I am currently using a 12v car battery for my long range pacific crest radio. Is there commercially available a 12V DC supply unit that can be used in lieu of the car battery? Much lighter is highly preferable. I don't know if solar panel can provide the convenience we surveyors need in the field.
Sharing your experience is highly appreciated.
Thank you.
We have used the type of jump starters for a car in the past. A bit lighter and less bulky.
Can it sustain for a day's work?
Check out the GPAC system. http://www.gpac.biz/1218G6.html They have a varity of conectors and pacs with different power ratings. I don't know how good they will be, but I would check them out.
12v marine bats work good. I also power an electric fence with it. I have an optima blue top.
N
This is my favorite battery: Interstate Wheelchair Battery
This is a very high quality AGM battery that will hold a charge for months on end, and will last for several days in the field. It also is sealed and maintenance free.
I've gone to larger car batteries WITH WARRANTIES. RTK use is hard on a battery. I've worked many days until the battery is completely dead. By the time I get home, its a few hours until it gets on a charger. And then do the same thing, again and again. I think batteries will only take so many complete discharges. I bought one last April from a local farm supply store. They scribed the date and store number on the battery as proof that it was from them. I took it back two weeks ago because my charger gave me an error message. The farm supply store tested it and gave me a brand new one at no charge because it was less than one year into the 5 year warranty. If this keeps up, I might never need to BUY a new one again.
Are you asking about off mains power? I have powered using a 12VDC mains supply before, BUT you need to plug in, if you need portable you aren't going to get much lighter than OEM and power all day, I run using solar and a couple of Optima deep cycle batteries, BUT that is NOT going to be portable, this is to locations I can drive to.
SHG
An FB friend of mine from Iran told me that he successfully tried using a pack of "A" batteries. Good for a day's work according to him. If this is possible then maybe other solution can be made if minimum weight is desired.
That must of been one big pile of AA batteries! You would have to hook them in series to get 12V (9 x 1.5V = 13.5V which is close to a 12V lead acid battery) and then hook a few of those series packs in parallel to get any sort of amp hours at all, not saying it wasn't done, BUT doesn't seem very practical. I would think you would need around 5 of the homemade 9 battery packs tied together in parallel (45 AA cells) to get something usable at all of around 12 AH of 12V power. I think that is still only about 1/3 of the capacity of the battery supplied by Pacific Crest.
SHG
I see now you said single A, not AA, in the states at least, all A batteries (AA, AAA are common, haven't seen a single A) are 1.5 volts, so the series part would still apply, if a single A does exist it may have more capacity requiring less total batteries, BUT still seems impractical.
SHG
When I was tasked to undertake boreholes stakeout for a mine exploration work in a remote place and isolated island, I found no commercially available 12v car battery for sale or for rent leaving me doing nothing for three days. That was the time I realized that situations like what happened can be avoided if there is commercially available portable and very light 12v dc supply that you can bring along in the airports/seaports. If there is, that bad experience could have been avoided.
Try a motor cycle battery, they are compact and fully sealed too.