Portable Power Stations

Kit, Clothing, Tools, etc
British Red
Posts: 428
Joined: Sun Feb 06, 2022 11:45 pm

Re: Portable Power Stations

Post by British Red »

I've had a 12V leisure battery hooked to a smart charger for 4 years being charged and used simultaneously ( basically an uninerruptible power supply for a large electric fence). Brilliant things.
Yorkshire Andy
Posts: 8735
Joined: Thu Oct 03, 2013 4:06 pm

Re: Portable Power Stations

Post by Yorkshire Andy »

British Red wrote: Fri May 06, 2022 8:58 pm I've had a 12V leisure battery hooked to a smart charger for 4 years being charged and used simultaneously ( basically an uninerruptible power supply for a large electric fence). Brilliant things.
5a charge you can't go wrong I've got 2 already and a big garage workshop charger if shtf and I'm using the generator it can really bang some charge in to boost up the batteries

https://toolshouse.co.uk/products/silve ... 8MQAvD_BwE



Got one of these the other year you can't go wrong for a tenner!

https://www.lidl.co.uk/p/diy-tools/park ... ter/p51845

It lives in my folding caravan as law of sod dictates you get issues on holiday :x
If your roughing it, Your doing it wrong ;)

Lack of planning on your part doesn't make it an emergency on mine
jennyjj01
Posts: 3429
Joined: Sun Jun 04, 2017 11:09 pm

Re: Portable Power Stations

Post by jennyjj01 »

jennyjj01 wrote: Thu May 05, 2022 4:51 pm
jennyjj01 wrote: Sat Apr 30, 2022 9:25 am
Well, I've invested. Ordered a ridiculously low price bundle, just to see what can be done and to get some ideas into practice.. At worst, I wasted £50 or so on a phone charger..
...
Plenty of measuring and maths to do, which I'll need help with.
Love is....
... A shared carpentry project. :)

While I await my scrounged car battery

Groan....
My scrounged pre-owned car battery arrived. Though it looked good and clean, it seems to be quite faulty. I don't think it would have capacity to do much on its own. But it powers the charge controller and the rig as it stands is now an effective double USB charger.
I'll invest in a proper car battery now. Will probably use it to power some sort of USB irrigation system/ About £15 online
Graceful Degradation! Prepping's objective summed up in two words. Turning Disaster into Mild Inconvenience by the power of fore-thought

Not Feeling Optimistic. Let me be wrong
Yorkshire Andy
Posts: 8735
Joined: Thu Oct 03, 2013 4:06 pm

Re: Portable Power Stations

Post by Yorkshire Andy »

jennyjj01 wrote: Fri May 13, 2022 8:02 pm
jennyjj01 wrote: Thu May 05, 2022 4:51 pm
jennyjj01 wrote: Sat Apr 30, 2022 9:25 am
Well, I've invested. Ordered a ridiculously low price bundle, just to see what can be done and to get some ideas into practice.. At worst, I wasted £50 or so on a phone charger..
...
Plenty of measuring and maths to do, which I'll need help with.
Love is....
... A shared carpentry project. :)

While I await my scrounged car battery

Groan....
My scrounged pre-owned car battery arrived. Though it looked good and clean, it seems to be quite faulty. I don't think it would have capacity to do much on its own. But it powers the charge controller and the rig as it stands is now an effective double USB charger.
I'll invest in a proper car battery now. Will probably use it to power some sort of USB irrigation system/ About £15 online
Get a ECM leisure battery a car battery isn't made for the cyclic low / slow discharge use

Oh and scrap batteries at a decent scrap metal merchant is about £0.45p per kg ATM so if nothing else it's worth about a tenner towards a new battery
If your roughing it, Your doing it wrong ;)

Lack of planning on your part doesn't make it an emergency on mine
jennyjj01
Posts: 3429
Joined: Sun Jun 04, 2017 11:09 pm

Re: Portable Power Stations

Post by jennyjj01 »

Yorkshire Andy wrote: Fri May 13, 2022 8:31 pm
jennyjj01 wrote: Fri May 13, 2022 8:02 pm
jennyjj01 wrote: Thu May 05, 2022 4:51 pm
Love is....
... A shared carpentry project. :)

While I await my scrounged car battery

Groan....
My scrounged pre-owned car battery arrived. Though it looked good and clean, it seems to be quite faulty. I don't think it would have capacity to do much on its own. But it powers the charge controller and the rig as it stands is now an effective double USB charger.
I'll invest in a proper car battery now. Will probably use it to power some sort of USB irrigation system/ About £15 online
Get a ECM leisure battery a car battery isn't made for the cyclic low / slow discharge use
Thanks...

Badger Scobie? to implement the thank you feature.

If / when I go big on the project, I will do that. For now, it's just an experimental setup, not worthy of a good big battery. I don't have a proper pre-apocalypse use for it other than experiment and maybe something like an off grid shed powered irrigation system..

I note that on the bright sunny day we had today, it never reached the 14.4 volt cuttoff (Barely reached 13.8V) , so If I understand correctly, I might as well have just bypassed the charge controller. It never pulsed off, till the sun set. I'm currently discharging the battery overnight with a big lamp. Will TRY to get it's capacity estimated by timing a few real full to flat discharges using something like a headlamp bulb or my 70W cup warmer.... Should take 6~12 hours for a 70Ah battery ???
Graceful Degradation! Prepping's objective summed up in two words. Turning Disaster into Mild Inconvenience by the power of fore-thought

Not Feeling Optimistic. Let me be wrong
Yorkshire Andy
Posts: 8735
Joined: Thu Oct 03, 2013 4:06 pm

Re: Portable Power Stations

Post by Yorkshire Andy »

Never fully discharge a car / leisure battery you will kill it you shouldn't take one below 50% DOD (depth of discharge)

A 55w headlight bulb at 12v draws about 4.6amp.

55/12= 4.583333333333



So a 100ah battery has a useable capacity of 50A

50/4.6= 10.86956521739 hours of light before needing to recharge the battery. ..

If your going to buy a car battery buy a leisure battery there nothing in the price between the two


If your not wanting to spend a fortune look here:

https://www.tayna.co.uk/leisure-batteri ... rline/678/
If your roughing it, Your doing it wrong ;)

Lack of planning on your part doesn't make it an emergency on mine
jennyjj01
Posts: 3429
Joined: Sun Jun 04, 2017 11:09 pm

Re: Portable Power Stations

Post by jennyjj01 »

Yorkshire Andy wrote: Sat May 14, 2022 9:52 am Never fully discharge a car / leisure battery you will kill it you shouldn't take one below 50% DOD (depth of discharge)

A 55w headlight bulb at 12v draws about 4.6amp.

55/12= 4.583333333333
Cheers. It had been suggested to me that I try to shock the pre-owned, probably defective battery back to life with one deep discharge/recharge. Rightly or wrongly.
I need to get my expert to test it properly as these things can go faulty in a few ways. Low current drive? dead cells?.
I left it driving a 20W lamp overnight, about ten hours
20x10= 200Wh = 200/12=16 Ah ? or about 1/4 of its capacity? Is that right?
Anyway, the lamp was still on and only slightly dim this morning. So it has SOME capacity. I suspect, without much evidence, that it won't drive big currents. Based purely on briefly connecting my tea cup heater element which did not quickly get boiling hot.
If your going to buy a car battery buy a leisure battery there nothing in the price between the two

If your not wanting to spend a fortune look here:
https://www.tayna.co.uk/leisure-batteri ... rline/678/
Some good deals there. Thanks. I have a family member at a major garage, so it's a tussle between trying several free probably defective batteries, or buying new at trade discount. I'm a cheapskate :)

I've done a bit of a survey and reckon I could get three full size panels mounted on the south facing eaves of my house and they would get max sunlight. Barely visible to the street. and bothering no-one. But mounting them would be a seriously non-standard bit of engineering with custom construction. Rules say they can only stick out 200mm, so ideal angle impossible. ( Vertical = 70% times as efficient? as 45 degrees?) Otherwise, might need planning permission, not that I worry about such nonsense. Worst case, some jobsworth says take it down. If I can get cheap narrow panels, I might. Depends on price and efficiency.
I still aspire to install something really useful especially post apocalypse. My proposed rig could be packed away to be used at ground level when NEEDED. But I would like to get pre-apocalypse value from it if possible. I'm still envious of certain folks with powerful installations.
Baby steps :o)
Graceful Degradation! Prepping's objective summed up in two words. Turning Disaster into Mild Inconvenience by the power of fore-thought

Not Feeling Optimistic. Let me be wrong
jennyjj01
Posts: 3429
Joined: Sun Jun 04, 2017 11:09 pm

Re: Portable Power Stations

Post by jennyjj01 »

quote=jennyjj01 post_id=213172 time=1652482598 user_id=6864]

Groan....
My scrounged pre-owned car battery arrived. Though it looked good and clean, it seems to be quite faulty.
...
I note that on the bright sunny day we had today, it never reached the 14.4 volt cuttoff (Barely reached 13.8V) , so If I understand correctly, I might as well have just bypassed the charge controller. It never pulsed off, till the sun set.
[/quote]
Hmmmmm. I'm not understanding this fully yet.
Having 1/4 flattened the battery, last night, it seems to have managed to fully charge over about 6 hours, which feels good. Charge controller is now connecting and disconnecting for 30s at about 30s intervals Making my panel 50% redundant, Need to find it more useful load.
Graceful Degradation! Prepping's objective summed up in two words. Turning Disaster into Mild Inconvenience by the power of fore-thought

Not Feeling Optimistic. Let me be wrong
Yorkshire Andy
Posts: 8735
Joined: Thu Oct 03, 2013 4:06 pm

Re: Portable Power Stations

Post by Yorkshire Andy »

jennyjj01 wrote: Sat May 14, 2022 1:58 pm quote=jennyjj01 post_id=213172 time=1652482598 user_id=6864]

Groan....
My scrounged pre-owned car battery arrived. Though it looked good and clean, it seems to be quite faulty.
...
I note that on the bright sunny day we had today, it never reached the 14.4 volt cuttoff (Barely reached 13.8V) , so If I understand correctly, I might as well have just bypassed the charge controller. It never pulsed off, till the sun set.
Hmmmmm. I'm not understanding this fully yet.
Having 1/4 flattened the battery, last night, it seems to have managed to fully charge over about 6 hours, which feels good. Charge controller is now connecting and disconnecting for 30s at about 30s intervals Making my panel 50% redundant, Need to find it more useful load.
[/quote]



If the battery is knackered the charger will probably think it's charged but the battery has degraded to the point it's lost capacity (dead cell) or just tired

Your mechanic should be able to test the battery before giving you it, issue is no one will bin a good battery most only go to a garage after been stranded and jump started by a mate as the rac / aa will either have a battery on the van or go get you one from a factors / Halfords at a very good upcharge :lol:

Going back to 2004 I lost both headlights years back car was under warranty with free rac cover I thought it was the light switch failing.. rac came and diagnosed 2x blown lamps and he wanted £12 a lamp from the van ..... "What would happen if I had spare bulbs? " He said he would fit them foc.... Halfords was in the same car park.... You start I'll get the bulbs out the ""glovebox "". Halfords £12 for 2 lamps :lol: and they ain't cheap....... A month ago I needed a new headlight bulb same h7 as the 04 car... £8 for 2 from our local indi factors ...

It's worth finding a good scrap man ours is paying 45p per kilo on scrap batteries ;)
If your roughing it, Your doing it wrong ;)

Lack of planning on your part doesn't make it an emergency on mine
Yorkshire Andy
Posts: 8735
Joined: Thu Oct 03, 2013 4:06 pm

Re: Portable Power Stations

Post by Yorkshire Andy »

Had my Bosch 60w folding solar panel out today having spent 2 hours having had a battle with my parents caravan motor mover it soon banged charge back into the battery

Sometimes been "handy" saves a few quid having been parked up since before the China flu one motor didn't run despite been stored in the garage it had corroded badly and the motor brushes had stuck in the holders...

Bit of care saved my parents thick end of £100 plus what ever labor the caravan engineering chap would want
Screenshot_20220514-152750.png

They cleaned up with a bit of wet and dry and a bit of light grease
If your roughing it, Your doing it wrong ;)

Lack of planning on your part doesn't make it an emergency on mine