Powering your Gear with a Hybrid F-150
Posted: Fri Sep 10, 2021 9:57 pm
OK folks. This is not at all likely to be the way in which most amateur astronomers are going to choose to power their astronomical gear, but for those of you who are looking at pickup trucks this might interest you.
We recently purchased a F-150 PowerBoost. The PowerBoost means it is hybrid and the thing has plenty of power and towing capacity. Particularly if you are towing a trailer to a dark site this gets kind of interesting.
The towing capacity of my truck is about 12,000 pounds so it can pull a pretty good-sized trailer. What's more is that it can power that trailer!
Mine has the smaller Inverter Generator. Only 2.4KW. There is another which will put out 7.2KW and might be better for most.
Now if you get the F-150 which is not a hybrid and get the 2 KW generator you'll get a modified sine wave generated by an inverter and your F-150's gas motor will run continuously if you are drawing power.
The Hybrid F-150 operates differently. The motor kicks in only when needed in order to pump more energy into the Lithium battery and output is stated to be a very clean pure sine wave.
I think that if you are using the 7.2KW beast that if you aren't running the air conditioning, driving around, etc. that a tank of gas is supposed to last you something like 36 hours.
With my 2.4KW generator that tank of gas is supposed to last for something like 85 hours at an ambient temperature of 86 degrees Fahrenheit! And at 2.4KW you can power a fair number of mounts. . .
I've not checked to see how little light I can put out with that F-150 so it might prove to be advisable to set up a light shield. The flip side is that mine has the option of perimeter lighting so I can light up a decent-sized area for set-up and take-down.
Yes, there is a 12V cigarette lighter type outlet and several USB outlets as well (USB-A & USB-C).
I'm not going to claim that everyone should go out and get a truck like mine. Not at all. But if you are thinking about buying a 1/2 ton pickup and you think you might want it to power your astro gear? This might be an option for you.
We recently purchased a F-150 PowerBoost. The PowerBoost means it is hybrid and the thing has plenty of power and towing capacity. Particularly if you are towing a trailer to a dark site this gets kind of interesting.
The towing capacity of my truck is about 12,000 pounds so it can pull a pretty good-sized trailer. What's more is that it can power that trailer!
Mine has the smaller Inverter Generator. Only 2.4KW. There is another which will put out 7.2KW and might be better for most.
Now if you get the F-150 which is not a hybrid and get the 2 KW generator you'll get a modified sine wave generated by an inverter and your F-150's gas motor will run continuously if you are drawing power.
The Hybrid F-150 operates differently. The motor kicks in only when needed in order to pump more energy into the Lithium battery and output is stated to be a very clean pure sine wave.
I think that if you are using the 7.2KW beast that if you aren't running the air conditioning, driving around, etc. that a tank of gas is supposed to last you something like 36 hours.
With my 2.4KW generator that tank of gas is supposed to last for something like 85 hours at an ambient temperature of 86 degrees Fahrenheit! And at 2.4KW you can power a fair number of mounts. . .
I've not checked to see how little light I can put out with that F-150 so it might prove to be advisable to set up a light shield. The flip side is that mine has the option of perimeter lighting so I can light up a decent-sized area for set-up and take-down.
Yes, there is a 12V cigarette lighter type outlet and several USB outlets as well (USB-A & USB-C).
I'm not going to claim that everyone should go out and get a truck like mine. Not at all. But if you are thinking about buying a 1/2 ton pickup and you think you might want it to power your astro gear? This might be an option for you.