my FT-60R to replace it with an IC-T70A, but it's great that Icom is competing with Yaesu in this area of the market, as competition always improves things.

The Importance of Hydration

Greg, over at West, By God, is doing a nice series of articles on survival and backpacking gear. His latest article is on water and hydration, which I think are the most important of your practical considerations when there's a disaster. (Remember the Rule of Threes.)

One thing I've noticed is that a lot of bottled water containers are super-thin these days and tend to break or puncture very, very easily. If you can, stick with the containers meant for carbonated beverages since they're thicker and stand up to the abuse. (I know a lot of dual sport motorcycle riders even use the 2L soda bottles to store extra gas quite successfully.)

I have a little more confidence in hydration bladders than Greg does, especially the thicker ones from CamelBak that get used in their military and law enforcement products, but they are tough to boil water in. (I've seen Les Stroud do it on "Survivorman," but I've also seen him burn a hole through the bladder, too.) If you don't have a metal pot with you, then a Nalgene or used soda bottle is a better container for boiling.

ARRL Opens Its Archives

The Amateur Radio Relay League (ARRL) is America's amateur radio association. Founded in 1914, it's been an advocate for ham radio enthusiasts, publishing one or more publications about amateur radio theory and practice since its inception. Just today, the ARRL announced that they've made PDF copies of every article they've published from 1915 through 2004 available for download in PDF format.

This is a trememdous accomplishment for the ARRL, and its also wonderful for hams everywhere. Because of the association's rich publishing history, many of the articles in its current publications reference landmark articles in issues that were published ten, sometimes even twenty or thirty years ago. As a new ham, I don't have a personal library of past magazines (and I wouldn't have the space—or the indulgent spouse—to store them all). Making these articles available electronically, for free with a current membership, is a tremendous bonus. Kudos to the ARRL!

TechShop: A DIY Candy Store

Several days ago I caught a recent post over at Cool Tools about TechShop, a local (but expanding) "shop club." Members have unlimited access to an amazing array of large, expensive tools, plus they offer reasonably-priced classes to anyone, member or not, in how to use the tools and make interesting things. Right now they're open 9:00 AM until midnight every day, but soon they'll be open 24 hours a day.

Some of the tools that especially interest me include the lathe and milling tools, including a CNC milling machine, the plastic roto molder, the 3D printer, the laser cutter, all the sheet metal tools (brakes, English wheels, punches and shears), the anodizing station, and all the welding goodies (plasma cutters, MIG, TIG, OxyAcetylene, and spot welders), plus carbon fiber layup tools and oven.

While it's not cheap, the membership prices are really quite a bargain considering the considerable expense of the equipment and the the space it takes to hold them all. There's no way I could ever hope to have the space for even a small number of the larger tools, so $900/year (going up to $1,200/year on Jun01) is still a reasonable price. (Six-month and one-month memberships are also available, too.)

I think I'm going to start off taking some of the classes first. They're the least-expensive way to get hands-on with the tools, and in some cases they're required before you can use some of the tools that are more complicated or powerful. I've always wanted to learn how to weld, but the junior college/night school route just didn't mesh with my schedule. Now I can take a quick 1.5-hour class to learn the basics, then practice as much as I'd like. Of course, the CNC plasma cutter class would be useful as well. And the molten aluminum sand casting class. And the carbon fiber layup class. And... and... and...

I'm Now ICS, SEMS, and NIMS Compliant

This morning I spent about three hours at the country sheriff's offices learning about the Incident Command System (ICS), the State Emergency Management System (SEMS), and the National Incident Management System (NIMS). These are the major standards that all emergency responder organizations in California use to manage the response to an incident, from something as simple as a major traffic accident, all the way to major fires, floods, earthquakes, or terrorist acts.

ICS was developed by the fire fighting agencies in Southern California after the response to several large wildfires in the 70's highlighted problems with agency coordination and management. ICS is a standardized methodology for identifying who's in charge during an incident, addressing all the major functions that need to be handled, and managing communications between all the responders. It now covers all responders, not just fire.

ICS is the building block on which California built SEMS. SEMS addresses the management necessary beyond just the responders on the scene, helping multiple levels of government coordinate their activities. It focuses on five areas: Finance, logistics, management, operations, and planning. After 9/11 the Federal government took SEMS, tweaked it a bit, and called it NIMS. Today, SEMS is NIMS-compliant, but retains its own unique flavor based on California's extensive experience with emergency management.

In California, by law all public agencies must manage incidents with both the ICS and the SEMS. If they do not, the localities will not be reimbursed for their emergency expenses by the state. (This is "the stick.") Additionally, if agencies want to receive grant money from the Department of Homeland Security they must handle all incidents using ICS and NIMS. (This is "the carrot.")

All of this rolls down-hill to me and all the other amateur radio volunteers who have agreed to help our local governments communicate in the case of an emergency—we need to be ICS/SEMS/NIMS "trained" to help those governments avoid the stick and grab the carrot. So now I'm fully buzzword compliant.

This post also kicks off a new category of posts in this blog: Emergency preparedness. For the last six months or so I've been getting involved with San Jose's Office of Emergency Services (OES) and the San Jose RACES amateur radio emergency communications group. It's my way of getting involved with my community and giving something back. More later…