[IRCA] A good AC and DC power supply for mobile DXing!

["Kevin S" <satya@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi all:

I just completed something of a DXpedition to a local park to test out an
antenna, and also tried out my new Duracell Powerpack 600 battery system. 
It has a 12VDC outlet and three 110 VAC outlets via a 600 watt DC-AC
inverter.  It also has a light, clock and AM/FM radio for emergencies, and
will jump start your car.  As discussed below, I can highly recommend it.

The spec sheet is at:
http://www.duracellpower.com/documents/tech-specs/DS20070710_duracell-pp600.pdf
I got mine via Amazon, but they appear to be available at lots of places.

Its internal 28 amp-hour battery, I believe the biggest for these types of
units (which is why I got this model), will power my Icom R75 for about 24
hours, and will power a laptop/Perseus for about 8 hours, and probably
much longer if you keep the screen illumination at a dim setting and/or
use other power-saving strategies.  It will run 480 watts continuous and
960 watts peak, but of course those power levels will drain it prettty
fast.  It has an automatic low voltage shutdown so you don't
overdrain/ruin the battery.

The best part about it is that the power inverter is SILENT!  A portable
radio more than a foot away from the unit picks up absolutely NO hash or
noise of any kind anywhere on the band.  I was thinking I would have to
splice up some DC power cords to run gear remotely, but it is clear I can
just bring a wall wart along and I'm good.

It charges back up with a wall wart or 12 VDC cigarette lighter cable,
both of which are included.  Charging from a 12 VDC source (i.e., a car)
takes about 4 hours from a completely drained condition, while the wall
wart route will take quite a bit longer.

The light and clock would be nice for DXing as well.  However, don't count
on the internal AM/FM radio to be your main DXpedition radio :-).

Kevin S
Bainbridge Island, WA
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