Bluebox

[wrybread]

I just measured the power consumption of a Linksys WRT54GSv4 router, was amazed by how little power it's drawing, even with the xmit power boosted to 150mw:

Bootup: .15 amp @ 12.7 volts (1.9 watts)
Seeking network: .17 amp (2.1 watts)
Connected to network: .23 amp (2.9 watts)

Note that this is connected directly to a 12 volt power supply, in this case my car battery. In other words, I'm not using a wall transformer, which would probably pull much more power than that.

Also, the WRTs use the same pin and polarity as the most common cigarette lighter cable, which is handy dandy for plugging directly into a car's cigarette lighter socket. I've found Radio Shack pretty much useless for getting these cables, they'll charge you a fortune and you'll wind up with something crappy. For the same price you can (in the states) go to any Wolf Photo and get the 4-pack of Quantaray rechargable batteries with the charger for $22, and use the cigarette lighter cable from that to power your Linksys, and have a set of good rechargeable batteries and a fast charger as a bonus...

I glued 4 rare earth magnets to the base of my bluebox, and now when I use it on the road I stick it on the roof of my van, and plug it directly into the cigarette lighter, works like a charm.