Posted: 3/10/2013 8:55:29 PM EDT
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I decided to try my hand at a portable power station. I wanted something a bit more versatile and with more capacity than just a single battery and an inverter, I wanted something I could easily move around, and I wanted something that could be easily disassembled and loaded into a trunk or pickup. Here's what I came up with.
I started with a dolly that could be reconfigured as a small cart that I thought would be a good foundation. It will fit in the trunk of my car, makes a convenient cart, and will hold plenty of weight. I used plywood, 1x2's, and 2x4's to build the frame. I used two deep cycle batteries rated at 185 minutes of reserve capacity, two battery boxes, 6 gauge welding cable, Anderson Power Poles, and an inverter. Here is a pic of the pieces. I had already cut a piece of plywood to make the bottom. I only made two holes for the handle to go through so that I could pull the handle and easily take the whole thing apart. 
I wanted to run the wiring in a way that kept everything the same length so I decided to elevate a small platform for the two batteries using 1x2's and a second piece of plywood. 
Once that was done I put the other piece of plywood on and used 2x4's as barriers to keep the battery boxes in place. 
Here you can see how I ran the wiring. I used two posts on a 2x4 to bring the two batteries together using the same length of wire for both. 
Here it is with the battery boxes in place: 
Here is how I wired the batteries inside the boxes: 
A close up of the batteries connected using the Power Poles: 
And here with everything connected to the posts: 
Next I wired up another Power Pole from the posts and a Power Pole to the inverter so I just plug the inverter in. 
At this point I didn't like how exposed the posts were so I picked up a small tool box at Walmart and remounted the posts insdie it so I could close the cover and they would be protected. 
Here it is closed with the battery boxes removed: 
Since I had the tool box there with a couple access doors in place I decdied to put them to use: 
So I installed a bank of Power Poles and a cigarette lighter/accessory plug. This allows me to power things like my HAM radio EMCOMM box or charge a cell phone easily. 
Here is the finished product hooked up to a battery tender to keep it topped off: 
And if I want a smaller power station for the inverter somewhere I can't get the whole cart I can just pop one of the batteries off and plug it directly into the inverter using the Power Poles. 
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Why did you chose not to go with ~$70 golf cart batteries for more reserve power and much longer life?
It appears you did go with flooded batteries that are servicable and can be 'equalized' to extend their lifetime capacity. I would recommend a 40 amp Xantrex Truecharge II charger for fast recharge at a low cost, when charging from 120 vac [mains or genny]. The largest 12 vdc unit is capable of 40 amps and they work very well. I used to suggest Vector 1923's [IIRC] with 40 amps capacity but the new Truecharge 2 series has the equalize function that's worth the extra $150 alone. Nice project and great motivation! 
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| I considered golf cart batteries but ended up going with 12 volt deep cycles so that I could use a single battery with the inverter or 12 volt accessories. There may be time when I only want to grab one battery box and the inverter rather than taking the whole setup. |
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Quoted:
I really like the toolbox setup. I would add a board to the back of the battery box area to keep from dumping out one of your batteries. Also, I didn't see any fuses, did I overlook them? It is hard to see in the photos but the metal tongue of the dolly is there so the battery cannot fall out. It is easiest to see in the 3rd pic. Also, the small Power Poles and the cigarette lighter socket are fused but I didn't put large fuses on the main battery lines. That is why I didn't like the posts being exposed and used the small tool box to protect them. You can see the fuse for the small plugs in pic 12 toward the bottom of the tool box. It is hard to see because the fuse holder is black, the same color as the tool box. |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
I really like the toolbox setup. I would add a board to the back of the battery box area to keep from dumping out one of your batteries. Also, I didn't see any fuses, did I overlook them? It is hard to see in the photos but the metal tongue of the dolly is there so the battery cannot fall out. It is easiest to see in the 3rd pic. Also, the small Power Poles and the cigarette lighter socket are fused but I didn't put large fuses on the main battery lines. That is why I didn't like the posts being exposed and used the small tool box to protect them. You can see the fuse for the small plugs in pic 12 toward the bottom of the tool box. It is hard to see because the fuse holder is black, the same color as the tool box. Thanks, I see it now. Very nice work. |
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could you do something similar but on a much smaller scale?
My wife has a portable compact 'boombox' similar to this that she dropped and broke the charging input so now its useless. I thought of taking that battery out and making a small 'emergency' charger kit for small electronics, cell phones, gps etc. basically I would like it to be charged via solar, wall outlet, or cigarette outlet from your vehicle. Not really sure where to start though.. |
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Quoted:
could you do something similar but on a much smaller scale? My wife has a portable compact 'boombox' similar to this that she dropped and broke the charging input so now its useless. I thought of taking that battery out and making a small 'emergency' charger kit for small electronics, cell phones, gps etc. basically I would like it to be charged via solar, wall outlet, or cigarette outlet from your vehicle. Not really sure where to start though.. There is no reason you couldn't do something like this with smaller batteries as long as you aren't planning on running an inverter with it like I do with this. Smaller batteries won't run typical 110 volt items like hand tools for long and the batteries will die quickly. Whether or not it would work with the battery from your wife's boom box would depend on a few different things. What voltage is the battery? If it isn't 12 volt you will run into some complications. Nothing impossible to overcome but probably not worth the trouble. Basically you just need to make sure the output voltage is within the range you need for what you want to do and most of the things you list are set up to work with 12v systems. You also need to be able to charge the battery with the proper input voltage and most chargers are designed for 12v lead acid batteries like the charging system in your car. The easiest way to scale it down like you are talking would probably be with a small 12v AGM lead acid battery. It would work with all standard 12v accessories and would charge with 12v chargers which are the most abundant. Just use a small enclosure (like a small tool box) and mount the cigarette lighter plug like I did. You could plug in any charger that uses a cigarette lighter plug and charge it off the small AGM battery. As long as you keep it charged and don't cycle it too deep it should work for a long time. I use two of these small AGM batteries for my HAM Radio box and I keep them topped off with a regular Battery Tender Jr. |