Looking for a external battery pack

[thewolfe]

To use in case the power goes down so I can recharge my cellphones and iPad/ laptop.

Some one suggested the Monster Battery Pack 9000
$69.95

Any suggestions?

 

[snoopy]

My 2c, if you want insurance in the case of a power outage, get a generator.

No matter what type of battery pack you get, if you can afford it, it really won't get you very far. I also see a shorter shelf life on batteries than you'd get out a generator.

[Krom]

Do you have a motor vehicle? If so, buy an inverter for it (100-120w should be plenty, anything over that pretty much has to be clamped to the battery directly anyway). Then if the power is out for an extended duration you can recharge your electronics for a couple bucks worth of fuel from idling the vehicle (and you want the car idling, since otherwise you will be without power and have a dead battery in the vehicle too).

[thewolfe]

Not a bad idea.

[Tunnelcat]

Buy one of those wall mount marine chargers/inverters and hook it up to a couple of those Blue Optima batteries. It'll keep the batteries charged when the power's on, then when the power goes out, you're all set. I have a similar setup for my backup sump pump in the basement.

[Krom]

Lead acid batteries have a ~12-18 month shelf life on a typical float charger at best, so if its just sitting on one, expect it to be worthless for any serious workload by the 1 year mark. The battery in your car lasts a lot longer because it has regular very brief cycles then is immediately recharged to full capacity and spends the remainder of its time just sitting without being float charged or discharged.

[Tunnelcat]

I don't float charge it very often and I do occasionally partially discharge it by letting the pump run to cycle it. It is a deep cycle battery after all. It's 3 years old and still going strong.

[Capm]

We use Gel batteries in our standby power supplies, they're about the size of a car battery, but alot heavier. They're made for that kind of setup you're talking about. On paper, the life span is about 5 years, I believe, I'd have to look up the specs on them.

[thewolfe]

What about the Costco "flask" compared to the Just Mobile Gum Max Duo? The "flask is almost half the price.

Still looking for something I can carry around on vacation as well as powering up phone and iPad during a power outage.