Tripp Lite PV375 PV 375W 12V DC to AC Portable Inverter with DC Auto Power Outlet
$45.24 at Amazon.com....
TRIPPLITE PV150 150-Watt Power Inverter
$39.95
For roughly 10% of the cost of the computer (or considerably less in the case of my Dells) and the flexibility of being able to plug in basically anything I would normally use (camera battery charger comes to mind) and having the correct voltage, I'll spring for the extra $$$.
73 de Tim, K4SHF LM 2336
-----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Edward Cole Sent: Wednesday, April 29, 2009 9:45 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: A Fully Rechargeable Satellite Station
Sorry if this slightly non-satellite chatter:
Lots of folks are amazed how far Alaska is from anywhere. Well, it is 2400-miles by road from Seattle to Anchorage (traveling over the Alaska Hwy). We traveled west from Pass Christian, MS (about 50-miles east of New Orleans) on I-10 to southern California and then up I-5 to the Canadian border. If you look at a map of US roads there are no tangental roads from the south to the NW so one will travel west then north then west then north, whatever route you take. It is something like 1800-miles from LA to the Canadian border, alone. We did a small detour over to the Oregon coast which added a couple hundred miles. The trip took 22-days. We took one day off in Gold Beach , OR for clothes washing and visiting with my wife's mother whom she had not seen in ten years. BTW I live on the same longitude (151)as Hawaii (152). photos of the van are here (scroll to bottom of page): http://www.kl7uw.com/mw10g.htm
I spent about $10-15 on my wiring vs. $150+ for an AC inverter. nuff said!
73, Ed
At 07:12 AM 4/29/2009, Jack K. wrote:
To say I am amazed is not doing the English language justice, 6000 Miles from Ms to AK must have been via a round about route indeed. My Driving recollections would guess it is more like 3800 miles from St. Lou to Anchorage... But then I was not in your mini van or shoes...
However the real comment is this, why don't you just get a 40 dollar inverter, plug it into the ciggie lighter hole or hard wire it and you have all the commercial type (117VAC) power you need, I ran one in my semi for years, have one in my Dodge Nitro and it powers my Dell Laptop, The HP printer/scanner I use for my business, charges my cell phone, razor and anything else I need up to a 800 watts of power. Rather than trying to re invent the wheel, why not use the technology that is available, and in common usage by almost every truck driver in the USA.
DE Jack KD1PE
I was able to run that computer charging off
my wife's Ford minivan for the 6000 mile trip from MS to AK in spring of 2004. The vehicle voltage is damped by the car's battery and runs about 14.2 volts when the engine is running and sags to 13.2v when off. I never had the computer running when starting the engine. The computer battery will also act as a huge capacitor for smoothing out any voltage spikes.
Most cigarette lighters circuits have a 15 to 20 amp fuse on them. That ought to work fine for charging/using with your computer.
73, Ed - KL7UW
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