Small Cabin

# Posted: 14 Jan 2026 07:25pm
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While this was $45 it's a battery powered shower/sink faucet. Charges with USB. We originally used this for showers back in the day but it's great for when you need water outside somewhere and the hose won't reach. Fill a 5 gallon bucket with water, drop the submersible pump in and instantly you have a kitchen sink or outdoor shower. Works great for cleanup etc.

# Posted: 14 Jan 2026 07:44pm
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Think I have an old Coleman branded one similar that runs of a 4xD bat pack. Wonder where I stashed that....

# Posted: 14 Jan 2026 08:35pm
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Quoting: gcrank1

Think I have an old Coleman branded one similar that runs of a 4xD bat pack. Wonder where I stashed that....

While that would be handy, D batteries or any alkaline battery are expensive one use items. Rechargeable changes many things in the world. I'm at a point where I seek out items that use 18650 lithium rechargeable batteries. They have a high capacity, recharge fast, and can go through thousands of cycles before they wear out.

I do like my old Coleman gear though

# Posted: 14 Jan 2026 10:41pm - Edited by: gcrank1
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Yeah, I love my rechargeable lithium bats, but the shower unit is/was far from a 'one time use', after all, it isn't the kind of thing you take Lonnggg showers with, just a wet down, soap up and rinse off. A 2.5 gal bucket of sun heated water was enough for the two of us to do a refreshing clean up. Iirc one set of 4 lasted us a summer when we were RVing fairly often.
And I buy the cheap bats at the Dollar Store

; the Heavy Duty's work quite well.
That said Im thinking it wouldnt be a hard thing to wire that D cell bat box up to a small 12v LFP bat (like the emergency light over doors thing) and supercharge the pump

(like Tim the Toolman Taylor, lol)

# Posted: 15 Jan 2026 09:12am
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Many many moons ago I modified a garden sprayer ( think Hudson sprayer ) and added a Schrader valve plus swapped the hose for a longer one and cut the wand down to a few inches. Painted it black. We'd fill it with water and put it in the sun all day. When ready to shower I'd hook a 12v tire inflator to the valve and plug the inflator in to a power box. The pressure release valve would keep the pressure reasonable and could get a nice long shower. For many years we considered this the best innovation we had. Prior to this it was a water bottle, I'd punch a hole in the lid with my pocket knife. That was before we had any buildings up at all. LOL

paulz
Member

# Posted: 15 Jan 2026 01:01pm
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Just pumped the diesel out of my dead backhoe to use in the cabin genny. Two thoughts: one the genny needs fuel, two this diesel is from the summer or more, good test to see if it runs the genny. Anyway filled the jug in no time.

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# Posted: 15 Jan 2026 03:57pm
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Thanx for the test Paul!

paulz
Member

# Posted: 15 Jan 2026 04:21pm
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Quoting: philpom

18650 lithium rechargeable batteries.

Speaking of rechargeable batteries, I was digging through the battery drawer yesterday and came across this old HF stiff. The charger says Thunderbolt Magnum, so do these 4 AAs. Oh boy, says I. Not so fast. 2 of them are simple alkaline, other 2 are Zinc Chloride, all non rechargeable. Charger says for NiMH. If I had any probably long gone. Still have lots of AA stuff, including this gas pumper, rechargeable AAs would be nice, if they still have.

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# Posted: 15 Jan 2026 09:50pm
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Quoting: paulz

rechargeable AAs would be nice, if they still have.

I bought quite a few of the Amazon basic rechargeable double and triple A's. They've been doing good for a few years. Better than the Rayovac and at least as good as the enloops imo.
I got that pump in today. It does pump pretty good.
Thanks for cheap gadget tip.

paulz
Member

# Posted: 16 Jan 2026 08:42am
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Quoting: darz5150

basic rechargeable double and triple A's

Ordered, thanks! About as cheap as the dollar store alkys.

paulz
Member

# Posted: 16 Jan 2026 10:35am - Edited by: paulz
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Oh, and yesterday I drove from the cabin to the little market about 5 miles away. Left the key on after rolling up the window and wife shopped for awhile. Came out, truck barely cranked, no start. Battery must be getting weak but usually fires right up.

Luckily carry this jump starter under the seat. Fired right up! Lifesaver! Don’t know lithium this is but it sure works.

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# Posted: 16 Jan 2026 12:15pm
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Yep, a lithium jump pack, jumper cables, a tow rope, a decent knife and for us an old cig lighter corded tire pump are 'dont leave home without'.
That stuff has been way more useful to us than a 'bug-out-bag'

paulz
Member

# Posted: 17 Jan 2026 01:25pm
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Yep carry all that, plus a can of fix a flat and small fire extinguisher.

paulz
Member

# Posted: 20 Jan 2026 03:36pm
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Quoting: darz5150

I bought quite a few of the Amazon basic rechargeable double and triple A's

Mine arrived. Put 4 on the charger, along with the 18650 lithium I have sitting around. No charger for the triple As.

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# Posted: 20 Jan 2026 04:43pm - Edited by: gcrank1
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You can use the same charger for the 3A as the 2A if you jockey up a conductive spacer to make em as long as the 2A.

# Posted: 20 Jan 2026 06:02pm
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Quoting: gcrank1

You can use the same charger for the 3A as the 2A

That's the way mine are.
I have a ray o vac and an EBL charger.

# Posted: 20 Jan 2026 09:32pm
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May be helpful, if you check Amazon you can find adapters that convert AA rechargeable batteries to D or C batteries. I have a set, very useful for rechargeable AA.

# Posted: 20 Jan 2026 11:31pm - Edited by: darz5150
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Just took a look at your charger pic. It looks like my chargers. The little tab, is the spacer for AAA.
With mine you have to charge them 2 at a time. Next to each other to complete the loop. It can be a AAA with a AA like my pic.

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paulz
Member

# Posted: 21 Jan 2026 09:33am
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Ha, you’re right Darz! And I was going to dig for spacers today. I ran AAs for a couple hours yesterday but after reading the manual it says 8-12 hours so I turned off the inverter. And I guess the red light never turns green {the one on the 18650 did). I’ll take them back to the grid for charging, or just measure whatever the charged voltage is. It also says don’t mix bats in the loop..

https://manuals.harborfreight.com/manuals/62000-62999/62154-792363621540.pdf

# Posted: 21 Jan 2026 10:25am
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Good deal.
I would definitely follow whatever your charger manual says.
My ray o vac light never shuts off, and it takes a while to charge the batts.
I charged 8 batts in the ebl yesterday in a few hours.

# Posted: 21 Jan 2026 10:49am
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I always meter check 'traditional' bats when a device is fading, usually it is one of the bunch that is way low, not all going low equally. Any 2A or 3A that is 1.25v or more gets saved for flashlight use, I found those below that just dont have enough beans left to mess with. Also those with a slow rise on the needle even if to 1.25v I throw.
I bet Lots of decent bats get trashed because many (most?) folks throw them all and put in new.
Now that so much stuff has become USB C port rechargeable I look for that when shopping.
For charging multiple bats, just like with the bigger bats, it is probably good to sorta match the bats low voltage to charge as a pair.
Ive also noticed recharged A type dont read as high when full as the old chemistry bats, and with those I used some years ago they did not seem to last as long as even the Heavy Duty non Alkaline ones. Maybe the new gen rechargeable are better?

# Posted: 21 Jan 2026 12:10pm
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Quoting: gcrank1

Ive also noticed recharged A type dont read as high when full as the old chemistry bats, and with those I used some years ago they did not seem to last as long as even the Heavy Duty non Alkaline ones. Maybe the new gen rechargeable are better?

Older rechargeable A batteries were niCad and had a lower capacity. Newer ones are NiMH and offer greater capacity for longer runtime. While alkaline start around 1.5v they have a usage curve that goes straight down to 1v when dead. NiMH batteries start at 1.2 v and stay there until the end of their capacity and drop off quickly to 1v. You must use a NiMH specific charger for the modern batteries or they will be damaged and could pop or melt down.

paulz
Member

# Posted: 21 Jan 2026 12:35pm
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Here’s my meter for all the non liths, a-d does 9v too. That’s one of the new nimh in there now, was on the charger briefly. I’ll see how they read after full charge and be my gauge reading.

My smoke, co, multi meters and remotes are still the main non lith users.

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# Posted: 21 Jan 2026 12:48pm - Edited by: philpom
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NiMH batteries are good for mostly high drain devices were you go through batteries often like flashlights, radios, etc or devices that get charged daily like solar lights but they have a downside, they self discharge rather quickly. This makes them less than ideal for remotes, smoke detectors, meters etc. They qill lose 10% or more capacity per month just sitting in a box. I think k it's 20% the first day. Enaloop <sp> claimed to have resolved the self discharge issue but those are pricey.

Also consider that devices like smoke detectors originally designed for alkaline use voltage to alarm you when the battery is running low. Because NiMH has an elongated voltage curve the alarm won't trigger until the absolute end of the battery charge.

paulz
Member

# Posted: 21 Jan 2026 02:22pm
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Quoting: philpom

NiMH batteries are good for mostly high drain

Thanks for mentioning, I’m pretty clueless on these, other than less than a buck each on Amazon. We’ll see how they do, can’t be much worse than the dollar store cheapies, go through those like potatoes.

My higher drain stuff, lights fans laptop etc are all usb recharge these days.

# Posted: 23 Jan 2026 09:25pm
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I just ordered this combo pack. It comes with a USB c smart charger and 4 AAA & 4 AA batteries. You can charge 1 battery in each slot. And it has a light indicating the charge on each batt.
It will come in next week. Paul I know you and some others like the USB charger gadgets. Me too.
Maybe you could hook it up direct drive off your batteries without an inverter.
I will post again after I get it.
Not a bad price for the charger and 8 batteries.

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paulz
Member

# Posted: 26 Jan 2026 11:25am
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Quoting: darz5150

I just ordered this combo pack. It comes with a USB c smart charger and 4 AAA & 4 AA batteries

I need that too. Been at the grid all weekend, new Minh’s on my charger. They were 1.28v in the wrappers, about 1.4 now. We’ll see how they do in my remotes etc. I did find a pencil flashlight that takes AAs, but never use it. I’m more like this guy now.

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FishHog
Member

# Posted: 26 Jan 2026 12:09pm
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Quoting: darz5150

Maybe you could hook it up direct drive off your batteries without an inverter.

My cottage is wired for 12v lights. A couple reading lights beside the beds. I bought some cigarette usb plugs. Took them apart and wired them into the light base cutting the usb slot with a dermil. Epoxied them in place so all my usb stuff charges directly off them.

The only thing I use my inverter for is laptop and power tools charging

# Posted: 26 Jan 2026 12:50pm - Edited by: darz5150
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Yah Fish. I'm wired for 12 volts and grid power.
I am still using an old HF charge controller with USB, cig plug, 1/4 inch jacks. But I also got a few 12 volt dashboards with 2 USB ports, cig plug and volt meter. I put 2 of them on my golf carts.

Dashboard

HF control box