DIY power pack

[DaveJFT]

Now I am running lots off of my leisure battery, I thought it was time to upgrade my mk 1 power pack as it only had a single 12v socket. Plugging in a 12 v hub was asking for trouble with all the dew & damp at the moment so needed more sockets. The old one had parts nicked from an old jump starter including the on/off switch & voltage meter.

So, looking around at various toolboxes I eventually settled on a roll along Stanley 2 tier type with the intention of using the top half for kit storage. The bottom had the battery fitted onto a plywood base & 4x 12v sockets, meter, switch & a 30 amp relay. The revolving drawer in the base of the top half was removed & a steel copy made with no dividers to store cables.

I am really pleased with how it turned out.

Rob, what did you use to remove the "Stanley" badging \ log on the front panel of the box? It looks like it's printed on. Did you use a chemical remover or just good ol' wet'n'dry?

Cheers!

Dave

[Gina]

I use XLR connectors for my power distribution - much more reliable and cheaper that cig plugs and sockets (though they don't contain fuses).  Mine is a permanent, mains powered setup though.

[rob0971]

Rob, what did you use to remove the "Stanley" badging \ log on the front panel of the box? It looks like it's printed on. Did you use a chemical remover or just good ol' wet'n'dry?

Cheers!

Dave

IIRC it was a bit of both! Solvent cleaner then wet & dry.

[astronymonkey]

Hi rob,

sorry to resurrect this thread but did you manage to sort out a circuit diagram you could share. ?

im considering a smaller version using a yuasa 22ah battery for powering my dew control so is there anything I would need to amend to do this ?

Cheers

[rob0971]

Hi rob,

sorry to resurrect this thread but did you manage to sort out a circuit diagram you could share. ?

im considering a smaller version using a yuasa 22ah battery for powering my dew control so is there anything I would need to amend to do this ?

Cheers

Hi mate,

Post 13 gives the general layout in a text rather than pictorial form if that helps. This should work for any size battery.

[astronymonkey]

Cheers rob, so am I right in thinking that the battery has two wires to each terminal on for the switch circuit of the relay and the other from the power side...... ive had another look at the photos and I see that both wires may be tied together with blue tape.

if you were adding an ammeter where would this be placed to measure current draw ?

cheers,

cheers

[rob0971]

Sorry for the late reply. Yes there is 2 feeds, 1 each for the control circuit & the switched circuit. The ammeter needs to go in series on the switched circuit, anywhere will do, but before the outlet sockets of course.

Rob

[astronymonkey]

Thanks mate