quote:
Originally posted by terracore
Thanks to Tom's encouragement I succeeded in running a regular 120v AC appliance off a Ryobi battery.
I used a product like this: https://www.amazon.com/Nextrox-Converter...tl?ie=UTF8&qid=1508466201&sr=8-3&keywords=24v+to+12v+converter&linkCode=ll1&tag=pw016-20&linkId=929ed83782c2a8364b4516ff8479968e
to step the voltage down. I actually got mine from eBay but can't find the listing now but it appears to be the same product. It steps 12-40 volts down to 12. They are allegedly usually used on golf carts to run the 12v "cigarette" plug where automotive accessories can be plugged in. That covers the 15-21v range Ryobi batteries run at low/high charge.
Hook-up looked like this:
Ryobi battery---voltage transformer---1000 watt inverter---floor stand variety AC oscillating fan with 3 speeds (test subject).
The fan ran great at all 3 speeds. I let it run for several minutes to see if anything got warm. Nope. Inverter read 12.2v the entire time without dropping.
This was a "proof of concept" type experiment to see if it was possible without blowing anything up. So far, no explosions. When I have more time I can test the voltage on the battery to measure draw etc but there is nothing on the fan that indicates how many watts it uses so I need to get another test subject.
ETA: corrected specs
So to continue the story...
I hard wired the converter into a Ryobi radio. It has a recessed area in the back to strap in a cell phone or MP3 player and with 30 seconds of reciprocating saw work I was able to widen that recess to fit the converter perfectly.
It took about 8 screws to separate the radio into two halves and attaching the converter was very easy. I drilled 4 holes in the back half of the radio to accommodate the converter wires. The converter is screwed into the back. This is a permanent installation.
The radio still works great as a radio, and when I hook the wires hanging out the back to an inverter, it powers AC appliances. The Ryobi radio doesn't have to be on for this to work, but if I turn it on, the Ryobi battery gauge will activate when the battery is getting low.
I've been running a floor stand oscillating fan on "low" (most of the time, I've ran it on high now and then to cool the mad scientist) using a 3 amp hour bootleg ryobi battery for 40 minutes and the battery gauge on the radio hasn't come on yet. I think I will let it run until it pukes.
ETA: To test the various batteries, here was my non-scientific method- 1.5Ah lithium ion battery ran flat screen TV (on 100% brightness) for 13 minutes. The 3.0Ah bootleg battery ran it for 18 minutes.