Using car batteries for power source?

[outskirts]

OK, electricity is not an area that I am knowledgeable in.
I have been curious however about alternate sources of
electricity. I've been wondering is it worthwhile to haul
some car batteries out to a remote campsite so that I
could have a power source?
I've been told it can be done if you have an inverter?
WTF is an inverter? Can half a dozen or more car batteries
be linked up to one another or would it be better to just
use one at a time, each one replacing the dead one?

So who's betting I'm gonna get shocked! lol

 

[Matt aka Sparks]

I'm not sure but I have seen a camp site that had working electricity. It was all wired up with car batteries and a chargers. At least that's what it looked like to me. It was some wingnut homebum's camp in the San Diego river bed so I'm sure it was very unstable. Dude had running water too... he tapped into a nearby sprinkler system. Gotta give a hand to tweeker ingenuity.

 

[outskirts]

I just found out there's already a thread about this! But thanks anyway Sparks,
great story about the sprinkler.

 

[wokofshame]

Well you can run DC appliances like lightbulbs straight off a battery w/out an inverter!
Also a lot of things such as TVs have a rectifier ( converts AC back to DC) in them so if you take it apart and bypass the rectifier you can pipe in straight DC. Also if you figure out the specific voltage required you can hook the batteries up in series and 12+12+12+12 will power a 48 v DC appliance ......you get the idea, voltages add in series circuits
You will need a charging rig basically a stepdown transformer to take the AC wall current you charge from (it is 120 "RMS" aka useful voltage but peaks at 170v) down to whatever multiple of 12 DC you want
This really isnt the best place for info, i'm sure there's some great resources on the net at large, just google it

very doable! wish you the best

 

[outskirts]

Very cool. Thanks Murt. My crazy Piney Uncle was just explaining some of this shit to me today.
It's good to see it in writing though, he was high and cleaning shotguns while explaining this stuff
so I had a hard time concentrating on what he was explaining! Yeah... he's a scary guy, lol.

 

[cranberrydavid]

If you want to go the inverter route you'll be glad in the long run. For two reasons. First, the battery will run for 4 or 5 times as long with a regular 120 volt compact fluorescent bulb in a clamplight compared to a 12 volt incandescent like a headlight or domelight.

Second, most inverters have a buzzer that screams at you when your batter voltage gets below 11 volts or so. Without the buzzer, you'll usually end up drawing the battery down till the lights go dim. If you do this a few times, your battery will usually be toast. A $30 inverter can save a lot on replacement batteries.

You should be able to find a 100 or 200 watt inverter in the automotive section for $30.[edited to say: Walmart has them for $17.88] It will be built to plug into a cigarette lighter socket. Then you need the cigarette lighter socket with the battery cable leads from Radio Shack. Clip the cables onto the battery, plug in the inverter and you've got an outlet that will run anything but appliances and powertools. (You can also cut the plug off the inverter and clamp the wires directly to the battery, but if you get the wires backwards you'll probably blow a fuse and maybe fry a diode.)

 

[40 Hands]

The first time i went to the Disastr House in Rockford IL they were throwing a punk show with no electricity. They ran an extension cord from an abandoned building 2 houses away (that we later found out that it was stealing power from the street light in the alley behind it somehow) to power the amps, and ran a few car batterys to old headlights they screwed into the walls to run the lights. It was an amazing show, and ive been wowed by them ever since.

 

[acrata4ever]

i saw a site cant find it now. guy had a blower fan in a creek so the water turned the blades. this powered a AC light bulb in his tool shed.