12V Emergency power backup for a single scanner

[howie38]

Has anybody had the pleasure of having to run a single scanner off of one of those standard car jump boxes for a long time? I'm wondering how long one may power my scanner (BCD996P2) in a long term blackout.
Also thinking of a battery backup for it, but don't need one of those 120v computer back up boxes, just a 12v deep cycle supply.

 

[doctordialtone]

I'm wondering how long one may power my scanner (BCD996P2) in a long term blackout.

Here's an idea.

Try it!

 

[buddrousa]

You just need to be careful charging the car battery in your house as some gases are emitted from the car battery during charging.
When batteries are being recharged, they generate hydrogen gas that is explosive in certain concentrations in air (explosive limits are 4.1 to 72 percent hydrogen in air).

 

[cralt]

I have a few of these 12 volt UPS's. AT&T and Frontier used to give them out with their voip service. They are common in goodwill and on ebay. Look for the "rev B" versions.
They take a common battery that is easy to change with no tools. Puts out 3amps on 12volts.

Getting to know the Belkin Residential Gateway (RG) Battery Backup REV B, BU3DC001-12V

Getting to know the Belkin Residential Gateway (RG) Battery Backup REV B, BU3DC001-12V

www.belkin.com

 

[R8000]

Math can answer this.....

https://www.digikey.com/en/resources/conversion-calculators/conversion-calculator-battery-life

 

[Enjoi19]

How about a Jackery (or other) portable power station?

Haven't tried a scanner on it but, a nice portable option to power a few things with small power draw. Couple different output options (12v, USB, 110V).

Amazon.ca

 

[vagrant]

It appears the power draw is around 750mA per the manual. The battery in those SLA jump boxes can be around 16Ah.

 

[gh6406]

Using the info in R8000 and vagrants posts, about 21 hours.

 

[howie38]

I have a few of these 12 volt UPS's. AT&T and Frontier used to give them out with their voip service. They are common in goodwill and on ebay. Look for the "rev B" versions.
They take a common battery that is easy to change with no tools. Puts out 3amps on 12volts.

That looks like what I'm thinking of. Don't need to run anything 120V just sustain a scanner maybe for 24-48 hrs maybe 16hr/day so I know what's going on. If you caught my other posts you'll know that my BCD436 started shorting out it's batteries but works fine on external power and should draw even less than the desktop. And plenty of those emergency lighting batteries around here.

 

[dlwtrunked]

Has anybody had the pleasure of having to run a single scanner off of one of those standard car jump boxes for a long time? I'm wondering how long one may power my scanner (BCD996P2) in a long term blackout.
Also thinking of a battery backup for it, but don't need one of those 120v computer back up boxes, just a 12v deep cycle supply.

I always keep a regular car battery as a backup to start my car and has various connectors already on it for scanners, cellphone, amateur radios, LED lights, etc. It is in a plastic battery case to carry it (another similar case carries a charger for the batter and I can stack them). It is similar to this one
West Mountain Radio - DC-to-GO Battery Box w/RIGrunner & Super PWRgate
and there are similar that you can make cheaper yourself. but I have never tested it other than starting my car... the hardest part is to remmber to regularly charge it as I do not want to leave it unattended.

 

[Omega-TI]

How about a Jackery (or other) portable power station?

Haven't tried a scanner on it but, a nice portable option to power a few things with small power draw. Couple different output options (12v, USB, 110V).

Amazon.ca

I know he doesn't want a standard UPS, but he could buy three of << THESE >> with money left over for the price of one of those Jackery models. I keep my SDS100 plugged into this all the time, as well as my cell phone and an LED lamp. It works great, and this model has no fan to irritate you. It's just a battery inside after all, but one you don't have to worry about outgassing.

Scale of production, as well as origin can have a direct effect on pricing, and man have the prices been rising! Now there are some Negative Nellie types who will always argue things like, "it's not efficient", so what, it works. Even if it's not "efficient", what will it cost to operate, a penny or two more? Not only that, you'll not need to buy any new cords or adapters as you can simply plug your existing scanner wall wart into it and forget it.

 

[bharvey2]

If the OP is powering his scanner using a wall wart inside his house, I'd go with the consumer UPS as well. They're self contained and designed to be used in occupied spaces. I use them to power various indicators at work that draw a few hundred mA and with a 500VA UPS, I could run for at least a day or more. The downside is that many of them have power loss alarms and listening to the beeping gets annoying.

 

[avaloncourt]

I try to plan for outages. I have 600 watts of solar panels that feed a grid-tie inverter on a daily basis. I have an Ecoflow Delta with 1260Wh capacity for immediate backup. I can move my solar over to it to maintain charge just by moving the cable connections. For longer outages, I have a transfer switch and generator to power the necessary circuits (light/water/heat) in the house. At the minimum, I'd recommend a unit like the Ecoflow, Jackery, Bluetti, etc. if that's within your possible budget. That will give you more overall utility for other purposes. I have APC 1500 UPSes on a lot of things in the house. If the power goes down, I usually just let things fail over to them to see if they outlast the outage. As the reserve level gets low, I'll switch off to something else based on the power company's restoration estimate.

 

[dlwtrunked]

If the OP is powering his scanner using a wall wart inside his house, I'd go with the consumer UPS as well. They're self contained and designed to be used in occupied spaces. I use them to power various indicators at work that draw a few hundred mA and with a 500VA UPS, I could run for at least a day or more. The downside is that many of them have power loss alarms and listening to the beeping gets annoying.

The advantage of using a bettery is that an UPS is not as efficient. Direct battery will last lony and every UPS that I have tested (many) produced a lot of radio interference (worst at HF). I could also tell you about my expensive UPS made by a well-known company that exploded immediately the first time my power went off--it was only powering the PC. all that being said, although I have UPS, my real back-up is the car battery for radios, lights, and things like that.

 

[jeepsandradios]

Jackery 300 is ideal for what you want.

 

[bharvey2]

The advantage of using a bettery is that an UPS is not as efficient. Direct battery will last lony and every UPS that I have tested (many) produced a lot of radio interference (worst at HF). I could also tell you about my expensive UPS made by a well-known company that exploded immediately the first time my power went off--it was only powering the PC. all that being said, although I have UPS, my real back-up is the car battery for radios, lights, and things like that.

Yes, it's clearly more efficient in terms of power consumption but he only mentioned one handheld scanner that needs to be powered. If he had a more elaborate setup that needed backup power, a consumer grade UPS wouldn't be the way to go. My suggestion was only for the the problem he posted. Also, had he mentioned HF, that style of UPS would more than likely pose a problem.

 

[CrabbyMilton]

I have several power banks and that's how I charge my HP436. Yes, a marine/deep cycle will be great to charge the power banks. just my 2.7 cents.

 

[dave3825]

I thought about my scanners and blackouts when I bought my house. I have 2 fridges, a huge chest freezer and a kid who can't function without video games. I got a generator that handles the house.

Best of all three worlds. I get my scanners, wife wont have to toss spoiled food and my son can play video games.

.

 

[spacellamaman]

12V 14Ah AGM Duracell (not that it matters) straight wired to a BCT-15X for 72hrs without regard to weather, as much as 3.5 days if new and its warm outside. Fits nicely in one of those Harbor Freight faux Pelican cases.

I have tested this upwards of a hundred times.

I should add that this is running Search and Store and utilization of the speaker presumably will affect things some.

 

[MUTNAV]

One reasonable question for the OP is if there are already rechargeable batteries available.

Do you use Ryobi or Eco rechargeable lawn or hand tools?

There are adapters that use these (already existing and available) batteries to power things.

Thanks
Joel