Off grid power sources (portable)

**Remington788** · April 17th, 2020, 08:05 AM

As an offshoot to the emergency communications threads, this thread should focus on PORTABLE off-grid power solutions.
Portable could be carried by a person or in a vehicle. Not permanently installed.

**Ronin** · April 17th, 2020, 08:17 AM

https://www.bioliteenergy.com/

**sota** · April 17th, 2020, 08:37 AM

I guess the question is, what level of "portable" are we talking here?
Person or vehicle covers a pretty wide range of items.

**Remington788** · April 17th, 2020, 11:41 AM

Originally Posted by sota

I guess the question is, what level of "portable" are we talking here?
Person or vehicle covers a pretty wide range of items.

Good question. I guess I would not restrict it to either. I am just not looking for stuff like rooftop solar systems.

**bamboomaster** · April 17th, 2020, 09:06 AM

I bought this NOCO BOOST PRO GB150 around two years ago. I've used it to jump start cars, P/U trucks, recharge cell phones, flashlights, and run other electronic devices. While it may be more than you think you need, glad I have it wherever I go for we always need to recharge something while we're on the road (but not so much these days since we've essentially been in a kinder and gentler version of "lockdown"). It's always in the footwell behind the driver.

As you know, most electronic stuff can be recharged just by plugging a charging cord into one of the many ports in your vehicle, so I guess this is our "back-up".

Have heard that you can use it on heavy farm equipment and bigger vehicles, but we've never tried that. Rated for gas and diesel engines up to 10 liters. Also, it has the capacity to do about 40 jump starts before you need to recharge it.

Feels like it weighs about 7 - 8 lbs, but since I'm not hiking around with it, the weight is not a consideration for me. About every six months, I usually plug it in and recharge it. But I've never found it below 75% charged, even after sitting in a vehicle parked outside for around six months including through freezing winter conditions.

https://www.amazon.com/NOCO-GB150-Ul...%2C2032&sr=1-8

NOCO BOOST GB150.2.jpg

**Hoppy** · April 17th, 2020, 09:27 AM

One that I have experience with and plan to keep in my truck is the jumpsmart flashlight. Campground host had several and let me borrow twice as my battery died twice. Battery since replaced but still plan to keep in truck. Jump-started it no problem. He said qvc always had the best price.

https://www.qvc.com/JumpSmart-Portab...t.E232295.html

**lts1ow** · April 17th, 2020, 09:47 AM

Its a little out there, but if I were to suddenly have money to burn, a PTO operated genset for my truck would be legit. Toss a large fuel cell in the bed and have easy 85gal of diesel to idle forever on.

**theshadow** · April 17th, 2020, 10:13 AM

I have both of these:
https://harborfreight.com/home-outdo...ger-62449.html
https://harborfreight.com/home-outdo...ger-60449.html

The fordable is in my go-bag, the 15 Watt was modified to use Anderson Power poles (https://powerwerx.com/anderson-power...-sb-connectors) sits in my vehicle (under the sunroof) hooked to a lawn tractor battery from Walmart ($35 after "core charge") in an oversized ammo can (modified) The battery is light enough to carry most places, but heavy enough for long term work.

**Remington788** · April 17th, 2020, 12:40 PM

Originally Posted by Ronin

https://www.bioliteenergy.com/

Thats pretty cool, though pricy.
I do not know what a Thermoelectric Generator is. Thermocouples? How is the electricity produced?

**streaker69** · April 17th, 2020, 12:45 PM

Originally Posted by Remington788

Thats pretty cool, though pricy.
I do not know what a Thermoelectric Generator is. Thermocouples? How is the electricity produced?

Clicked the link, didn't read anything about it, but I suspect it's using a device known as a Peltier Junction that when heat is applied to one side, electricity is generated. If you were to apply electricity to it instead of heat, then it would generate heat one one side, and cold on the other. It was a common device in PC's about 20 years ago for cooling down CPU's until it was determined that they actually consume more energy than it's worth. So people started using them for other things, such as this. A couple issue though. The devices themselves are physically fragile, as in they break easy. They're also prone to burning out due to too much heat, and not enough cooling. You can't just keep on applying heat to them without having adequate cooling on the other side.

The junctions themselves are fairly common, I recently got 10 of them I think for around $15.