This tool would not be for everyone —- however, in certain cases it would be very helpful.
We do mostly "boondocking" camping with our travel trailer or cabover truck camper.
And we have a Honda 2200i generator.
Plus we both have Mac laptops, iPads, iPhones, and iPods.
And, oftentimes we just don't want the drain on our battery, or the noise of the generator when relaxing in a remote area with no services —- and the whole landscape to ourselves.
Solar is great, extra batteries are great, recharging the devices with the generator is always an option.
But Home Depot (Ridgid) just came out with a 175W inverter that runs off of the 18V batteries that I already have.
It will take any of the Ridgid 18V batteries —- I have 2ah & 4ah batteries already for my other Ridgid power tools.
Silent when in use.
$89 may seem a little steep —- but when I factored in the "no extension cords, silence, and since I already had the batteries on board —- it was a no-brainer for me.
If you register the product with Ridgid within 90 days —- the inverter is guaranteed for life.
And, the best part —- the batteries I already own are already guaranteed for life also!
Slick product.
Best, Fred
https://www.homedepot.com/p/RIDGID-18V-Cordless-175-Watt-Power-Inverter-Tool-Only-AC86097/320879239
Huge output from something so small... I have to do some crunching though....
A 2Ah battery @ 18v will do 36 watt-hours - 18v at 2 amps for one hour.
So at full output you'll get a best-case 12 minutes from a 2Ah battery, before allowing for conversion losses.
But for putting a bit of charge into a low-power device like an iPad, pretty darn good. Arguably more efficient would be a DC-DC charger (otherwise you're going DC-AC-DC with losses each time), but this would probably be a non-generic device without the flexibility.
Honestly, it blows me away what they can do with a couple of modern lithium ion batteries.
Right, boon —-
I just use this for a silent and quick charge for our devices.
There are at least (4) other ways that I can charge our devices on the road or when camped —- but this is silent, non-draining of the regular battery, cordless, and just dead-simple and quick. And the batteries can easily be recharged by the rest of our equipment.
This is only (in my case) for electronic devices —- not the microwave, DVD, TV, or lights.
And like I mentioned —- since I already have plenty of lifetime batteries —- it was a simple option.
Best, Fred
Didn't know such things were out there. But, shoulda. Handy.
Frank
Seems Redundant to me . Won't Completely charge a Laptop with the 2ah bat and only 1.9 laptops with the 6.0 on sale for maybe 80 bux but normally 112 bucks and you still have to charge it back up in less than 15 mins or so on low bat (2ah) .
With all tha time saving ,space saver ,gadgets you have soon you will need a separate pull behind storage device to store all your space saving devices you take with you to escape away from all the electronic devices and upkeep on them to relax in the first place .........I dunno ::)
If you have it for your tech stuff, it's handy and might be really handy if you're adrift and you've spent your battery sending big fish video proof to the world. I also see the gadgets-needing-gadgets chain. I don't think we're very far from the super battery that weighs a pound or two.
I want a battery that runs 1000 watts of light for 8 hours and doesn't weigh 40 lbs so I can light up some surf. I have to haul a 3k generator to run 4 30VAC locomotive headlights.
This High Tech Device is all you Need .
Yer killin me.
We have a 2nd place on a lake. Our kids are appalled and in disbelief that I won't let them get us some sort of TV service. They finally decided we needed our own phone/internet service and got it hooked up. :-\ I was just fine using the neighbor's unpassworded WIFI, but no, we need our own. When I go there the plan is to get away from the techy world, civilization, news and TV.
Quote from: Midway Tommy on October 01, 2022, 02:57:43 AMOur kids are appalled and in disbelief that I won't let them get us some sort of TV service.
Funny! We had a NEC tube TV until my son showed up with an LED TV. He couldn't stand it. We had that old TV for at least 25 years. He also graduated us out of windows XP. If you don't know what you're missing, you don't miss it.
Quote from: Shellbelly on October 01, 2022, 02:06:04 PMQuote from: Midway Tommy on October 01, 2022, 02:57:43 AMOur kids are appalled and in disbelief that I won't let them get us some sort of TV service.
Funny! We had a NEC tube TV until my son showed up with an LED TV. He couldn't stand it. We had that old TV for at least 25 years. He also graduated us out of windows XP. If you don't know what you're missing, you don't miss it.
Yeah, and the really funny thing about it is the kids are 40.
I can have a wet cellar in New England, so I added a second sump pump as a backup while wintering in Florida. There were biblical rains and winds one March years ago, came to find that I'd had about 18" in the cellar when power was lost. Escaped with only a drowned furnace motor. Having a 36V golf cart with 6 6V deep cycle batteries I made a giant 12V system for when I'm away. Wiring 2 6V batteries in series to make 3 12V batteries from the 6 in the cart. The wiring the 12V pairs in parallel making the 6 into one big 12V power pack. With a 12V DC to 110V AC inverter wired to a 3rd higher sump pump if power is lost to keep things dry. The pack is connected to a big 12V Battery minder to keep things peaked and to recharge the system if it get called upon when the power is restored. Of course we are in a level 3 drought here, with nary a drop in the sump. ::)
So if I get 10 of these and run them in series, my wife could blow dry her hair when we're camping ?
Quote from: Maxed Out on October 06, 2022, 12:06:00 AMSo if I get 10 of these and run them in series, my wife could blow dry her hair when we're camping ?
If one goes they all would like Christmas Tree Lites .Then She Would be MIFFED .
Best bet in a situation like that is to get a four hundred mile long extension cord .
Quote from: Wompus Cat on October 06, 2022, 12:20:50 AMQuote from: Maxed Out on October 06, 2022, 12:06:00 AMSo if I get 10 of these and run them in series, my wife could blow dry her hair when we're camping ?
If one goes they all would like Christmas Tree Lites .Then She Would be MIFFED .
Best bet in a situation like that is to get a four hundred mile long extension cord .
I think if some one rode a bicycle and get the wind in the hair , problem solved
Quote from: oldmanjoe on October 06, 2022, 01:49:14 AMQuote from: Wompus Cat on October 06, 2022, 12:20:50 AMQuote from: Maxed Out on October 06, 2022, 12:06:00 AMSo if I get 10 of these and run them in series, my wife could blow dry her hair when we're camping ?
If one goes they all would like Christmas Tree Lites .Then She Would be MIFFED .
Best bet in a situation like that is to get a four hundred mile long extension cord .
I think if some one rode a bicycle and get the wind in the hair , problem solved
And IF that Someone had a Generator and or Static Excited Stator
Alternator mounted to the Bikes Wheel ya got more electric power to charge stuff.
When I was poor I used a marine battery from my boat and inverter. Heck back then you could buy a good battery for $89.00.
It ran some 40w light bulbs and a box fan during a hurricane. I still have it!
"Or the noise of the generator..." from Fred's first post. Silence is golden, or at least worth a lot to me in a wilderness area. One reason I like to go off-shore when fishing is no human caused noise when I shut down the motor and drift. Paradise to me. As a motor home guy, I had to work at finding a place and always avoided campgrounds/parks. Got kicked-out of a lot of places...
Got a guy somewhere in the hood, leaves at 2AM. A quick succession of horn honks(much quieter than normal vehicle horn sounds, but easy to hear) then his vehicle starts-up, also very quiet(electronic?). Can't figure-out who/where. You just can't get away from it. Maybe I get him back on the weekend when I fire-up the van at 3AM or so to head-out yak fishin.
Anyone know what happened to Henry(Wompuscat)? Ain't heard from him in awhile...
I just purchased my 2nd Rigid inverter. I got the first one last fall and it came with a battery and charger for the regular HomeDepot price. I used it during a planned outage and it kept my router and laptop going all day with only one battery change. I wish I had bought two at that price.
I did pick up a 2nd on fleaBay. It's new in the box and cheaper than HomeDepot but won't have the lifetime warranty because you have to purchase it there for the warranty. These are great for camping or short term outages. The built in flashlight can be handy to. I've learned to keep these inside the house along with the batteries and charger.
I miss Henry too. I hope he's doing okay.
Here is a bargain, Mike, and others —-
Today, you can get (2) 4.0HA batteries wit( a case, charger, and LIFETIME replacement guarantee on the batteries for $79, online at Home Depot, free shipping.
These are the 4.0A's —- which are excellent and really hold a long charge.
Don't think you can beat this, anywhere. I paid $99, on sale for this same pair a year ago. And that was a good value.
OR...the 175W inverter with a case and (2) 4.0 batteries and a separate charger is only $149 shipped to your home, Lifetime Guarantee. Great value!
Best, Fred
You can get USB adapters for most battery platforms... I'm 18v Makita.
Fred, you still use an iPod? I got one years ago to use for email and phone (voip) when traveling internationally. Wherever there was a Wi-Fi connection we were golden! Of course, there's no point to one anymore but I still have it. It's cute!
Quote from: MarkT on February 10, 2023, 01:43:05 AMYou can get USB adapters for most battery platforms... I'm 18v Makita.
Fred, you still use an iPod? I got one years ago to use for email and phone (voip) when traveling internationally. Wherever there was a Wi-Fi connection we were golden! Of course, there's no point to one anymore but I still have it. It's cute!
I use my latest iPod quite a bit, Mark —-
Particularly when working outside with my WorkTunes ear protectors. Also use it in my truck for Bluetooth music.
My wife uses hers for books she downloads from Amazon or the Library. We also use our iPhones, iPads, and MacBook laptops.
Everything is synced together —- and those little iPods are very tough. I use one when backpacking.
There are so many different and equally good ways to approach Tech today.
Best, Fred
I'm on my IPad now. It's my main device although typing is, uh, less than optimal! There are times I use a "real" computer with a keyboard. An IPhone is an IPod with a phone. If you have an IPhone an IPod is redundant unless you're doing things where your worried about damaging the phone. I have all my tunes on my phone.