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In a wave of last minute faffing and prep for this weekends WEMBO World 24hr Champs up at Fort William, I've just thought about powering things like lights in my pits.
Cooking etc will be done on a gas stove, but for keeping my mates phone charged and a bit of light, also keeping lights on trickle charge, would a 150w 12v inverter plugged into my car work?
I've got a 4ft strip tube light that is (max) 40W so in theory that would leave 110w od spare power for charging etc, no?
I've no qualms with leaving the car ticking over, it might be a tad noisy, but no worse than a generator to people use, but with the added bonus of not having to top up a 5ltr fuel tank every few hours, or hiring a generator in the first place
Phones should be covered by a decent anker battery for 2-3 charges
Inverter will work but depending on the lights would they not go from some USB power packs or the car direct?
Inverter will work but depending on the lights would they not go from some USB power packs or the car direct?
The strip light (I've thought about zip-tieing to the Ezeup) has a normal 3 pin mains plug on it, bike lights are Exposure and seem to like proper charging as opposed to fag lighter stuff
Leaving a car idling is an appallingly inefficient way to charge a couple of phones and run a small light.
I've seen people using battery packs for this sort of thing, that's got to be a better option. They're not that expensive nowadays, the fuel cost of a couple of weekends worth of idling your car will probably cover it.
Plus think of all the nuns and kittens who won't die from your cars emissions...
Leaving a car idling is an appallingly inefficient way to charge a couple of phones and run a small light
No doubt true, but it's a quick fix option
No doubt true, but it’s a quick fix option
Until somebody tells you to turn it off as it's blowing fumes into their pit..
4xAAA for 30hrs of running so a few of those should get you through the night easily.
Do they have a charging tent there for lights?
last time I did fort William it cost us £35 to hire a decent Genny from HSS for the weekend, plus fuel which wasn't a lot TBH
You can use decent lights, charge everything and run a proper kettle. It's worth the outlay for the benefits and convenience
ETA: plenty of people use generators and I've never had a complaint from fellow competitors at any 24hour event