[DC Panda]

Hi-

I', almost certain I had this answered at one point, but I wager this might prove useful to other facing an issue with the power drop pricing. I am not going to complain about that situation because A) I know ACEN's not responsible for that price and complaining on forum never seems to actually do anything, especially as I am pretty sure the convention space people aren't monitoring these for ways to make us happy.

Long story short, I am considering purchasing a power inverter (AKA portable generator) for our booth. The type I'm going for isn't gas powered, so there's no noise or exhaust. You charge the thing overnight and you get a couple hours o' power on the go. They're used for camping, power outages, and such like.

They cost around $100.00 depending on how beefy you want it, but the main upside is I get to keep this one and could possible use it at other conventions.

I hear there shouldn't be a problem, but I've been wrong before. Wanted to see if we could get an official line on their use. Thanks.

[Millions_Knives]

lol ppl thought $35 dollars was all the center charged for electricity
prices are insane

but ya staff were nudging ppl to get these before the truth was known

[JujuFox]

In another thread I made here someone did mention that they have their own, but I'm not sure if they used it at ACen last year or not.

[LinkJun]

Say you have an laptop using an average of 80W. Using a 19.5V adaptor, that's about 4.1 Amps of current. Just doing a quick search on power inverters, I found a 28 Ah one for $170 (probably more like $200 including shipping... those things are heavy). That 28 Ah battery will sustain that laptop for about 6.8 hours, optimistically. (And that's for one and only one laptop; no other MP3 players, phones, etc.) Realize that that 6.8 hour figure is assuming that you're using the battery right out of the box; batteries lose their charge capacity over time. Most batteries will drop down to about half of their original capacity after 100 or so charges. Also, charging at 1 Amp (going by the max specification of the inverter) from a 120 V wall socket, it would ideally take 28 hours to completely recharge the battery. In practice though, it will take longer... The Duracell DPP-600HD states a charging time of 35 hours from an AC outlet.

The inverter I was looking at (which is substantially more than $100): http://www.amazon.co...y/dp/B000TKHMWK

So... feel free to get a power inverter, but be prepared for disappointment when it comes to battery life... Unless of course, you have several hundred dollars to spare and you go to many conventions, in which case it could definitely pay for itself in the long run.. until you have to buy another one due to capacity loss of course.

This post has been edited by LinkJun: 27 February 2012 - 07:35 AM

[Manifested Dreams]

The last two(?) years my partner in crime used her charger pack at Acen with no problem. We ran: Laptops, phones and ipods on it and never had a problem with things dying on us. The key is to charge it EVERY night, along with your other electronics. Then just use it once you actually need it.

Keep in mind that yes, it will wear out and you'll need to replace it. She had hers about three years, if I remember correctly.

We do a lot of shows though, so it saved thousands in the long run. I'm looking to get one for my table in the near future as well.

[Gwydion]

I just picked one up a little bit ago as I can't run an AA table without a hot glue gun, and thankfully my test run went well - if I make sure it's at 100% and charged every night, it should last me the weekend (I do have a battery powered gun as a back up, but it doesn't work very well and only lasts like two hours). All I have is one glue gun, of course, but it has to be plugged in all the time, so I'm very thankful that these got recommended in another thread! Not sure what I would have done had it not worked out... I probably would have had to spend the weekend in my hotel room, my sis calling me with what pins to make next. o_O