The most awesome portable battery thingy thing

Okey sorry for the topic

Im working on an awesome little box for carry along. This box need to be universal and practical so I reach out to you guys. My plan is to build and do an very very in depth documentation regarding this box.
The work have already started but I need your guys input!

Plan:
* 3s battery system (12V ish)
* USB charger output
* 12V output DC plug
* Small inverter lets say 200W 230VAC
* Regulated outputfor misc stuff ? (Not sure yet)
* Should be able to charge it via 12V power supply
* Should be able to charge it via Solar
* Should be able to hot wire to a car for smaller help. This is limited since the box is small! So its just very very small extra help
* Need to be small and easy to carry


Do you have any suggestions?

My plan is to document how I plan it, how I build the battery, how i add all components, how calculate and so forth...

If it has to be awsome... add some bleutooth connectivity (like bms/ on-off controll and stuff)
And if it is very portable, some high power led lighting is nice.
Wifi mobile access point?
And a PI for logging and visualisation of course.

The Led light is something i considered and i think i need to add that. Either one light in the case just as a torch or something you can pull out. Not sure yet?

The functions need to be practical so I wont add bluetooth soundbar to it in this stage

Charging on the net, when cloudy!

I'm liking the sound of this. I'm a bit obsessed with portable battery thingy things atm
Can I ask why 3s instead of 4s?

I agree some led lighting would be cool

Maybe neutrik connectors?

I've been playing around with 3S and 4S, 3S voltage to an inverter is so low that runtime suffers, 4S is too high but a step down buck converter works well with minimal efficiency loss and you get longer runtime. If you are charging with a car 4S should be more forgiving than 3S. I'm using this, 30A should cover most applications, probably cheaper direct from China: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06VXC32VS/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Yes there is advantages and disadvantages of doing 3s vs 4s and in this application i can see that 3s will work better. The equipment should not need any converter hence the 3s instead and I choose gear that will work on that. This to keep it as simple as possible. I dont want any extra inside that isnt really needed.

If im not mistaken the inverter I have now shuts down at 9.5V.

Could you make it powerful enough to jump start a car ? How about if you added some super caps ?

...wait. that would make it super, not awesome.

BTW.... I have a plastic ammo box to use as one of my first 18650 projects, are you planning smaller than ammo box size ?

Yeah I have been thinking of jump start of a car but with 2nd hand cells I would say its not doable unless you make it big. I will though make it possible to "help" start a car. Current idea is 3s15p and that should theoretically be able to supply up to 150A at most with alot of voltage sag.
Note that its old reclaimed laptop cells.

Super caps would be cool but not sure if its economical?

Current size is a rather small box. Think 2x 3s15p in size. Box not decided yet.

daromer said:

Yeah I have been thinking of jump start of a car but with 2nd hand cells I would say its not doable unless you make it big. I will though make it possible to "help" start a car. Current idea is 3s15p and that should theoretically be able to supply up to 150A at most with alot of voltage sag.
Note that its old reclaimed laptop cells.

Super caps would be cool but not sure if its economical?

Current size is a rather small box. Think 2x 3s15p in size. Box not decided yet.

Click to expand...

If you parallel a couple of LiPo cells you may be able to give it enough kick to start a car. You need something to isolate it from the 14v from the alternator when the car starts though. If you have a 150a theoretical supply from the laptop cells, adding a LiPo to give a little more oomph shouldn't break the bank. Hobbyking have plenty of cheap batteries a a pair of 5000mah 20c LiPo should be able to give that extra bit. Not to mention increase the capacity.

You should build it so it can be charged in a car - but you would need something to bring the 14v down. I was thinking perhaps build an iMax clone into it, then you could charge it, or anything else with it. That covers a huge range of charging possibilities - except for the solar.

Another suggestion is a DC supply for a laptop - you already said that you were thinking of some other regulated output.

That said weight will be a limitation. Although if you do use a couple of LiPo in there you will save some space and weight.

I would suggest that you make a torch that can be removed, and use backlighting for the plugs, so it is easy to find them at night.

Not going to buy new LiPo to add into it. Thats not the idea. And its not an issue having the battery hooked up when car starts for first seconds. The most likely dead Lead Acid will take most of the charge in the start Been there done that and started cars with 3S LiPo a couple of times when you used up the Lead Acid on the car to charge RC batteries


It will have a universal charger built in so it should be able to take anything like 12-30V to charge.
Laptop output is awesome and yeap needed. Wonder if I have a boost converter somewhere.

daromer said:

...Wonder if I have a boost converter somewhere.

Click to expand...

I'm sure you have more than one of them laying around...
You must have a windmill on the box to charge... d'ont forget a windmill...you need one...

I supose you checked the suitcase made by jehu

Geek said:

daromer said:

Yeah I have been thinking of jump start of a car but with 2nd hand cells I would say its not doable unless you make it big. I will though make it possible to "help" start a car. Current idea is 3s15p and that should theoretically be able to supply up to 150A at most with alot of voltage sag.
Note that its old reclaimed laptop cells.

Super caps would be cool but not sure if its economical?

Current size is a rather small box. Think 2x 3s15p in size. Box not decided yet.

Click to expand...

I would suggest that you make a torch that can be removed, and use backlighting for the plugs, so it is easy to find them at night.

Click to expand...

I just got one of these. Awesome for this type of build.
Has 3 modes and adjustable beam

Wattsup said:

Geek said:

daromer said:

Yeah I have been thinking of jump start of a car but with 2nd hand cells I would say its not doable unless you make it big. I will though make it possible to "help" start a car. Current idea is 3s15p and that should theoretically be able to supply up to 150A at most with alot of voltage sag.
Note that its old reclaimed laptop cells.

Super caps would be cool but not sure if its economical?

Current size is a rather small box. Think 2x 3s15p in size. Box not decided yet.

Click to expand...

I would suggest that you make a torch that can be removed, and use backlighting for the plugs, so it is easy to find them at night.

Click to expand...

I just got one of these. Awesome for this type of build.
Has 3 modes and adjustable beam

Click to expand...

Does go straight into a usb outlet? Never seen one of those. I need one lol.

daromer said:

Not going to buy new LiPo to add into it. Thats not the idea. And its not an issue having the battery hooked up when car starts for first seconds. The most likely dead Lead Acid will take most of the charge in the start Been there done that and started cars with 3S LiPo a couple of times when you used up the Lead Acid on the car to charge RC batteries


It will have a universal charger built in so it should be able to take anything like 12-30V to charge.
Laptop output is awesome and yeap needed. Wonder if I have a boost converter somewhere.

Click to expand...

That's very interesting. I will remember that next time I need to jump start a car, and have a 3s LiPo handy. Using Lead Acid to charge RC battery. How very handy.

2146 said:

Wattsup said:

Geek said:

daromer said:

Yeah I have been thinking of jump start of a car but with 2nd hand cells I would say its not doable unless you make it big. I will though make it possible to "help" start a car. Current idea is 3s15p and that should theoretically be able to supply up to 150A at most with alot of voltage sag.
Note that its old reclaimed laptop cells.

Super caps would be cool but not sure if its economical?

Current size is a rather small box. Think 2x 3s15p in size. Box not decided yet.

Click to expand...

I would suggest that you make a torch that can be removed, and use backlighting for the plugs, so it is easy to find them at night.

Click to expand...

I just got one of these. Awesome for this type of build.
Has 3 modes and adjustable beam

Click to expand...

Does go straight into a usb outlet? Never seen one of those. I need one lol.

Click to expand...

Sure does ?

A quote with a quote, in a quote with a quote? I think my brain may go thermal runaway

Now where to get that torch from?

* 3s battery system (12V ish)
ok simple enough

* USB charger output
depends on your current, AMS1117-5 will do it (not sure max input voltage)

* 12V output DC plug
buck converter so drops are compensated?

* Small inverter lets say 200W 230VAC
you said 3S, is it 100P, how long did you expect 200W to last? Do you expect pure sine wave at 200W?

* Regulated output for misc stuff ? (Not sure yet)
variable? otherwise, again buck converters?

* Should be able to charge it via 12V power supply
3S at 12V you won't need to turn it off as each reach 4V.

* Should be able to charge it via Solar
meh

* Should be able to hot wire to a car for smaller help. This is limited since the box is small! So its just very very small extra help
I suggest ultra caps, you should know better they can't deliver 600AMP kick start but caps can. there's heaps of videos (some probably fake about it)

* Need to be small and easy to carry
Not with a car kick starter.
define "small"? dimensions.

Tremors:
buck converter so drops are compensated? -> Direct output. Not needed to regulate since it is so close for most appliances. (Beware not more stuff than needed)

you said 3S, is it 100P, how long did you expect 200W to last? Do you expect pure sine wave at 200W?
-> Its 15p. 3s15p in my case is around 250Wh. So MAX 1 hour. Its not pure sine wave. Its the simpliest smallest box you can build It need to be very very easy to carry.

variable? otherwise, again buck converters?
-> Yeap not decided but i might take a buck/bost converter I have around. The static voltages is most important. Regulated 5V. unregulated 12V. regulated 19V

* Should be able to hot wire to a car for smaller help. This is limited since the box is small! So its just very very small extra help
-> For this to be usable those caps will take up more space than current battery bank. Im not sure that is the goal. Its not a car starter And proper caps cost alot more than all other things in this box and have therefore been left out as of now.

Not with a car kick starter.
define "small"? dimensions.

-> As I said this is NOT a portable car starter. A portable car starter I would have built with LiPo directly and not 18650 and cheap stuff I have around
Dont take me wrong but im not sure a portable car starter is the most needed thing. I would say a easy to carry box you can have when you have a power outage or you just are at a place with no electricity then you can pull it out. Its not made for a week use it is made as a smaller backup box only. therefore its important that it can be charged easy and all that