[Loch-ruadh] electricity

Timothy Rayburn timothy at elfsea.net
Wed Feb 6 08:28:42 PST 2002


<Coming out of Stealth Mode ;)>

>Obviously, such a system will deplete the battery fairly quickly at full
>load, but you shouldn't be running a space heater on it anyway. :)
>Chances are, if you are frugal with the power, a car battery might last
>the entire week without a recharge. If a recharge was needed, the
>battery charger could probably top it off in a few hours, assuming you
>can find somewhere to plug it in. If all else fails, jumper cable that
>battery up to your car and run the engine for a while. For the long
>term, I might suggest a solar charger, but they can get pricey pretty quick.

I have built just such a system because I have need to use a CPAP at night when I sleep, and power is not always available.  Here are my thoughts :

1) If you build the system personally, then I would ammend Sluggy's suggestions with the following : a) Make the battery a Deep Cycle Trolling marine battery.  These are meant for constant draining and recycling and are focused on providing a consistent slow pull.  b) It's all in the inverter, the more inverter, the more you can do.  c) My system ran me $40 for the inverter, $60 for the battery, $25 for the charger and about $15 in parts from Radio Shack.

2) There is a company called X-Power that is selling a bundled battery, charger, and inverter all inside a nice sealed plastic box on wheels and with a handle about the size of a filebox with a handle like the airport carry-on bags that slides down into the box.  It costs about $200, but is sealed, and avoids all the trouble.  I'm seriously thinking about replacing my system with this, as very few Marine batties are sealed (mine is not).

3) The upside to my system is that I ran my CPAP and a laptop (on and off), and charged my cellphones all war last year without ever having to recharge my battery.

>VERY IMPORTANT: It rains at Gulf War, almost guaranteed. While the 12V
>from a car battery is not particularly dangerous in the wet, 110V AC
>from the inverter is. Such a system should be in a dry location and must
>be off the floor and covered to prevent it getting wet in case your
>shelter leaks.

I just left this in because he is VERY right about this.  Read it again if you plan on doing something like this.

Watt? Watt?,

Timothy of Glastinbury



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