[Metropropolis]

Thanks for everyone's replies. Beesource is knee deep in tinkerers and creative thinkers, and this thread didn't disappoint.

The suggestions of going to a garage sale and buying an older charger are sensible, but the risk is that I'd go to 20 garage sales and not find one.

At this point, I've obtained a small 12V UPS battery which I can use inline to get the juice flowing - For my purpose this works much better than storing/transporting a car battery.

I've also obtained a 12v/2A computer power supply, which I'll be direct-connecting to my OAV - Should work, but how fast remains to be seen.

This all allows me to test a few different scenarios.

It will be interesting to see what is learned, particularly in terms of cost/convenience/efficacy.

Will update in a few days.

Thanks again for everyone's responses.

 

[Metropropolis]

I just use my battery car jump starter (example: http://www.amazon.com/Schumacher-XP.../dp/B004EIDD2Q/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1413500732&sr=8-10&keywords=jump+starter). You can buy them cheap, charge the with an extension cord, a easily carry them to where your hives are.

This model was also recommended by Michael bush - And looks promising.

Unfortunately, I've already bought a comparably priced one locally, and would have a hard time justifying paying twice.

I think I'm going to have to live with my original purchase and just make it work.

Hopefully others are in a better position to benefit from your confirmation that the Schumacher is in fact OAV-compatible.