One of my copes is making useful electrical gear....
I just finished building a 2x5v60w, 2x12v UPS! (10a fuses for everyone!)
@VictimBLKPillreaper
most of the ugliness is hidden inside the box! wires and shit... it's a very old box. had it for decades. it used to have a 12v lead acid motorcycle battery in it long before LiFePo4 even existed! solar charged ofc.
It has two high powered USB c apx 60w ($30@, ouch!) and two standard 12v lighter ports.
It's only 20ah, but can (probably) power a .5a fan for a week+, or my cornputer+monitor about 24h? (unknown tbh)
It can be recharged...
-- By solar panel
-- By a car (via a 10a mppt charger)
-- Hot linked to another 12v liFePo4 battery (I'll probably just jumper cord it to my 100ah system and leave it that way... I hardly ever use the 100ah battery system anyway...)
-- Or by 110vac LiFePo4 charger.
And it has two voltage monitors... built into the super c ports.
It also has a little - marine "convenience" - light on it that shines on a glow in the dark panel thingy... I might put more glow shit on the top... (that stuff is fucking cool!)
I figure all the parts cost about $200usd+, and it took me a few years to put it together, since I already had a 100ah emergency system for lights and tiny fans. (deep south, really hellishness without a fan a sweltering hot humid night, for me it's a survival need!) still working on the refrigerator power UPS = huge homemade battery and solar system) the smaller solar stuff was cheaper and easier..
but I just got a raspberry pie and a 5v high wattage demand stereo touchscreen monitor, so I finally found a need for my old motorcycle battery fitting, whisky box.
I figured it would be nice to have a portable power system for my piebox. something bigger and better - easily fixed - than them shitty tiny phone charger things..
I've been using a 12v portable TV with a HDMI port as a monitor and while it does work, it looks and sounds like crap. so I went looking for a better option. my new one is high tech looking! small but big. like a huge phone screen, with huge speakers. and it uses 5v3a.
once I had all the fiddly-bits I put it together. I got lucky in that my only huge drill bit was the exact right size! 1 1/8th"! so making the big fancy port holes was easy enough...
anyway, it works and I'm glad I did it. it's very satisfying to have made such a cool and useful tool!
I still have to wait for a few connector cables to arrive. some high watt USB c to c's, & a mini to mini HDMI, to figure out how much computer time I can get for my tiny 20 amp hour lithium (LiFePo4) battery... on my raspberry pie 5 computer. the wide-screen touchscreen monitor is fucking cool looking! (no more USB speakers and wire slop!)
all this 5a (computer) and 3a (monitor) stuff might suck the battery down fast, it's hard to say... but usually the power draws are less, but those are the "high demand" power ratings?
I figure I'll mostly run lineage on it for surfing and media. since its probably the most secure and power sipping. but I might set up a multiboot disk too. since I like to pretend I'm a writer...
anyway, if a old crustacean cripple like me can do it, so can you!
I just finished building a 2x5v60w, 2x12v UPS! (10a fuses for everyone!)
@VictimBLKPillreaper
most of the ugliness is hidden inside the box! wires and shit... it's a very old box. had it for decades. it used to have a 12v lead acid motorcycle battery in it long before LiFePo4 even existed! solar charged ofc.
It has two high powered USB c apx 60w ($30@, ouch!) and two standard 12v lighter ports.
It's only 20ah, but can (probably) power a .5a fan for a week+, or my cornputer+monitor about 24h? (unknown tbh)
It can be recharged...
-- By solar panel
-- By a car (via a 10a mppt charger)
-- Hot linked to another 12v liFePo4 battery (I'll probably just jumper cord it to my 100ah system and leave it that way... I hardly ever use the 100ah battery system anyway...)
-- Or by 110vac LiFePo4 charger.
And it has two voltage monitors... built into the super c ports.
It also has a little - marine "convenience" - light on it that shines on a glow in the dark panel thingy... I might put more glow shit on the top... (that stuff is fucking cool!)
I figure all the parts cost about $200usd+, and it took me a few years to put it together, since I already had a 100ah emergency system for lights and tiny fans. (deep south, really hellishness without a fan a sweltering hot humid night, for me it's a survival need!) still working on the refrigerator power UPS = huge homemade battery and solar system) the smaller solar stuff was cheaper and easier..
but I just got a raspberry pie and a 5v high wattage demand stereo touchscreen monitor, so I finally found a need for my old motorcycle battery fitting, whisky box.
I figured it would be nice to have a portable power system for my piebox. something bigger and better - easily fixed - than them shitty tiny phone charger things..
I've been using a 12v portable TV with a HDMI port as a monitor and while it does work, it looks and sounds like crap. so I went looking for a better option. my new one is high tech looking! small but big. like a huge phone screen, with huge speakers. and it uses 5v3a.
once I had all the fiddly-bits I put it together. I got lucky in that my only huge drill bit was the exact right size! 1 1/8th"! so making the big fancy port holes was easy enough...
anyway, it works and I'm glad I did it. it's very satisfying to have made such a cool and useful tool!
I still have to wait for a few connector cables to arrive. some high watt USB c to c's, & a mini to mini HDMI, to figure out how much computer time I can get for my tiny 20 amp hour lithium (LiFePo4) battery... on my raspberry pie 5 computer. the wide-screen touchscreen monitor is fucking cool looking! (no more USB speakers and wire slop!)
all this 5a (computer) and 3a (monitor) stuff might suck the battery down fast, it's hard to say... but usually the power draws are less, but those are the "high demand" power ratings?
I figure I'll mostly run lineage on it for surfing and media. since its probably the most secure and power sipping. but I might set up a multiboot disk too. since I like to pretend I'm a writer...
anyway, if a old crustacean cripple like me can do it, so can you!
