Having often to travel to places without AC power, I have some low drain devices that i'd like to use. Would it be possible to design a NiMH Battery pack frame that outputted 12V with a female cigarette lighter jack, so I could use it with a DC/AC inverter to get on the spot AC power?
12V NiMH or Lead acid battery pack - Possible to make one with a female Cigarette lighter connection?
- Thread starter FishTankX
- Start date
Sure. Dead simple. I've seen 12V female accesory outlets with aligator clips on them. Make sure whatever you use has a fuse on it. There is no work involved unless you want it pretty. Keep in mind your battery life when using it with an inverter will depend on the size of the battery.
Even better, buy one of those battery packs available now with the accessory outlet or inverter built-in. I've seen them around, but don't know who might carry them where you are.
Even better, buy one of those battery packs available now with the accessory outlet or inverter built-in. I've seen them around, but don't know who might carry them where you are.
Wire up six Hawker (Cyclon) BC cells in series with 4 gauge straps. You can use lighter wire at the stubs but regardless of what you use, ALWAYS fuse it! Those BC's can put out over 1,300 amperes into a short circuit which will make your cigar lighter cord glow brighter than a four slice toaster plugged into a 240V outlet!
As an additional bonus, it can jump start a car!
Cheers!
As an additional bonus, it can jump start a car!
Cheers!
Also, If I just use a 12V lead acid battery (They make a 4AH variant which is close to what I'd need) I was wondering, would it be possible to build some sort of regulator so that as the voltage on the lead acid battery dips it's still feeding 12V to the female lighter jack?
Regulation is not recommended for Pb systems unless they are of unique design. Such a design would include more than six cells. Also you must remember that fully charged six cell systems often measure considerably higher than 12V at the terminals. Overdischarging Pb systems is very harmful unless the cells are specifically designed for such use.
Without a doubt, the easiest way to get what you want is to purchase a sealed Pb battery with push terminals. Purchase a lighter extension cord with a fused plug. If not available, purchase an inline (bus) fuseholder and splice it in the positive lead. Use a 10A 32V glass fuse. On the terminal side, crimp on a red flag terminal for the positive lead and a black flag terminal for the negative lead. Sealed Pb batteries are available from many vendors such as YUASA, Panasonic, Powersonic, Chloride, and others.
You can get good prices on these batteries from www.larkbattery.com. Call and ask for Rick.
Cheers!
Without a doubt, the easiest way to get what you want is to purchase a sealed Pb battery with push terminals. Purchase a lighter extension cord with a fused plug. If not available, purchase an inline (bus) fuseholder and splice it in the positive lead. Use a 10A 32V glass fuse. On the terminal side, crimp on a red flag terminal for the positive lead and a black flag terminal for the negative lead. Sealed Pb batteries are available from many vendors such as YUASA, Panasonic, Powersonic, Chloride, and others.
You can get good prices on these batteries from www.larkbattery.com. Call and ask for Rick.
Cheers!
How low do 6 cell lead acid batteries go in terms of voltage?
And if so, would an AC inverter have a hard time with low fluctuating voltages or do they already have this conditioning built into them?
And if so, would an AC inverter have a hard time with low fluctuating voltages or do they already have this conditioning built into them?
Depends on design of the cell. 1.7 volts/cell is the lowest I'd allow them to be pulled. Much lower means the capacity will be severely diminished.
Most cheapie squarewave inverters can suck a Pb batt dangerously dry before going out of regulation. When this occurs, 120V power should abruptly shut off. If it continues to feed power, STOP! Use a different inverter or put a volt meter on there to prevent damage to your batts.
Cheers!
I found a discarded battery backup power supply once & converted it.
They have 12v to 120v converters in them and usually get thrown away when the batteries go bad.
Most of them have 12v batteries inside & any car 12v battery can suppy their power.
Maybe even a motorcycle 12v if you have a good inverter ? or don't run it long ?
Each cell in a battery makes 2 volts. 2x6-12v
Some ciggerette lighters get dirty & burnt and may not make a good connection sometimes.
A poor connection could interfere with sufficiant power supply ?
There are other plugs that you can use.
Any plug that can't be put in two or more ways will do ?
Such as a 120v two prong lamp cord if one prong is big & one small
will surfice as a DC volt plug. Use the big one as ground,
then any lamp cord of reasonable size is a good cord for transfering power.
16 gauge prefered, 18 ok, etc. Standard house wireing is 12 gauge (12/2 w/ground)
You can wire a house electrical outlet up to your 12 volt battery to transfer the power.
An old 3 prong extension chord will work. Cut the FEMALE end off at 3 foot length & hook it to your battery.
then hook the other end to your converter. (Cut to shortest length allowable under all conditions.)
If you are converting 12v DC to 120v AC so you can run a transformer to get 12v DC into your laptop,
you'ld be better off running the 12v into your laptop.
Every conversion of voltage results in a power loss of some kind.
DC wires loose power as length increases fairly rapidly ?
Get a penton wheel, hook it up to a 60 amp truck alternator, get a manual adjustable Chrystler voltage regulator,
& hook it up to the garden hose ? hahahahahaha
I made a battery bank charger that way using a Briggs & Stratton 5 horse gas motor and it worked fine.
SERIES v PARALELL
If you take two 12v batteries and connect the positive from one to the negitive of the other
that leaves one pos & one neg not being used. The voltage between those is 24v. (Series)
Hooking up one 12v & one 6v that way gives you 18v.
Using the same technique and knowing that each cell is 2 volts, you can drill the batter top and put a bolt into
the led connectors between the cells and end up with any even voltage lower than the max you have available.
2,4,6,8,10,etc
If your two 12 volts were hooked positive to positive & neg to neg you have a 12v battery with twice the amps &
it runs things twice as long. = (paralell)
Well there are some different ideas for you to kick around.
I hope it helps somehow.
Bitdog
They have 12v to 120v converters in them and usually get thrown away when the batteries go bad.
Most of them have 12v batteries inside & any car 12v battery can suppy their power.
Maybe even a motorcycle 12v if you have a good inverter ? or don't run it long ?
Each cell in a battery makes 2 volts. 2x6-12v
Some ciggerette lighters get dirty & burnt and may not make a good connection sometimes.
A poor connection could interfere with sufficiant power supply ?
There are other plugs that you can use.
Any plug that can't be put in two or more ways will do ?
Such as a 120v two prong lamp cord if one prong is big & one small
will surfice as a DC volt plug. Use the big one as ground,
then any lamp cord of reasonable size is a good cord for transfering power.
16 gauge prefered, 18 ok, etc. Standard house wireing is 12 gauge (12/2 w/ground)
You can wire a house electrical outlet up to your 12 volt battery to transfer the power.
An old 3 prong extension chord will work. Cut the FEMALE end off at 3 foot length & hook it to your battery.
then hook the other end to your converter. (Cut to shortest length allowable under all conditions.)
If you are converting 12v DC to 120v AC so you can run a transformer to get 12v DC into your laptop,
you'ld be better off running the 12v into your laptop.
Every conversion of voltage results in a power loss of some kind.
DC wires loose power as length increases fairly rapidly ?
Get a penton wheel, hook it up to a 60 amp truck alternator, get a manual adjustable Chrystler voltage regulator,
& hook it up to the garden hose ? hahahahahaha
I made a battery bank charger that way using a Briggs & Stratton 5 horse gas motor and it worked fine.
SERIES v PARALELL
If you take two 12v batteries and connect the positive from one to the negitive of the other
that leaves one pos & one neg not being used. The voltage between those is 24v. (Series)
Hooking up one 12v & one 6v that way gives you 18v.
Using the same technique and knowing that each cell is 2 volts, you can drill the batter top and put a bolt into
the led connectors between the cells and end up with any even voltage lower than the max you have available.
2,4,6,8,10,etc
If your two 12 volts were hooked positive to positive & neg to neg you have a 12v battery with twice the amps &
it runs things twice as long. = (paralell)
Well there are some different ideas for you to kick around.
I hope it helps somehow.
Bitdog
Heh. Okay. Last question.
Can AC inverters still maintain a steady 120V powerflow with low lead acid batteries? Or does the AC power flow vary linearly with the battery's voltage?
Can AC inverters still maintain a steady 120V powerflow with low lead acid batteries? Or does the AC power flow vary linearly with the battery's voltage?
A good inverter sure can. Most specify input volts between 10.5V and 16VDC with output voltage of 120VAC.
Good ones will also shut down automatically to prevent battery damage.
Cheers!
To everyone wondering:
I'm planing to use this to power a mobile listening station. This entails powering a DAC (ART DI/O), a transport (Portable DVD player through coax out) and an outboard headphone amp. Thus, this is a relativley low load application.
I doubt this'll take more than 60 watts so I think i'm going to go with a 12V 7AH battery and a radioshack inverter that claims to have battery shutdown protection.
I'm planing to use this to power a mobile listening station. This entails powering a DAC (ART DI/O), a transport (Portable DVD player through coax out) and an outboard headphone amp. Thus, this is a relativley low load application.
I doubt this'll take more than 60 watts so I think i'm going to go with a 12V 7AH battery and a radioshack inverter that claims to have battery shutdown protection.
Mobile listening station ?
Bird watcher (listener) ?
Profiting from the non winable drug war laws ?
Devorce lawyers investigator ?
Corperate crimes in general ?
Whats worth hearing ?
Bird watcher (listener) ?
Profiting from the non winable drug war laws ?
Devorce lawyers investigator ?
Corperate crimes in general ?
Whats worth hearing ?
One cheap place to buy NiMH batteries is www.batterystore.com. I've never seen pack as cheap as the ones that are there. The offer 4Ah packs with charger and adapter plugs for most laptops for $30. I have purchased from them in the past, and the cells are of ok quality... they hold the rated capacity and I haven't received any bad cells from them. If you are going to roll your own pack, make sure you get the tabbed versions. You can get into trouble with NiMH packs running cells in parallel due to variations in internal resistance, and their D-cells are pretty expensive, so 7Ah might be tricky. Lead acid is probably the better choice, but if weight becomes an issue, this place is worth considering.
zephyrprime
Diamond Member
- Feb 18, 2001
- 7,512
- 2
- 81
You can just buy nothing like this. They're sold as jump start batteries for cars. Buy one at car stores or walmart.
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