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Reviews For: N8XJK 12Volt Boost Regulator

Category: Emergency/Portable Power: generators, solar, wind, thermal, etc

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Review Summary For : N8XJK 12Volt Boost Regulator
Reviews: 28MSRP: 155
Description:
This Boost Regulator was designed to supply a constant voltage to the radio or other equipment regardless of the battery voltage. The Boost Regulator is a switching power supply that regulates the output and boosts the voltage to your equipment. The increased voltage prevents distortion commonly seen on modern mobile radios. It also maintains transmit power and allows longer operation from a battery.
Product is not in production
More Info: http://stores.tgelectronics.org/Detail.bok?no=7
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00284.6
G7IRU Rating: 2019-10-20
40 amp regulator Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Hi everyone. I have had one of these for years and it worked faultlessly but one day it went kaput. I bought another one second hand off of a fellow ham and it works brilliantly as well with no issues as of yet.
If anyone is looking to buy another one then i understand that West Mountain Radio are going to be selling them soon.

73's,

Carlo.
K7RFW Rating: 2019-06-21
Love it - but no longer built Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Got mine about 10 or so years ago and it does a great job of keeping my battery output at 13.8 with no observable noise on the bands. I was looking for a newer version I had read about several years ago but unfortunately Tim Gerdeen is SK and the new producers had to give up building them due to family, life, and other conflicts.

Sadly, the only constant in life is change.

----------------------
Earlier 5-star review posted by K7RFW on 2007-08-02

The only problem was in the order process, you have to send Tim a separate email if you want to specify the lead length and the connectors. But that was not a big issue because he also answered several questions, including a few dumb ones that I should have known the answer to. Tim is very responsive to email questions both before and after a purchase. I also emailed one of the other reviewers to double check his ratings and he was still happy with it which pushed me to purchase it.

As received I have Andersons on 12 inch input and output cables. Looking inside at the top of the motherboard I saw no glaring discrepancies in the construction (but then I am not the best solderer in the world). The unit puts out 14.2 volts, which is great since all my equipment is good to 15 V and with the stock cable from Yaesu the voltage only drops about .3 volts on transmit.

I experimented with the RF switch, and while it mostly works with a 12 inch piece of RG58 with the shield peeled back half way, I just leave it on full power all the time. Doing a 4 hour op (FT-897 at 100 W) trying to break into IOTA pileups did not result in appreciable battery discharge (53 AH gel cell). The unit warmed slightly (or was it the 98 degree day?) on some longer transmissions but not as much as I thought it would.

Talking to a few contacts on 20 and 80 meters, I am told that my signal is much better/stronger using this unit than when I was using only the battery. A few hearing tests with 80 meters (S9+ noise baseline) and 20 meters (S2 noise baseline) did not show any difference in noise levels with this unit in line or out. Of course, I have not put a Scope or SpecAn to it and checked all bands, frequencies, and modes, so this is currently subjective.

So far, a needed purchase for this portable operator. This is my limited experience, your's may be different.
WP4O Rating: 2016-10-26
superb IT WORKS! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
The BOOSTER really works best purchase ever for Ham Radio. I get Full power out put from my Car using the ICOM IC 7100 no more shut down No MORE engine noise.. Thanks Tim and to N8XJK for designing this product, I think everyone mobile running 100 watts or more should use one of these boosters.. 5 Stars from me Thanks
Ed Kk4x, Tampa Fl
K0BAK Rating: 2015-09-01
Essential for extended high power operation from battery Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Purchased the 80 amp model for outfitting my VHF & HF contest rover. My amplifiers are rated at 60 to 80 amps DC draw, though they rarely draw that much when driven correctly.

The booster is solidly built. It works as it should; not much to say about a voltage booster if it works. I no longer have to worry about voltage fading if I operate (without the engine on) for a long time on my dedicated deep discharge battery. Once operated portable with the engine off for almost 6 hours using a "500 watt" HF amplifier; the battery dipped to 10.7 volts by the end but it didn't matter because the booster kept delivering 14.1 volts. Did not try RF sensing, I just leave it on all the time.

My rover is not dedicated, so I have to install and tear down all the equipment in the minivan for each contest outing. The power input and output cables show no sign of wear after about a dozen installs and teardowns.

Minor disappointments:
1) I get a big spark when I connect the input cable to the battery -- I wish there was some kind of slow draw circuit when the booster is first connected, I'd pay extra to avoid that big spark and the presumed big current spike.
2) WRT the remote digital voltage meter, the jacket for the remote cable (NOT the power cable) pulled away from both connectors, exposing the individual wires inside. I fixed it with a heat shrink overwrap.

Would definitely buy TG Electronics equipment again and have recommended this booster on other forums.
N7DK Rating: 2015-08-08
Excellent all around Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
During Field Day, my aging batteries wouldn't power my rig for long despite having more than half their charge remaining. My finicky rig really wants to see 13.5 or more volts when transmitting. Below 12.5 volts it starts misbehaving rather badly.

I've since bought the N8XJK Boost Regulator, and I'm delighted with it. I've run several tests with it, and it does exactly what N8XJK says it does. I can take the batteries down to just above 10 volts under load and keep operating. The rig stays "happy", and that 10-volt threshold is adjustable to as low as 9 volts.

I bought the unit with the RF sensor that lets the rig run "raw" from the battery on receive with the booster electronics quieted. I was afraid there would be "birdies" in the receiver if the regulator circuits were running while the rig was receiving. But there were none ... zippo ... and my receiver is very sensitive. So I could have done without that feature. But I use it anyway ... it does reduce energy consumption somewhat when on receive, and of course the rig spends most of its time in the receive state.

The unit has a heavy case with a solid feel. Very nice. I recommend it without hesitation.

One caution. Use the heaviest, shortest cables you can from the battery to the regulator ... when the batteries start running low, the regulator has to draw more current to boost the voltage to the rig. If your cables to the regulator offer 0.1 ohms resistance, and if you're drawing over 10 amps from the battery, there goes 1.0 volt of "headroom" right there. You want to stay away from the 10v threshold as long as you can ...
W2BLC Rating: 2015-04-28
Did not last Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Bought it to use with station battery backup system. It worked when first tested, however months later was found to be dead. No function - no LEDs, nothing. All it did was to reduce the 12 VDC line a full volt. I installed a much larger marine battery and removed the device from my system.

I feel the device is not reliable and tossed it, rather than return for warranty - eliminating shipping costs and delays.
K6MTS Rating: 2014-07-06
Rig cutting back TX pwr? This may be your fix. Time Owned: more than 12 months.
The IC7000 could run all day long at full power in my 2001 Chev with no problem. But in the 2013 Equinox it would intermittently cut way back on TX power.

After chasing my tail a bit found that the source voltage to rig (measured at rig and Battery) was at times dropping as low as 12v.
Found that the 2013 hyper-monitors charging system and cuts back alternator field under light load conditions to squeeze out more MPG.

Once I confirmed the issue, installed N8XJK Super Booster (set to min Voltage of your choice up to 15V), and boom, no more TX power problems!

Great product that does what it’s supposed to and works great! Highly recommended!
KC1SQ Rating: 2014-01-12
Wroks Great Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've recently moved to a condo in downtown Boston. Sigh, no more big antennae / QRO. But, my wife and I did take up sailing (initially out of Boston Harbor, now chartering around the world)... and that's provided a new platform for hamming.

With a waterproof Pelican case, I can carry a complete station based on an Icom IC-7000. Haul a wire up the mast, throw some more copper over the side, connect an Icom AH-4 tuner, and hook things up to the boat's 12VDC batteries... and work the world, all while bobbing around on the water (usually at anchor). Well, almost. The IC-7000 really wants 13+VDC, and marine batteries aren't so robust, voltage wise. When the batteries lost some charge, the IC-7000 would just power cycle. No fun in the middle of a contact.

The TGE N8XJK Booter saved the day. RF sensing works great, no RFI hash noted (tho I'm using the torroids on the power leads). No complaints. Next trip, Belize for a week.

While instructions are somewhat "sparse", it's really very straight forward to setup and use.

I love it.
WB4WTL Rating: 2013-03-23
Excellent Product! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
This device works great! I purchased the 40 amp model with the built-in cooling fan (although it has never run). The unit is well constructed and the case is heavy gauge metal. Using a gel cell as the input, the voltage drop on the output was 0.13Vdc at 13.8 volts with an 18 amp load! That is better regulation than my DC supply . . .

Tim was great and responsive to an order question via email, and my order arrived quickly within a few days. This product performs as advertised, and I highly recommend it.
K0NHV Rating: 2013-01-06
They Work! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've got two of the marine boosters. I use one in my RV with my solar system and another in my Shack for my emergency backup.

I bought the first one over a year ago, and just picked up the second one.

Tim at TGelectronics is great to do business with.