View Single Post
  #35  
Old 19-08-2008, 06:41 PM
RB's Avatar
RB (Andrew)
Moderator

RB is offline
 
Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 25,732
Quote:
Originally Posted by Matty P View Post
What a great idea Andrew. I wouldn't mind having a look at it at Lostock myself.

How much did it cost you to build?

Looking forward to meeting you and Alex at IISAC 08.

The main cost was the inverter which I bought from Jaycar and the truck battery from a battery supplier.
I opened up the inverter and cut the power switch leads to enable me to relocate the switch onto the front panel of the box.
I also placed a 12v in-line fuse on the cig lighter outlets in case of a short circuit which also protects the RCA charging inlet.
The rest of the hardware and 240v outlets were sourced from the local hardware store.
I decided to have 8 outlets because as you know you can never have enough outlets in this hobby LOL.
It started off as a simple box but ended up a nice looking practical power unit.

Quote:
Originally Posted by AlexN View Post
I've already drawn up plans and sourced a 12v 60aH deep cell battery...

Andrew, What size inverter did you use?? I wont be running much off it, my laptop/350D (sometimes)/QHY8 de-humidifier/QHY8, and the mount + dew control system directly off 12v..

I was thinking that a 600w would do fine for this gear.. and I'd assume it would all run for a couple of nights if need be.
I needed a bit of grunt because I use it around the farm and house when there's a blackout so I opted for the 1000w inverter. Although at the time I was trying to save some money and opted for the modified sine wave version, I would highly recommend a pure wave version if the budget allows (even though I've never had any trouble with it).
This is the one I bought: 1000w version.

I've been able to charge my lappy and DSLR batteries on it, even run the DSLR directly from it, run a hot air hair dryer, run my mount, charge mobiles at SPSP, run my dew zappers, and even run a normal drill around the farm when 240v was not available.
Obviously not all at the same time though. (but I can run my astro gear all night long)

I'd recommend working out how much you'll need to run off it at any one time and allow some head room.

When not in use I keep it trickle charged and I haven't had any probs with the original truck battery.

When the load gets too much it has a audible alarm and it also has built in cooling fans.

Reply With Quote