On Tue, Oct 20, 2009 at 7:42 AM, Paul Hayward <pdh_at_mmcl.co.nz> wrote: > > Instead of carrying the AC inverter, have you thought of attaching one or > more 'female' cigarette-lighter sockets to the big battery and then > plugging > in all the car cables (cigarette-lighter charging cables) for the various > devices. That usually saves weight and some inefficiency (as you convert up > to 240V and then back down to DC). > I actually like the inverter idea as opposed to trying to match up all the various voltages for batteries and devices that work on a 12vdc battery but I agree that the efficiency is terrible. However it might not be much of an issue depending upon how much solar exposure you can get during the day. With Jennifer's 30watt solar panel I don't think charging power would be an issue unless the day is particularly dark. For one thing, a 12vdc battery won't charge up anything that needs to power another 12vdc device. At least not very well. Fortunately, that's not much of an issue these days unless you have a bank of small batteries you're charging. Most of the devices that you can buy to charge a device or battery that needs less than 12vdc from a car (12vdc) are also pretty inefficient; many of them just use resistance to convert the voltage down to the point where it won't damage the lower-voltage units. Whether the inefficiency of the auto-style converter is equal to the inefficiency of the inverter might be a toss-up. And using the inverter is pretty simply done with components you can buy at Wal-Mart (or wherever) using components you'd just use for your home. I use a 400w inverter which comes with clips for connecting to a battery. At that point I can simply plug two chargers into it or plug an extension cord into it if I need to charge more units. So far I've only used it on the muthah-ship (which, admittedly, has a 260hp engine for charging). But the VHF and the iPhone both recharge in under an hour. I use lithium batteries in the GPS and just carry enough of them so I'm not charging them. Craig Jungers Moses Lake, WA www.nwkayaking.net *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Tue Oct 20 2009 - 11:30:49 PDT
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