HOW TO: POWER DISTRIBUTION Part 4- bring da power (1 Viewer)

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SeanAndHis80 said:
I am building a cabin off of the grid. The power is going to be used first for construction and later for power to the cabin.

Out of the tools needed, my circular saw is rated at 1650 Watts. This is the max power target. According to the charts I can get around a third of an hour with 105Ah worth of battery feeding it. It doesn't sound like much - but 20 minutes of cutting time will probably last most days w/o needing to start and recharge. We have a lot of cordless tools but the saws drain the batteries too fast to be practical.

Once it is a cabin - no I won't be running the fridge on it. The fridge, stove and most of the lights are propane, heat is by woodstove. I will have a stereo and a few lights to run off of it in a pinch - I suspect all @12V. I will plug it in when I get up there like a camper plugs into service at a camp.

I originally wanted to go solar, but found it prohibitively expensive. I have a generator but it is loud and annoying. This method seemed to have a bunch of upsides with a bit of expense but not as much as solar panels. With this I will always have power with me wherever I am camping or tailgating etc...
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I am actually in the middle of spec'ing out a solar solution for my 80. Once I get my INTI rack (from whatever source) I will be mounting slider rails under the rack and the solar panel will basically act as a pull out "drawer". The panel will be locked in place until I am stopped at a campsite and I unlock it and pull it out to cover the front windshield from the sun and thus allowing the solar panel to start working.

After sourcing a panel that is adequate and a solar controller and all the necessary wiring and such, I will still be well under the cost of a 2000W Xantex ProSine inverter. I had wanted to have it ready before this summer but I will instead have it ready for my Spring camping season
 
Interesting ideas. For me, the fear of flattening my batteries and leaving me stranded at the cabin would push me towards a different solution.

For construction, I think you'll find that a generator is a better solution. Just figure the cost of killing deep cycle batteries, compared the cost of buying and fueling a little generator. Because in my experience, a single deep cycle battery isn't going to survive the abuse that you described and a good deep cycle battery is going to cost you more than $100.

Less than $400 for a propane powered generator:
Generac GP Portable Generator — 2050 Watts, Model# 5723-0 | 1,000 - 4,999 Watts | Northern Tool + Equipment

Get a small charger and leave a deep-cycle battery at the site, that way you can run lights/music at night when the place is done, but still have enough ooomph to run tools and/or recharge all of your batteries. Better long-term solution than using your vehicle to power your home, in my opinion. You can always add batteries and/or renewable charging solutions to the mix, but having a generator around is a pretty convenient thing in an off-grid application.

Some generators also work as a compressor. Could be a nice feature if you need to wrench on the truck, at the cabin.
 
sandcruiser - I would guess that your comment is directed at me. First of all - only one battery is going to be on the circuit with the inverter not both. The secondary benefit here is that if I do drain my primary battery I will have a second one I can start the truck with which has always concerned me while at camp. This especially after all the horror stories floating around the web about my Optima Yellow Top. I can also easily take my electricity on the road to other camps, tailgates etc...

At camp I already have a generator that I do not like using. It is obnoxiously loud and reminds me of the early days of the internet - where I would think of everything I had to do online before dialing in. Likewise stacking up ten cuts before firing up the generator is no fun.

This is NOT a home but simply a camp where, if I am lucky, I spend about two weeks and a half dozen weekends at per year. If it were more permanent I would consider a solar setup. Solar would require a lot of trees to fall and maintenance particularly in Vermont's snowy months.

The Sears Diehard Platinum Marine battery will run me about $250, the inverter was $200, the tray and hardware was somewhere around um, I think $100. The wiring seems to be in the $100-$200 range. All said it should run in the $800 range. It is not the cheapest solution - but one I am very comfortable with all of the ups and downs of. As for longevity of the battery, the inverter cuts out at 10.7 Volts, the battery is rated for something like 5000 charges at that depletion level.
BTW: The $400 generator you posted is gasoline - they do have an LP one for about $500.

For wrenching the truck at the cabin my neighbor has a barn and a great set of tools that can fix anything (I think he is a TV repairman.)
 
Been a while, any mods to your mod?
Want to install one of these as a kit?
 
Doh! Sorry about that :p

Yeah I got in a bunch of stuff I wound up not using mainly because I changed my mind, or I went another direction or I found better solutions. But I actually stopped the rear portion altogether because I wanted a drawer setup. Still do. So I'm holding off until that happens.

LFD2037 said:
Still waiting? What watt inverter are you going to use?
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LFD2037 said:
Bueller. Anybody?
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So you're not going to do an inverter in the rear? I can't decide if 1K watt would be enough. It's a big price difference to jump up to the 1,500K watt.
 
Oh I am. But my needs have changed. At the time I was heavy in the film industry so needed something to help for more 12v and 110 power for shoots. Since I'm not on shoots anymore I don't need to go THAT over board ;)
 
NLXTACY said:
Oh I am. But my needs have changed. At the time I was heavy in the porn industry so needed something to help for more 12v and 110 power for shoots. Since I'm not on shoots anymore I don't need to go THAT over board ;)
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FIFY
 
NLXTACY said:
Oh I am. But my needs have changed. At the time I was heavy in the porn industry so needed something to help for more 12v feminine toys and 110 power for money shots. Since I'm not into woman anymore I don't need to go THAT over board:rainbow:
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No, I FIFY!!!!
 
LFD2037 said:
So you're not going to do an inverter in the rear? I can't decide if 1K watt would be enough. It's a big price difference to jump up to the 1,500K watt.
Click to expand...

It all depends on what you want to do with it. I installed a 1500W square wave in the back of mine and love it. I got it on sale for $300 at the time. I can run my Bosch circular saw off it, although it starts off a little rough, but once going is ok.
 
No power tools ever. Maybe a margarita machine would be the hardest load. LED rope lights for camping, laptop/iPad/iPhone chargers, air mattress pump, H20 pump (~1.5gpm), LED tv, DVD player but most of it all at once!
 
I never knew you where a Gypsy @NLXTACY . Is that house wire aka romex you used for the wiring
 
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