Outdoor Patio Battery Powered Lights/Charger

[RzarEater]

The basic premise is that my new apartment patio does not have plugs outside to use for string lights or to charge a laptop/phone without an extension cord inside.  What I want to do is make a "box" that contains a large battery, a power inverter, and a "standard" wall outlet along with usb connections to use outside whenever I want.  I'm assuming these are sold somewhere, but I can't seem to find what I'm looking for. 

 

If they are more expensive than $100ish USD, I'm not exactly familiar enough with electrical components to DIY something without assistance.

 

If someone could send me in the direction of what I'm looking for, or would be able to help me determine all the components I need to build such a device.

[IgorM]

You know you wold have to charge it constantly. I think the best option is to wire some outlests to your patio. Otherwise you could use an UPS for that.

[RzarEater]

@IgorM

 

This is an apartment patio.  I cannot wire outlets.

[Acedia]

How about getting a few simple Solar Garden Lights? They have an internal battery charged by a small solar panel and turn on during night time to provide light.

[IgorM]

25 minutes ago, RzarEater said:

@IgorM

 

This is an apartment patio.  I cannot wire outlets.

The ideal, and easier, option would be tor run some wires and place outdoor outlets. I'm sure any electrician could do that. But if you want to go for the battery option this could help: https://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Build-a-Battery-Backup-Generator/ . Make sure that you use a water resistant box and consider the heat generated

[mariushm]

There are power banks with loads of lithium batteries inside, capable of powering a laptop or charging a phone for 10+ hours, but they won't be cheap.

 

For example Anker Power House 2 costs $500 but has 434 Wh of capacity (compared to ~ 40-60Wh a regular laptop has) so in theory your laptop and a phone would run from it for a day and then you can recharge it overnight.

 

There's cheaper devices but anything under around 200$ won't be worth it.

 

UPSes are cheap being mass produced and all that, but they're heavy because they use lead acid batteries. If you don't mind lugging one around outside every time you need it, you could buy one, remove the alarm from inside it (so it won't beep every few seconds while it's unplugged) and simply use it outside until it discharges.

 

If it's about not being able to drill holes for cables in your walls or windows, but you could have a cable outside your apartment / house ... maybe you can place on the window one of those QI charging surfaces and a receiver on the other side of the glass

For example an Anker QI charger is around 22$ : LINKIE

And receiver modules are cheap, around 2$ for a receiver module that produces 5v up to 1A : LINKIE

So you could have a power bank with inverter option outside the wall being constantly charged with around 5w (5v 1A) and the inverter can power your things for as long as the battery holds.

 

If you're in open air and really away from outlets, another option could be a plain old power generator that uses gasoline or a mix of gasoline and oil to produce power.

For example, this one was suggested in a video a few days ago, because it's small and relatively silent : Generac ix1800 : https://www.amazon.co.uk/Generac-5791-4-Stroke-Portable-Generator/dp/B002NKMG5M

It's expensive at around $300, but it's small and relatively lightweight at 27 pounds and can produce up to 800 watts.