hhhmmmm..... well since fabricating these little portable power packs and selling locally is part of what I am doing for a living, I'd like to actually make a living doing it.
I am willing to put together detailed design docs, shopping lists, even video tutorials.... but not for free.
$0. It's a community forum for members to collaborate with one-another. I can understand you selling fabricated parts and components, but a PDF document telling someone what to buy and how to install? Not for me, personally.hhhmmmm..... well since fabricating these little portable power packs and selling locally is part of what I am doing for a living, I'd like to actually make a living doing it.
What do you think would be a 'fair' price for a nicely documented instruction manual? including shopping list/source for all materials, dimensions, and step-by-step fabrication instructions. delivered electronically as a nice .pdf document ?
$10 ?
$15 ?
$20 ?
How much are you selling the portable power packs for?hhhmmmm..... well since fabricating these little portable power packs and selling locally is part of what I am doing for a living, I'd like to actually make a living doing it.
What do you think would be a 'fair' price for a nicely documented instruction manual? including shopping list/source for all materials, dimensions, and step-by-step fabrication instructions. delivered electronically as a nice .pdf document ?
$10 ?
$15 ?
$20 ?
@dtbaker61 My sincerest apologies, I must have missed that you did that for a living and thought this was DIY project you were sharing. I would have NEVER asked for something for free had I know that you make money doing this. I support and agree that you should charge people for your labors and effort. I think $20 is a fair price to get a "how too" in PDF format.hhhmmmm..... well since fabricating these little portable power packs and selling locally is part of what I am doing for a living, I'd like to actually make a living doing it.
What do you think would be a 'fair' price for a nicely documented instruction manual? including shopping list/source for all materials, dimensions, and step-by-step fabrication instructions. delivered electronically as a nice .pdf document ?
$10 ?
$15 ?
$20 ?
$1200 with a 100w solar panel in folding frame, or $1000 without.
My point is that I have posted the idea and possibilities for free on this forum as an example to share for free.
no offense taken.
There are a lot of DIY people on this forum so I can understand why many would prefer to figure it out without paying someone for help. But I think it is really cool that you can earn a living doing what you love and helping others get something they never would have been able to get without you. Keep it up!
Maybe I’m asking a too basic question:I used to have a '66 Sunbeam Tiger.... headers, big cam, dual point ignition, etc.... damn thing ran HOT, but in the old days the top of the motor was uncluttered, and you could fit a good sized baking dish right on top between the carburator the radiator expansion tank such that it wouldn't slide around even while driving 'hard' thru the mountains. The club had a great recipe book and timed tours to cook various dishes; and we'd all meet and potluck wonderful hot meals from under the hood... without a Frunk.
This of course is leading up to what we can cook (or refrigerate) with our Mach-e with the lovely big batteries on board.....
Turns out that if you disable your 'auto-off' setting, and leave the MME 'on', you can extract about 1500 watts of power from the LV (12v) connection points which is backed up by your large main (HV) battery. Plenty to run a little refrigerator, teapot, or even an inductive cook-top. Perfect for 'flameless' camp cooking as well as running lights, CPAP machines, recharging cordless tools at job sites, etc.
Or.... running critical electric appliances like your refrigerator, computer, phones and little loads like that at home in Emergency situations....
The basic steps/components needed are:
- gain access to your LV connection points... easy with a 1-7/8" hole saw, or removing the 'beauty covers'.- 1500 watt pure sine inverter, buffer battery, charge controller, cables.... and it's possible to package everything into a carry-on bag for truly portable power!
There are commercial power packs available, but they cost significantly more for less battery capacity and probably less power. If you shop for portable power packs, make sure the inverter is 'pure sine', and 1500watts. I have found that there are several brands of Lithium battery you can get for under $400 for a full 100ah capacity yeilding about 1 kWhr of useful energy. The battery can be charged with an inexpensive charge controller via a little solar panel, or direct from a running vehicle.
I thought I'd post a couple pix just to give people ideas.... and if you want plans or a few pre-fab parts/cables to help you build you own, we can work something out for an instruction book or video or something....
as long as the refrigerator power requirements (watts when running) are less than what the built-in power ports can support.... sure.
resting state electronics with car on seem to hover around 200watts. So continuous load for export should be kept below 1200w. I'd expect peak loads a little higher would be ok for brief periods with a 'buffer battery' in the mix.
