Communication / Power Box

by PBR Street gang in Outside > Survival

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Communication / Power Box

So there are lots of portable power boxes out there and there are lots of Ham radio go kits ( radio in a box) This kit blends these together along with a iPad and Bluetooth speaker for extra flexibility .I now have a better organized set up that incorporates the following:

3 flavors of power

1 -750Watts 120VAC modified sine wave inverter

2- 12VDC cigarette style sockets

1- 12VDC banana plug / binding post ( easy to attach bare wire for external radios)

1- general purpose USB socket.

Many ways to Communications besides the cell phone

1 Kenwood TM-D700 Full Dual Bander 144/440MHz APRS™ and a built-in TNC

1 Yaesu VX-6R handheld 5W 144/220/440 Triband Handheld Transceiver

2 FRS radios

1-Mac iPad , which has many uses but I like to use the scanner app to monitor police

NOAA weather radio/ crank am/fm radio

All packaged nicely together one place for emergencies or even a possible Zombie Apocalypse!

Total weight 45lbs

Gathering All the Stuff

In this project, I used the following...because I had almost all of it laying around:

1 Pelican case #1510 ( you could use wooden crate or a big plastic tote)

1-35 Ah AGM battery ( the bigger the better)

1- B&D float mode battery charger ( small motorcycle battery tender is what I use)

1- 750W modified sine wave inverter ( 1500W max ) from harbor freight $37.99 { this also has a usb plug on it}

1- Kenwood TM-700 VHF/UHF FM Dual Band Ham Radio (this is a superior communication device with APRS etc.)

1-Yaesu VX-6R handheld Ham radio w/charger cables ( great radio and also picks up weather band 162.55MHz)

2- FRS radios - with lots of batteries

1- iPad w/chargers (works great for a Scanner and many other things)

1- Bluetooth Jambox speaker ( great for amplifying the sound from the iPad)

1- Ambient Weather NOAA crank style weather radio/ flashlight/ AM-FM radio

1- Homemade J-Pole 2 meter antenna ( another instructable soon )

1- bag of assorted charging adapters,BNC connectors, batteries and other small parts

1 -homemade 12v multi-function plastic box, it has a battery level indicator, 2-12v marine grade 10A cigarette lighter sockets and one set of banana plugs.

12V Breakout Box

In an emergency I need to have the flexibility to hook anything into this box so I installed 2 heavy duty marine grade 15A sockets and a set of 15A banana socket binding post for anything sort of bare wire hook up if needed. All circuits are fused for safety.This box is a made of polycarbonate and is 5"x5"x2-1/2" I like the plastic boxes because they are easy to drill,waterproof and durable.

I added a on off switch and an led power lamp for convenience. There is also battery power indicator so I can see the volt status on the battery at this point.

I used 6 gauge zipcord wire from Power Werx.com this cord is very flexible and can take the power load for the Ham radios on high power.

Putin It All Together

I wanted to keep the pelican box itself "intact" if by chance we are overrun by the "Undead" or we experienced an EMP that would render most electronics useless ( I know ...think Faraday cage ? I could add 2 layers of aluminum foil to the inside of this case and wallah ! a Faraday cage) and I needed to dump all this useless crap out for more important things like food and hatchets( hey these pelican cases are expensive) so I did not drill any holes in the sides or anything. The idea was to keep it a free flowing flexible system. So when "in use" the lid is kept open. The inverter and radio amplifier could possibly get hot so I used flexible power cable as much as possible here so things can be moved around.

The Battery is a 35Ah AGM battery that is perfect for lots of charge / discharge cycles. The inverter is a modified sine wave type. This is also not a long term setup, I could get crazy with more batteries and wind generators and solar but for now I am going to push the limits in a field trial test once the weather gets better. I will be getting a Sherpa goal zero solar panel soon.

I simply cut out a piece of foam for the lid to mount some of the items such as the weather radio the ipad and the Kenwood main control head unit to keep them secure while the lid is open. Some Pelican cases come with pluck-n-pic foam but this one did not so I found some rigid foam for the case lid. The iPad is protected by a otterbox case and it does the job nicely, I do not have a designated scanner so for now I use the iPad scanner app to monitor the local police channels...this is nice to have in case of a breakdown of humanity.

I used Velcro to keep things from sliding around. When the box is in storage I disconnect the battery and protect the terminals against shorting.

The remaining equipment is stored in tool pouches or plastic bags for easy access.I keep the power cords and adapters and batteries in a clear plastic bag so I can see what's in there. I like the ALOKSAK brand.

It's always a good idea to keep a small flashlight accessible because in most movies I have seen, when there are Zombies there is no electricity...
I keep 2 FRS radios in this kit for short distance communications ...these come in great for setting up Antennas or Zombie scouting patrols.

Communication / Power Box