Kentucky Area Paranormal Society

[biddle]

Hello everyone. I was just wondering, what do you all do when it comes to running a DVR and laptop in a house that has no power?

I assume that you would run it off the car battery or generator. But what would I need to run our DVR from a vehicle?

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks guys (and gals)

[Emania_Chuck]

If you are going to try to power AC equipment from a DC battery, you're going to need an inverter.

http://www.roadtripamerica.com/dashboarding/Power-Inverters.htm

[biddle]

cool, I was looking at some of those at Wal Mart last night and I wasn't sure if they would work or not.

I wonder if I could get away with running the dvr and laptop off of the cigarette lighter version? Or would I need to step up to something more powerful?

[Emania_Chuck]

You'll have to check the wattage draw of the equipment you want to run. That will determine the size of the inverter you need. You'll also need to watch out that the inverter draw does not exceed the wiring in the car. That could lead to blown fuses or even fire.

You may just want to have an old car battery (that will still hold a charge) handy to wire the inverter directly to it. You can charge the battery up before you go to the location, and then have a portable power source that you can put wherever you want your command station to be.

[biddle]

I will definitely look into this, thanks Chuck.

[Phantom]

HEY Biddle!! Yeah, we're looking into such things as well. Currently, I have a power supply in the KAPS-mobile, but it's somewhat limited. I'm looking into getting a generator to help out in those times. In the meantime, the word is MILES of extension cord...LOL

[stoner]

I have a similar unit, but at 300W it wont do much, just about an old laptop, as chuck said you wont get a DVR and a lap top from it.

I've got a solar panel feeding a car battery and then i invert it, it does not do much TBH, a little generator set like they have on construction sites would be great, I dont know what voltage they use on site in the US here we use 220Vac but on sites it is 110Vac for safety, so you'd pick up a 110Vac generator on the cheap, but the Honda ones are very good if you were looking into them