Any ideas for mobile power solution...

[kmacka]

I'm looking into some mobile power devices to provide power to my scanners, radios, laptops, etc. while inside of my vehicle. For example for listening out of the back of my suv while at an airshow or something like that. I want something that I can use to power up all of my stuff while not having to leave my vehicle turned on or using all my car battery power. I have seen on another website that someone had used a solar panel, but I don't know if they were using that to charge a certain type of battery or that panel was providing constant power during daylight. I have thougth about a small generator but I'm not sure if that is practical with the noise and what not. I would appreciate it someone could give me some ideas.

 

[mkewman]

Some Reading Material:
http://www.batterystuff.com/tutorial_solar.html
then http://www.batterystuff.com/solar-chargers/
that might help. it's recommended that you use them with a battery as the amount of power generated can vary and may damage equipment.

the great thing about solar is that it's very eco friendly, a lot cheaper (in the long run) and it's educational (it's a great learning experience if you have kids. keeping track of how much power is generated, designing a system, etc) They also have small kits at some retailers that will let you build a small solar charger.

My parents house is powered by a on-grid solar system so i have a *little* bit of knowledge on the subject (i'm no expert by any means) but i'd be willing to help direct you in the right direction if you're interested.

(by the way, if anyone is interested in solar power for their home, here's photos of my parents installation: http://planitsolar.com/html/Install_Gallery/Install-photos11/index.htm care of our friends at http://www.planitsolar.com. I don't work for them, this is an unpaid thing. These guys rock. We know them well and they're always happy to give anyone advice about solar. HIGHLY recommended.

hope i didn't hijack the thread heh.

UPDATE: A bit of a note, those install photos were taken before my parents moved in, thats why the garage is a mess. Also, it was done during the winter, which explains why it was so wet. heh.

 

[Grog]

Sealed battery of some sort with solar to try to trickle charge it, then hooking it to t real charger at home. Something sealed since you would be moving it around. Unless your laptop runs on straight 12v, you'd need an inverter and those are not very efficient power-wise. You'd really want a pretty big battery so it does not drop too low, voltage wise.

I was looking at batteries the other day for portable RACES work, was drooling over a 220mah AGM battery until I saw the price, $200

Oh well, the good things are never free

 

[kmacka]

I will look into both solutions, but with the battery, what special wires/equipment would I need to power my stuff. Would I need some sort of power strip or something.

 

[Grog]

Well a lot of hams are now using Anderson power poles as a standard 12v power connector, and you can use something from this page as a power distribution station. There have people who have built their own versions of the rigrunners however.

http://www.westmountainradio.com/RIGrunner.htm

 

[mkewman]

i wish they had that smaller rig runner with a switch.

 

[Grog]

Nothing says you can't run an inline switch with the input wire, then it'd all be out of sight

 

[rescue128]

put in a yellow top optima, with a battery isolator. what kind of car/truck do you have?

 

[key2_altfire]

put in a yellow top optima, with a battery isolator.

This was my first thought as well. Even a small SLA battery would be acceptable. However, I wonder if the low current draw of scanners would be an issue running straight from the vehicle's main starting battery. In testing my home backup power plan I was able to run three scanners (Icom R1500, Icom R5, RS PRO-2055) off of a 7 Ah SLA battery for weeks.

 

[LEH]

I wired a scanner to straight (okay through a hot line to the car fuse box) from the battery. I left the scanner plugged in (I know, not the brightest idea, but I was a bit dumber then) 24/7. I went out of town for a couple of days, when I came back the car battery had died. The scanner worked.

For a short period running off the car battery probably wouldn't be an issue. However there are other considerations. How old is the car battery and what are the weather conditions. Age and extreme temperature don't help batteries (of any kind). What kind of load are you talking about? One or two scanners probably okay for a day or so. Running your computer could be a major draw.

For something simple, I still say take a look at the IGO system. I have one that runs my laptop (nearly any laptop with the correct tip) and runs off of AC (110-220) or DC (car or aircraft power). The larger charger for the laptops has an auxilary jack for low power items (I have tips for most of my scanners, my cell phone and a few other toys).

Radio Shack sells the IGO systems direct. Circuit City and Compusa have similar systems (not sure about the auxilary stuff there though). IGO is also available online at igo.com.

 

[kmacka]

put in a yellow top optima, with a battery isolator. what kind of car/truck do you have?

I have a 2001 ford explorer sport. The batter is practically brand new, was just put in 3 months ago.

I probably would not be running a laptop. Probably just scanners, amount I'm not sure. Possibly 3-6. 4 would be handhelds w/ rehcargeable batters and probably two base units.