Trying to Stay Cool During Blackouts

Trying to stay cool on a hot day and the power is out? I got this 12V battery pack and 12V fan more than 10 years ago, and I’m still happy to have it.

I actually found a link for the old Century BPIP-99 Electri Pac model here. I remember it having 37 AH capacity, but according to the link it’s actually two 17 AH batteries (most likely 12V, so it has 34 AH total capacity). It has a built-in 300 watt inverter, but I rarely use it. These types of battery packs are fairly common, and I’m sure you can find similar newer models around.

You could also just get an SLA battery and wire a connector onto it, but it’s kind of handy to have the nice case with the connectors built-in.

I found the 12V fan at Camping World. I don’t see the same model there any more, but there are others that look just as good or better.

The 12V fan that I have is rated at 1.4 amps. I can generally use it all day or all night on the high speed setting before the battery wears out.

It’s no replacement for an air conditioner, but on a hot day it’s much better than nothing.

UPDATE (Oct. 2010): The batteries in the Electri Pac finally gave out and will no longer take a charge. They lasted longer than I thought they would. I’ll probably look for 20-40 AH SLA battery to replace it.