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John E Rawkstaugh asked below: “This is kind if a two part question- 1) I have a solar panel that hooks up to the lighter in my ’98 Jetta that recharges the battery for a solo jump. Would this work for other vehicles? Second, I have a severely handicap child who requires powered breathing machines and is on a feeding tube. What auto power converter would best help operate these machines when the SHTF?”

Some comments we received:

Comment #1:

With solar panels and inverters you get what you pay for. In your case I would look at any high end inverter and have a back up unit along with fuses. I would also recommend you add a sealed deep cell battery to your kit. The can be charged trickle charged via solar, off the vehicles electrical system or if you purchase a an inverter/charger combo unit. We use them on our surveillance platform to provide 6 bank batter charging and power!Comment #2: That solar panel will work for other vehicles. Unfortunately, it will not sustain the battery while the medical equipment is using the battery. Too much drain .vs charge. You need an inverter capable of at LEAST 1000 watts MORE than your total draw of power under NORMAL operation. Get more, bigger, better solar panels, more batteries, and higher amp alternator(s) for the vehicle.

Comment #3: Those small cigarette lighter solar panels are trickle chargers. The cables are not thick enough to sustain a high amp/watt charge. Most of them put out less than 20 watts. You want something well over your consumption of power. Same goes for the inverter, don’t rely on PEAK output, as it is not meant to sustain those levels of draw and will burn out. You need one with ample watts to play with, as there will be major power draw spikes on power on/off of equipment. I’ve burnt enough of them out to know. A Sine Wave inverter is mandatory if your using electronic equipment, as the cheaper square wave inverters will destroy the equipment over time if not right off the bat. This isn’t a power drill or impact wrench your talking about, but life sustaining equipment, it is best not to take chances by running on the bare minimum.

Comment #4: Might want to invest in a small generator also. worst case scenario it might be a good idea to have an endotracheal tube and a bag to manually sustain breathing as a back up that doesn’t rely on power.

2012-12-05 01:40:15

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