Whether it's your first Bonnaroo or you’re a music festival veteran, we welcome you to Inforoo.
Here you'll find info about artists, rumors, camping tips, and the infamous Roo Clues. Have a look around then create an account and join in the fun. See you at Bonnaroo!!
Here's how to build a cooling system that will work great at camp.
FAN ($15) - Lasko 3733 20" Box Fan (http://www.laskoproducts.com/fans/model_e3723-33.html) --- This is a common box fan that you can buy at Target, Home Depot, or Amazon. It plugs into an A/C outlet like you have on your walls at home. This fan is rated at 2500 CFM (cubic feet per minute) and will push far more air than a 10" O2 COOL fan. It uses about 100 watts when turned on high.
INVERTER ($40) - Schumacher XI41DU 410 Watt Power Inverter (http://www.batterychargers.com/ProductDetail.aspx?ProductName=94026993) --- This has two A/C outlets and one USB outlet for charging your cell phone, camera, etc. It is sold at Amazon and Walmart. It comes with both a cigarette lighter adapter and battery clamps. It also has a display that shows your power consumption (watts) and your battery voltage.
BATTERY ($85) - Everstart Marine 27DC-6 (sold in-store at Walmart) --- This is much like a car battery except it's designed to provide power for longer periods. Don't worry if you can't find this exact model. Just make sure you get a battery that has the word "marine" or "deep cycle" on it. Its Ah (amp hours) should be on the battery label. The 27DC-6 battery is rated at 115Ah. The more Ah, the longer you can go without recharging it.
WIRE ($2) --- You can go to a hardware store and buy cheap 12 guage electrical wire.
SOLAR PANEL ($440) - Solar Torrent Foldable 90 Watt Solar Panel (http://solartorrent.com/eCommerce/proddetail.asp?prod=STC90WFold) --- This is built like a briefcase. On the inside is a solar controller which safely charges your battery.
Now, here's how you assemble this:
When the SOLAR PANEL arrives, there will be a wire pair that goes from the solar panel to the controller. For safety, one wire will be unfastened from its terminal. Loosen the fastener and put the wire in the hole like its counterpart. Tighten the fastener. The controller's lights won't do anything yet.
Use the WIRE you bought to attach the negative terminal of the controller to the negative terminal of your BATTERY. Attach the positive terminal of the controller to the positive terminal of the battery. Now you will see lights.
Using the battery clamps supplied with the power INVERTER, attach the negative terminal of the battery to the negative terminal of the inverter. Attach the positive terminal of the battery to the positive terminal of the inverter. You can now turn on your power inverter.
Plug your FAN into the power inverter. Turn the fan on. Nice, huh?
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You don't have to do the solar panel to recharge. If you have a battery charger with a trickle charge on it you can recharge your battery at home. I bought a smaller battery for $58 and a few months ago I found a converter on newegg for $20. I wouldn't do this for Roo alone but I go camping throughout the year. It will be great for the times I go to primitive campgrounds and want a fan, lights or a radio.
Also, the 115 Ah battery will more than last all weekend as long as you're not using something that requires a lot of electricity. A fan and a couple strands of christmas lights won't drain it.
Thanks for the battery info, I am going to get one and wondering how to figure out how long a fully charged marine d-cell battery will last, with how many led lights and a red/green laser machine? How long to recharge the battery?
The label on your battery should list its Ah rating. We need to figure out how much current (amps) your lights/laser machine rig draws.
Take my rig as an example. I have a 115Ah battery. My 100-watt fan draws 8 amps. 115Ah / 8A = 14h. This means that I can run my fan for about 14 hours before the battery is completely depleted.
To measure the current that your rig draws, you'll need to borrow a friend's multimeter or buy one at Radio Shack for $30. Let me know if you need help.
Let's say you have a 200Ah battery. Let's say your rig uses 2A. 200Ah / 2A = 100h. You could run for 100 hours without recharge.
The solar panel kit that you listed has a maximum current of 3A. Under perfect conditions, your solar panel kit could recharge a 200Ah battery in 67 hours. 200Ah / 3A = 67h.
Eminem * Arcade Fire * Black Keys * Lil Wayne * Strokes * Primus * Gogol Bordello * Beirut * Ralphie May * John Waters * Henry Rollins * The League * Devotchka * Neon Trees * Portugal. The Man * Freelance Whales * Man Man * Beats Antique * Hayes Carll
I like the whole solar rig idea and thought about something like that but as the costs began to mount, I decided that I will rent a 1000w Honda inverter generator and bring two box fans and several extension cords/splitters. I'll put the generator between our two cars to shelter other campers from the noise, plus the 'econo-throttle' lowers the engine speed to only what is needed and is very quiet. I'll only run it when the sun starts getting hot in the morning and I'll invite the neighbors to bring their cots under our EZ ups to chill and charge their phones. The rent is only $60 for a week and they really are very quiet esp at the low speeds needed for 2 fans. Not too 'green', but I guess neither is driving 6 hours to listen to music! Hitchhiking to the farm, now that would be green!
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Would a 12v car battery with inverter last through the weekend if I ran 2 box fans for about 6 hours a day and then at night just run 2 strands of christmas lights (40) lights on each strand for also about 6 hours? If not what would I need to achieve this?
You lose a bit of efficiency with the inverter I think. The "o2cool" fans that are commonly mentioned here have a 12v connector on them. I imagine you could probably find 12v christmas lights, too.
Post by pondo ROCKS on May 15, 2011 9:42:59 GMT -5
I used 2 of the O2 fans last year with rechargeable batteries already charged up before I left. I also had one smaller fan that I could hang near my tent window to help pull cooler air in. This cost me about 35-40 dollars (minus the batteries, i already had them). Much cheaper than this idea above and if it gets damaged, wet or whatever, I am not out that much money.
I also have a car charger for my cell phone this year but last year I had replacement batteries that I bought megacheap off of Ebay and took like 4, One for each day of Bonnaroo. i just charged them before I left and changed them out each day, thus no scrambling around looking for a place to charge your phone. This idea would work perfect for Tent Only people.
Total price (excluding batteries) 64.50 counting shipping and again, if something got damaged, wet or destroyed (sans the cell phone) I would not to be too dang worried about.
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last year i saw a few people playin electrical instruments with power inverters and batteries, so this year i deceided to buy a power inverter (on craigslist for $25) and a couple of auto batteries ($25 for one, 2 more for free) and a box fan, i'm thinking about getting another fan and power inverter just in case because I also have 3 more traveling with me, and i'm sure they wont be well prepared.
Post by footballbat on Jun 27, 2011 6:28:40 GMT -5
I have the inverter; next year I will bring the box fan and an extension cord and run it from my truck. A 20" box fan pulls only 70 watts.
However, I'll need to start the truck every so often because it'll suck a battery dry in no time, as my next-door neighbors learned the hard way. But the fan will only be used for a couple of hours in the morning, because I'll be off to Centeroo.
