POWER

[Richard]

In the next year or so I plan to be doing some extended Buffalo and other trips where I will not have access to electricity for several days at a time. Among other things I plan to take a laptop computer, gps, camera and cell phone. I am looking at different ways to keep the electronics charged. I am considering solar, water power, handcrank or any other method that might be available.

I am looking for cheap, compact and portable yet reliable.

This is totally new to me so any suggestion would be much appreciated.

Have any ideas? Please share them.

[David Mac]

As a rule I like solar because there is little or no work involved with using it and a small cell for general battery charging doesn't weigh nearly what just about any other generation system will.

That said, you'll need a fairly large cell to power all the items on your list, most notably the laptop, plus you are dependant on good sunny days. That means only using your equiptment in bright sunny locations or hanging out in sunny areas for a few hours at a time to charge the batteries.

A good cell-phone will last over a week on a full charge if you aren't using it and turn it off at night (or better yet leave it off even during the day unless you making a call) so that isn't a worry, and the GPS most likely uses AA's so one extra set of rechargables left in a battery charger all day someplace exposed to the sun will handle that on even a partially overcast day, but depending on what type of charger you have for the camera and especially the laptop those are going to be hard to handle.

You'll save quite a bit if you can find a solar cell with a DC output that matches the needs of the laptop and/or camera directly (bypassing the conversion to A/C and back to DC cuts out a lot of wasted power) but it will still take a lot of juice to run the laptop.

David

[Clif]

could your computer requirements be done on a inet access phone?

[Richard]

Computer would be used mainly for downloading and viewing pictures I take and making notes. It would also be used for emailing etc. But that may not be possible unless I go into town where the power requirement would not apply.
The computer idea may not be practical.

[GutIt]

My laptop battery will last at least a couple of hours or more depending on my computer settings and what I am doing. Such as monitor brightness, etc. You can customize your settings to optimize your battery life. Toss in couple of extra high capacity batteries and you could get at least 6-10 or more hours depending.

For just importing and viewing photos, presumably to get them off your camera to clear your memory card, and making notes, you could get quite a bit of mileage going on. And if you are not running any, or many, high processor use programs. Emails would suck up extra battery time especially since you will be powering a wireless usb air card. And that depends on if you can even get a signal. But one way you could work around that would be, as Clif mentioned, to use an internet capable phone to email. Another option there would be to send text messages on it. A phone is going to be easier/faster to recharge using an alternative charging device than would a laptop battery. And a spare high capacity battery or two for the phone might be a good option.

If camera memory is an issue, more memory for it might be an option rather than a laptop. Of course you might need to wait until you get to your laptop to view and process these and it would sure be nice to review the day's photos on a little bigger screen while sitting around the gravel bar. There isn't much question of having spare batteries for your camera. That would be a must.

I think I would look into having spare power for my gizmos as much as I would look into having a recharging device. I don't know what you refer to by "extended trips", but I have gone for as much as three weeks at a time on the spare power theory and still had plenty of memory/power left over. It was power I could depend on no matter how many sunny days I had or didn't have, and I didn't have to worry if more than one doohickey went dead at a time. Plus if I find myself shooting a bazillion photos or video on a day trip I don't have to worry about a recharge, I just pop in a fresh power supply.

[robkanraft]

I go to the river to escape computers!

However, we do car camp with a 12 volt jumpstart battery that has a 12 volt outlet as well as an led lamp. I have a small 110 converter I can plug in to that to charge a cell phone, run a small fan on hot nights etc. I have not tried to power the lap top from it. I would “guess” it would help keep the computer battery charged, when plugged in.

The jump starter battery probably weighs 8-12? pounds You can charge it at home or on the road via the cigarette lighter. Then, you’d need to protect it from water. Just an idea. It's great to dream about trips!

[dwilson]

i'm thinkin a trolling motor battery for a boat would be the ticket. what's another 100 pounds the way you pack. what bout a paddle wheel generator device hangin over the side. could be a market for that. have fun retirein.

[RIORESIDENT]

yep, just pick up a gell cell, and an inverter, and your all set.

[Richard]

Thank you all for your input. I just bought this. http://www.duracellpower.com/documents/ ... -pp300.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It is Amazon's deal of the day today. $49.99 and free shipping. While I was at it I added "The Buffalo Flows" to the order.

I hope it works out. A reviewer said it operated a Cpap machine for 10 hours and several reviewers mentioned using it for camping. I am not sure what would happen if it took a dunk so I am going to keep it in a dry bag or air tight bucket.

[okieboater]

Richard,

Kids gave me a battery pack (looks about like yours but not the duracell brand) for Christmas several years ago.

I use it to power my 12 volt air pump for my rafts. It pumps up three rafts just fine. Not sure how much service this type of unit will give you, but my guess is you will be happy with it.

Only issue is my unit is pretty heavy.

Please let us know how yours works out on the river.

[Richard]

Dave, It is just under 15 pounds. I figure it will add balast to the front of the canoe. Duracell has other more powerful units but more power means more weight.

Again, thanks everyone for your suggestions. I am still looking for a solar option that could be used to recharge the Duracell. One thing I don't understand is why it takes 24 hours to recharge on 110 A/C and only 2.5 hours on 12v DC.

[Roger]

Richard, I was going to suggest this one:



I think you looked mahvlous in those biking duds!!!!

Get better as we need to go river tripping sometime!

[Cowper]

Again, thanks everyone for your suggestions. I am still looking for a solar option that could be used to recharge the Duracell. One thing I don't understand is why it takes 24 hours to recharge on 110 A/C and only 2.5 hours on 12v DC.

All who recommended a sealed or AGM battery (same as trolling motor battery, just “trolling motor” means it is going to be a really big one), Richard has essentially followed your advice, just "prepackaged" and "bundled" with some other features - built in air compressor, power outlets including an AC inverter for AC power, etc.

I'm pretty surprised at the price, I think Richard found a great deal.

AC vs DC charge, I have to speculate a bit because there could be several reasons – it is all about design trade-offs. On DC charge, they can use the same cables that are used when jump-starting, so, big cables, big current, fast charge. Building an equally fast AC charger is possible, but would require bigger, more expensive components. Also, there are other design trade-offs – the “slow” charge from AC current will charge the battery a little more completely, and is controlled in a way to better “condition” the battery for long life. When you have the choice of either power source, recharge from AC. But if you’re camping and have a mid-trip opportunity for a “boost” to your stored power, don’t be afraid to use the DC charging option.

Solar – it can be done of course, but it requires trade-offs. Looks like a 7 watt rolled panel is in the ballpark of $100 still; 14 watt more than $200. With a 14 watt panel, it would still take you over 10 hours of good sunlight to recharge your Duracell power pack if it was fully drained. (12 amp-hours). That’s OK if you’re doing a really long trip and have a “layover” day in the middle where you can set up your chargers in bright sun and go do other stuff, but if you’re trying to squeak in some charging at the end of each day, you’ll spend too much of your time playing with the toys to get a partial charge and less time enjoying the great outdoors. Forget hand crank generators; they’re OK for powering a very low demand LED flashlight for a few minutes, but I guarantee you don’t want to work several hours at full capacity trying to recharge batteries for multiple devices. (see Roger’s post above) If you decide mid-trip recharging is a “must” for you, I recommend you just save up and buy the most solar capacity you can afford. If you’re looking at something and it doesn’t tell you the capacity in watts, I can almost guarantee it doesn’t have enough watts and will take FOREVER to recharge your stuff. Something like this would be a good choice: http://store.sundancesolar.com/poror110waso.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Although this would be even better http://store.sundancesolar.com/poror120waso.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;