We had a blackout today just before dusk. “No Problem”, I thought, “we’ll just get out the the torch and the portable energy pack” as I smugly wandered into the garage.
The portable energy pack consists of a deep cycle battery, lighter socket and 300W inverter all mounted in a small toolbox. I built it a while ago and it is a handy little unit. It is designed to portable and recharged via solar or charger and is a great little unit for camping and travelling.
Well I pulled it out and, “Hey Presto“, nothing happened! What? What’s happened?
It turns out that the battery has died unexpectedly. Grrr! Now what?
Fortunately, I have other solar related gear available from various projects so I quickly set up a temporary light in the kitchen with a spare 38Ah 12V battery and a neat little lamp batten with a built in 240V converter so it can be connected directly to battery. I works well with some CFLs, but not all, so you need to try a few different brands to make sure you have a working system. I grabbed a mic stand from the music gear to use as a support and “Hey Presto” for real this time.
Now that we had light in the kitchen I was able to leisurely start setting up another battery and the inverter to connect some more portable lights and any other light duty appliances we might want to use. Fortunately the power came about an hour later and before we needed anything other than the single light in the kitchen.
But is just goes to show the value in having some backup. It doesn’t have to be a complex setup. Some torches or even a candle or two and some matches (which we also have) is fine. It is also important to regularly check the backup to make sure it is still works correctly (something I hadn’t done 🙁 ).
So now it’s time to give the little energy supply an overhaul. I might upgrader to a bigger unit. It might be a little less portable but the bigger batteries that I have are better suited to the job than the cheap small battery I originally used. I will also set up a better charging/monitoring system for this one.