Re: Power for your bugout laptop?


"Terryc" <newsonespam-spam@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
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Mysterion wrote:
"Terryc" <newsonespam-spam@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message

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I am having a bit of a quiet chcukle at all those people who are
planning on including a laptop in your bugout & longer kit. Mainly
because I believe very few of you would have seriously worked out your
power generation requirements. I'd be interested in hearing differently.

Accordingly you are invited to post you calculations here for the
education of others.


87 watts of solar panels (4 that produce 15 watts and a bunch of smaller
ones)
Chicom hand crank generator still in the box from CheaperThanDirt
Bike powered generator(s) that produce upto 24 volts
A car alternator I been playing with for a couple years that I've gotten
to
produce current with both a lawn mower engine and a bike powered belt
drive
monstrosity that turned out to be a big pain in the ass.
Nearly 600 amp hours of deep cycle and gel cell 12volt batts and several
6volt nicad lantern batts.

Now when the hell are YOU going to post something useful instead of your
usual sneering bull*** oneliners?

Yes, but have you actually used these to power your needs?

I tested everything to make sure it works and then put most of it away.
In the summertime, I use the 100Ah battery and one panel to power my
deck/patio/pool area lights (mostly LEDs with a few 12volt incandescents and
a dual 12 in flourescent). I use a standard car battery charger bought from
Sears for an hour or three to top off the battery every couple weeks,
depending on how much use the setup gets. If we do a lot of entertaining, I
top it off more often.

What usable power do you actually get from the solar panels? aka how
many amp hours a day can you put back into those deep cycle batteries?
my rough calcs suggest that it would take those panels about three days
to recharge a 100AmpHr deep cycle battery.

That sounds about right.

How long can you wind that hand crank generator?
What power does it produce?

Don't know.
I haven't had time to play with it yet.
When I tested it as soon as it came, I got a reading of 22.something at an
easy pace.

Same questions with the bicycle powered generator?

That's simply 4 6volt bike light generators attached to the carry rack and
the rear wheel held off the ground by a bracket cobbled together from a
couple of tube frame kitchen stools and scrap 2x4s. It was my first home
power experiment inspired by an old Sci-Fi mag back in the early 80s.
Theoretically, you can add as many bike generators as you have space for on
the wheel. It works but I haven't put it into action for at least 15 years.
The parts are sitting in a box in my garage or stashed away in the rafters.

you are ahead of me in the car alternator area. I have recently been
given two old lawn mowers that are targetted for my first home built
battery charger.

Why did you go for 600Amphr in 12V batteries?
a) it was what i could afford,
b) it was the only way I knew.
c) the batteries need to be moveable by hand to power pumps, etc

All of the above.
I knew I would need some juice, so I bought a panel, some NiCads and solar
chargers and a 125Ah battery.
Then I thought about it some more and added another panel.
Then I realized that I needed more than just power for the radios, so I
bought another battery.
After a while, I started thinking about lighting and saw that the price of
LEDs and PVs was dropping so I added some of those and a couple more panels.
Etcetera.
You start with an idea and it grows.
The 4 125Ah batteries were expensive and heavy. One person can't move one
very far at a time.
The 100Ah was cheaper and is considerably lighter (I suspect thinner plates)
and I don't expect it to last as long so I put it into service on the deck.
This will be the third year and I'll probably at more lights and replace a
couple of the low volt incandescants with more LEDs.


Someone has posted a classic example of the problem with modern laptops
aka they do not run easily at the convenient battery values. This means
conversion and inefficencies.

Yup. My plan is to fire up the laptops just long enough to transfer the
docs to the PDAs if its just data I need.

Have your worked out how many hours you need to handcrack or ride that
bicycle gnerator to run your laptop for an hour?

Don't know and it really doesn't matter. The whole family is healthy and
relatively fit. I canexchange food fuel and protection for labor with the
neighbors if I have to.
If you need it bad enough, you'll find a way to do it.
The idea behind MS (originally) is to pool the brainpower so you'll have
more ideas on how to get it done.

Electricity is great stuff and its been so cheap and easy to get that we end
up using a lot more of it than we really need.
In a no-grid situation, I think I'll be okay for about 3 weeks before it
becomes a real pain.


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