How to Get Started With Alternate Power

Where there is no power, there are alternatives to the power company

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• 2 or more Automobile or Marine battery
• Inverter
• power strip
• extension cord
• battery charger

1. 
    
   The family car is a ready-made generator

   Picture yourself in the woods way far away from the nearest electrical outlet. Don't tell me, let me guess: This is someone in your family's idea of a vacation and getting away from it all. Well, you can take a piece of the creature comforts with you if you know how to set up a minimal alternate power system. It doesn't take a lot of know how.
   
   To get started with a minimal amount of gear, all you really need is an inverter, extension cord and access to the vehicle that took you to the tent in the woods.

2. 
    
   Comfort time

   The ease of using alternate energy is almost mind boggling.
   
   Buy an inverter. Wal-Mart carries them. The smaller the inverter, the smaller the price tag. But a small 400 isn't going to power a whole lot of things for very long - unless you keep the car idling while using your electric gadgets.
   
   A 400 is certainly enough to run a laptop computer, a DVD player & charge a cell phone. If there are pre-teens involved, it should do well to charge most hand-held games, an electric radio or CD player.
   
   First, open the hood of your car. Connect the inverter to the battery. The connectors vary from clips to circles intended to slip onto the terminals and screwed on. Most come with both. It should also come with an attachment that can be inserted into the cigarette lighter rather than connecting to the battery under the hood. Both work well.
   
   Just as if you were connecting jumper cables to your battery terminals, red goes on red and black goes on black. Where there is no color, there should be "pos" or "neg" and "-" or "+".
   
   Quick lesson. Neg, - and black are all the same. They don't play well with others. Black plays with neg and neg plays with -. Any combination thereof. Same rules apply to red, + and pos. You never want to connect red or any of red's friends to any of black's friends. So as long as you connect + to pos or red and the same with black, - or neg you are good to go.
   
   Before you have the idea of generating your camp or tent or just charging the batteries with your vehicle, don't park your common sense back in the city. Never leave your vehicle idling unattended. By that, I mean don't charge your batteries in the camp with your idling car and then go wandering off into the woods in search of berries or pine cones. If you wouldn't leave your car parked and running in the city while you walked down the street to visit with a neighbor, don't do it in the woods, either.
   
   Let that other family member have his day in the woods and make like a mountain man ... while you stay in camp and watch a DVD. Oh yeah, don't forget to take your favorite DVDs and player with you! Operating a television would require a bit more power and accessories than what is discussed here, but a DVD player is well within your grasp.

3. 
    
   Set the batteries and inverter outside the camp

   If the family vehicle isn't available to sustain power in the tent or camp, then you'll need the help of an extra car or marine battery. Both are easy to find in most Wal-Marts, auto centers and even the local garage that repairs your car. Same rule applies to the hookup of the batteries to the inverter.
   
   On inverter, there will be a standard electric outlet. You can plug your DVD player or laptop directly into this outlet to charge it or to use it nearby. Never put the battery in your tent. It should be outside. Batteries contain acid and can emit gases that you won't notice - unless you have a respiratory problem such as asthma, bronchitis, a cold, hay fever. And if there are toddlers involved, the last thing you want them playing with are the batteries. Batteries are not toys. It's just best to leave the batteries outside, connect an extension cord to the inverter and run that into the tent or camp to operate your computer or DVD player.

4. 
    
   Recharge the batteries

   When using just batteries with the inverter and not the car, you will eventually run the batteries down. Not to worry. Sooner or later the other family member will be back for the night and you use the vehicle to recharge the batteries.
   
   To recharge the batteries, you'll need a battery charger, the dead battery and the vehicle. With the car off, connect the inverter to the battery in the car. The turn the car on. Plug the battery charger into the inverter and then attach the cables on the charger to the battery you want to recharge. This will take an hour or longer depending on the settings you are using. The charger should have an indicator showing you how far along the charge is. Better ones will automatically stop when the charge is complete.
   
   Marine and auto batteries are heavy. Moving them around is best done with a wheelbarrow or other device if your cords won't reach to the location you designated for them. Always work smarter, not harder.

Tips & Warnings

• Connect an inverter to the car while the car is off - then turn on the car.
• Don't overload the inverter. Run as few appliances as possible for best results.
• Don't forget to bring the DVD player and your favorite DVDs. There might not be a DVD rental place anywhere nearby
• Always leave the batteries outside running just the extension cord into the tent
• Never leave your car idling and unattended
• Never leave children unattended in the vicinity of the batteries

[Isyai]

on 10/28/2008 How to create the new power instead of using a battery and an inverter?

[Psalmist4M]

on 7/27/2008 Interesting article. Thanks for the information.