TomHiggins ' Question

KeithLofstrom 's Answer

Interesting question. A garden variety Alkaline D cell will produce 10 Amp-hours. These have a voltage of 1.5V, and drop to 1.2V near end-of-life; an energy store of 13.5 Watt-hours. So 6 of those would produce 9V new, 7.2V end-of-life, just enough voltage to keep a WAP going. At an average of 5.5 Watts for the WRT54G, that is about 14 hours of running time for one WAP, 7 hours for 2.

The cheapest way to power a WAP for a LONG time is to use a car battery. While it is probably NOT a good idea to connect the WAP to a car battery while the car is running (alternators and ignition systems make nasty voltage spikes), wuth the engine off it should be OK. A typical car battery stores >12 volts at 50 Amp-Hours, or 600 watt hours. That's 4 days of running time for a WAP.

As long as you can get the hood opened and the battery out of there before the owner comes back, that is less than 2 crimes per week

eom