Portable power station recommendations

General Drone Discussion
83

I think you’ve hit the proverbial nail on the head. :crazy_face:. And I also think I’ve got a bit giddy with the buying the Inverter :joy:. I have a habit of throwing a bit of cash at a solution, but over thinking about it and it costing more than what it should have, the missus has a lot to put up with​:rofl:.

@PathfinderFPV what I think the sensible thing to do is for me to get onto an auto electrician. There’s a lad up the street thats into that kind of stuff.

I’m really not in the mood for any fires or any of the explosive situations :joy:

84

That’s one thing I’d be sound at…I’m a fire marshall. At least my training might come in handy🤣.

85

Yeah, if you aren’t engineer minded get professional advice. I have some electrical engineering in my past and some electronics, so I was happy to design and build my own electrical system for the van. It still wasn’t a piece of cake and some parts aren’t finished. Like the battery cables are 10mm2, bought from Halfords for £8/each. Meant to change them to 16mm2 but the system doesn’t use that much power (two usb sockets, a couple of lights, diesel heater and a B6 Lipo charger).

If you know someone who can design and build it for you, sometimes it’s wiser just to let someone else deal with that side of it.

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86

@PathfinderFPV @OzoneVibe

I think the way to go now is, try and get a price for fitting the Inverter with a split charge relay with a battery.

But for the time being, I’ll use the 3 12v sockets in the car with fast chargers plugged in. I’m just stuck really when it comes to the Air 2S because of the 240 plug on the charger🤷‍♂️

The Inverter will come in handy at some point, so no loss there really.

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87

There must be a car charger for it you can buy? Saves bothering with the inverter, etc.

£47 …

https://www.amazon.co.uk/DJI-Mavic-Air-Rechargeable-Accessory/dp/B07MLNCP4R/ref=asc_df_B07MLNCP4R/

88

Haha, that’s the thing. I’m coded in MIG, Mag, MMA, TIG, sub arc and circumferential MIG. Fabbed up all kinds from vessel to pipework to hydraulic cylinders. Did sub sea thermal engineering for 12 years working in Europe.

I’m just naff when it comes to being a sparky, never been able to get my head around it​:rofl::rofl:

89

All that MIGging and TIGging creates a few sparks … :stuck_out_tongue:

90

Aww mate your the dogs bollocks! Why didn’t I find that? :crazy_face:.

I’ll take a look at that, thanks Dave​:+1::+1::+1::+1:

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91

Funnily - the battery end of that looks(!) identical to mine for the MP.

92

I have the scars to prove it, and remember each and every particular one with vivid memories of PAIN🤣.

The ones in between your toes if you happen to have a hole in your boot really are the worse ones, only ever had 2, you just can’t do anything about them​:woozy_face::rage::scream:

93

In any case - a 150W inverter would have been MORE than enough for the Air2S charger.

Can you return the big one for a refund until you know better what your plan will be?

94

Yeh, its from Amazon. I think I jumped in toooo quick. When I really didn’t know WTF I was doing🤣. Cheers Dave

After all that, I think I’ll go and burn some batteries with the Avata, nice day like today it’d be rude not to👍

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95

We’ve all been there. :+1:

96

GOOD information.But to be fair I think inverters on their own are out
Your better off with a battery pack with Bms and inverter built in.

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97

Let’s not loose track of an initial criteria … :wink:

98

Exactly👍

99

Otherwise …

image
image877×612 105 KB

Yours for £4,321.20!

https://www.sgs-engineering.com/stephill-016-2018-highway-trailer-for-ssdp120a-generators-ball-hitch

Oh - may have overlooked the “portable” criteria. :rofl:

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100

Knowing me, and the missus will tell yer, I’d of ended up with something like that. A substation on wheels :rofl::rofl:. I’ve used stuff like that when doing site work.

It still meets the portable criteria, just on a larger scale👍.

101

I’d keep the inverter. In a year or two you might decide to buy a small van and do a conversion. 1100W will just about run a low wattage microwave, as the 1100W bit is usually the amount it can supply constantly and it will probably have a surge limit as well that is higher. The actual power on a 700W microwave is about 400-500W higher, if you shop around. The 700W Russell Hobbs ones tend to be pretty low on actual power needs, so some might use 1100w. Or you could go with a custom microwave. I saw one on Amazon that uses 320w, aimed at people with campers. But cooking time goes up on something like that.

As far as the portable bit. if you know your AC charger uses 150w, you could pick up a smaller inverter, a smaller battery that would still charge from a VSR, cobble something together (50Ah Battery, Fuse Box, Inverter (or DC Charger) in a rucksack). It would give you field charging capability and a power supply if you need to make in the field repairs. Weight wise, less than 20kg, a Lucas 50Ah Mobility AGM battery is about 15kg, fusebox, smaller inverter, maybe an XT60 connector, USB charger socket, cigarette lighter socket, maybe a kg. So 16kg, plus whatever your drone weighs and any spares you carry and other tools. So maybe 16kg + the drone kit. That assumes you want to hike miles off the beaten track then fly your drone for a while.

But would it be cheaper to buy more drone batteries and charge them at home?

I can see use for both.

I started to build one based on a 34Ah AGM for in the field Lipo charging. Then when i got back to the van, plug a lead into an XT60 connected to a secondary charging system, allowing it to access solar and vsr charging (on a sunny day it would charge a 50% discharged 34ah battery in a couple of hours max). I realised I don’t fly miles from where I park, so it was pointless. Also i could charge 20 Lipos and just take them with me. I have not been to a site where I needed more than 15 Lipos. :wink:

So I would say in car charging, yes. in rucksack charging, only if you say plan to park up at the base of a mountain, hike up it and need on-the-fly charging capability, or maybe a steady power supply for a long range base station, flying a 10 mile round trip. Apart from that, go back to the car and recharge. :smile:

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102

Thanks Matt for all the input, much appreciated :grin::grin::+1:.

I’ve kept the Inverter, it only cost a ton, and in the future I’ll make use of it.

I’m looking more to what you mention in your post, maybe a smaller Inverter or dedicated car charger. I think that’ll do for time being👍

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