RS+ maximum charging amperage

Hi all,
what is the maximum amperage accepted by the microUSB and by the external power input?
By the way, the external power input does also charge the battery?
I want to power/charge it with a solar panel for 24h a day operations, so I need to identify the right panel considering that RS+ consumes 7.5W as an average.

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@kseniia.suzdaltseva anwsered it here

Yes indeed, but I wrote this topic almost at the same time, so I still did not read the answer. I knew that, but I misunderstood.
Still one doubt. Does it mean that if I power it with let’s say 20V it will absorb at most 0.5A, or that if I provide more than 10W I can damage it?

correct

I am a bit puzzled by this, generally, as long as the correct voltage is used, a device will draw only the amperage it needs.
Also, as the RS+ accepts from 6V to 40V, it is not clear to me why 1A at 10V do not damage it, but 0.5A at 40V does damage. I would have expect that at 40V it would just draw 0.25A at most.

As to complement the question. The reason I am asking this is that I’d like to power the RS+ with a solar panel. But as power provided by solar panel is not the nominal one in most of the conditions, a 10W solar panel may not be enough. Thus it would be better to use, for instance a 20W solar panel, that will be more likely to provide at least 10W for more hours a day. But of course not at the risk to damage the device.

What I would do here is have the solar panel go into a solar panel charger controller before going to the RS+

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Hi Roberto,

I agree with @davehofer1993

We usually don’t recommend using solar panels with Reach because it’s an unstable power source. Indeed, powering Reach directly from a solar panel may damage the unit. Instead, it’s better to use them with a controller that can keep the power stable.

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Thank you for all the replies, but it’s still not clear what’t the maximum amperage to power the antenna. Actually I have studied a bit I’m not much aware about specifications solar panel charger controllers.
Any recommendation to identify the right controller is much appreciated.

Hi @Nav,

The maximum amperage to power the antenna is 0.25 to 1.6A.

The maximum wattage to power the antenna is 10 watts. The voltage you can apply to the receiver is 6 to 40 volts. So, we can calculate the amperage value as the wattage divided by the voltage.

I can hardly help you choose the right solar panel controller since we haven’t tested them with our devices. Probably, some of our users had a similar setup and can share their experience.

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