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  • Portable Power Supply

    Howdy,

    Whatever your into, ie. tent camping, pop-up camping, RV, who knows. But for us, when we need portable electrical power or a good set of lungs to blow up the air-mattress we have chosen electrical power by Xantrex.

    http://www.xantrex.com

    This little power-pack has already paid for itself time and time again. We use to power anything up to 400w. With a DC charging cable I can plug it into the vehicle's 12V lighter socket and re-charge with the engine running in four hours. There's enough power to jump start a car battery and I can inflate any tires from auto to bicycle. It also has a built-in flash light. If our lantern batteries fail we can take the lantern and plug it's AC cord into the power supply and still have a workable lantern. Before I take down the tent I have a small vaccum cleaner that I charge with this power supply so the next time we camp the tent is already clean and ready for use. It also doesn't take up that much space.
    Attached Files
    Last edited by renodesertfox; 10-21-2008, 07:29 PM.
    Get campin', Renodesertfox A canvas campateer
    Campin' Here Between Campouts! Cleverly disguised as a responsible adult

  • #2
    I've found these little portable systems to be good for nothing more than a couple of uses. They're 18AH at best and are starting battery designs rather than deep-cycle systems. After barely a season out of my Wagan power supply I built a power supply for camping using an Optima AGM Blue-Top Deep cycle 12V Size 24 Marine Battery from CostCo. I added 10A and 20A fuses on both - and + ends, dual triple cigarette lighter outlets (Wagan parts from Frye's electronics) and a downconverter for 12V to 9, 6, and 5 volt applications. Plugs are all quick-disconnet types you see on battery trickle chargers. With AGM technology you don't need battery carriers, have no H2 gassing problems and longer life cycles. Now I can run my 200W Kennwood/Polk/Monster sound system, three CityLites LED light bars and LED lights all weekend and don't need a recharge.
    “People have such a love for the truth that when they happen to love something else, they want it to be the truth; and because they do not wish to be proven wrong, they refuse to be shown their mistake. And so, they end up hating the truth for the sake of the object which they have come to love instead of the truth.”
    ―Augustine of Hippo, Fifth Century A.D.

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    • #3
      Originally posted by tplife View Post
      I've found these little portable systems to be good for nothing more than a couple of uses. They're 18AH at best and are starting battery designs rather than deep-cycle systems. After barely a season out of my Wagan power supply I built a power supply for camping using an Optima AGM Blue-Top Deep cycle 12V Size 24 Marine Battery from CostCo. I added 10A and 20A fuses on both - and + ends, dual triple cigarette lighter outlets (Wagan parts from Frye's electronics) and a downconverter for 12V to 9, 6, and 5 volt applications. Plugs are all quick-disconnet types you see on battery trickle chargers. With AGM technology you don't need battery carriers, have no H2 gassing problems and longer life cycles. Now I can run my 200W Kennwood/Polk/Monster sound system, three CityLites LED light bars and LED lights all weekend and don't need a recharge.
      I'd love to see some pics of that monster!! Sounds cool!!

      One question: how do you charge it?

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      • #4
        That sounds fantastic............I hate batteries/systems that die after only a short while.
        I have one of the power packs pictured above, and find it to be only about 60% reliable.
        The one you built, did you invert DC to AC?

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        • #5
          I chose not to use an inverter for my system because the inverter draws power even when not in use. You can see the 12V system I built in this post:

          http://www.campingforums.com/forum/s...ead.php?t=1281

          And some great 12V info I found at:
          http://bart.ccis.com/home/mnemeth/12volt/12volta.htm
          “People have such a love for the truth that when they happen to love something else, they want it to be the truth; and because they do not wish to be proven wrong, they refuse to be shown their mistake. And so, they end up hating the truth for the sake of the object which they have come to love instead of the truth.”
          ―Augustine of Hippo, Fifth Century A.D.

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by tplife View Post
            Now I can run my 200W Kennwood/Polk/Monster sound system, three CityLites LED light bars and LED lights all weekend and don't need a recharge.
            Ooh..... VDF and I would hate to be in camp with all that stuff going on.....! :D
            Whatever happened to 'getting away from it all".....?
            Longtime Motorcycle Camper. Getting away from it all on two wheels! :cool:

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            • #7
              Howdy,
              You be dang tootin' too there as well BD! All I saw was a little tiny stereo system. The question was do you have photos of your power supply, not what your (?) power supply will power?
              Get campin', Renodesertfox A canvas campateer
              Campin' Here Between Campouts! Cleverly disguised as a responsible adult

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              • #8
                Camping in a campground is "getting away from it all"? You make a country boy fall off his horse laughing! :D

                This is an Optima Blue-Top Battery, the kind that makes tplife's camp sing under the starlight.
                “People have such a love for the truth that when they happen to love something else, they want it to be the truth; and because they do not wish to be proven wrong, they refuse to be shown their mistake. And so, they end up hating the truth for the sake of the object which they have come to love instead of the truth.”
                ―Augustine of Hippo, Fifth Century A.D.

                Comment


                • #9
                  ............but we're all dying to see what you rigged up with the battery, not just the battery itself.......come on, don't tease!!

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