[sarge912]

any vented 12v battery (car, truck, rv, etc) vents hydrogen as it discharges. This can explode so if you are using those kinds of batteries, keep them outside and away from sparks. venting is a good thing.

 

[The Saint]

drive through any parking lot on a sunny day and you will see those cardboard dashboard covers protecting the interior of the sheeple’s car.

Simply replace that cover with a foldable solar panels and keep your battery tip top charged, cigarette lighter plug will do it. Want to run a fan all day long to keep your truck aired out? This is the way.

If you’re driving or flying put this:

http://www.thinkgeek.com/interests/giftsunder50/c5a7/

in a window towards the sun and charge it up, clip it to your backpack on a day walk, all you need is sunlight, it contains a battery that will run your cell phone or iPod or flashlight. After the initial cost its all free portable energy.

 

[MikeK]

Nice set-up, you are far ahead of me. Recharging batteries with solar is definately on my priority list. One of other goals is to find out if I can run a small 5 cubic foot freeze. I don't know if thats possible and reasonably priced.

If I can make ice and keep meat frozen that would huge in my overall plan. Maybe I'm dreaming but now that my food preps are nearly complete I want to explore all the possibilties in that area.

I see you remember the licence plate idea my son is doing, he still does that on Saturday mornings and some during the week if he needs the money. So far that hasn't been any problems. I keep telling him to NOT tell his friends or you'll have competion!

A small freezer won't take that much current to run. Especially if you look for one of the ultra insulated units with a low draw compressor. It would sure cut down on the system requirements though. It's not prohibitively expensive to go in with a small solar unit. It just gets really costly when you try to run your whole house on it. Wind is where it's at if you have much of it. My land in Colorado almost always has enough wind to drive a generator.

I bought the small panel charger because of the accessory plugs. I have a couple rechargeable multi purpose lanterns that I use constantly, even now. It'll charge those too. One of them is a handy investment and cheap. I think I paid $20 or so back then. I see them for about $35 now.

I'm glad that license plate thing is working so well for your son. I'm in the middle of a move right now, but I'm seriously thinking of giving it a try when I get settled in. I may even get on wholesale with a supplier and offer high security fasteners and a selection of license plate frames, if the idea works out here.

 

[Troglodad]

Hey, that's a swell idea! Plant 'em outside, then at night bring them in!

If they have a power switch that'd be even better. My kids can't stand any darkness, so this would really help out. And unlike the cyalumes I keep in every room of the house, these are reusable!

 

[JohnP]

Be careful of those with a switch. I had some that didn't change the batteries when the switch was turned off.

~JohnP

 

[possenti]

Harbor Freight has some of these little dudes that I'm gonna pick up next weekend:

http://www.harborfreight.com/led-under-cabinet-light-96793.html

At the local store, I saw some larger models that aren't on their site yet.

 

[TurboNerd]

This has been an amazing thread so far. Lighting is one area I've been trying to shore-up and folks this thread has provided some great ideas. Thanks! Gotta get me some solar lighting and LEDs.

 

[The Dark One]

We have at least one of these in every room:
Amazon.com: Sylvania DOT-it Silver Self-Adhesive Bright White Silver LED Light: Home Improvement


They work flawlessly.

 

[TurboNerd]

Amazon.com: Sylvania 72178 Motion Activated Battery Powered Safety Light: Home Improvement

These seem like they'd be good for restrooms. Motion activated and will turn off when you've made your deposit and left.

 

[HarvestTime]

Great thread!!

 

[Silver Survivor]

Here's a pic and some info on the inverter I have. I really like it because it has a meter on it that tells you how much power you're using....

http://www.12volt-travel.com/powerdrive1500-dc-to-ac-power-inverter-with-usb-port-3-ac-outlets-1500-watts-p-9416.html

 

[aryaba]

A can of Crisco (or any shortening) with a candle wick (or multiple candle wicks, depending on size) in the middle.

12 pack of 48 ounces $43.21
http://www.meijer.com/s/meijer-vege...-/_/R-118157?cmpid=goobase&CAWELAID=317685683

Candlewick 75' large wick (probably enough for 24 crisco cans with 3 wicks per can) $4.60
Amazon.com: #4 (Large) Square Braided Wick: 75 foot Spool: Kitchen & Dining

 

[AlaskanTaterTot]

a inverter,a car battery 650 cca ran a regular light bulb for over 6 hours. it ran a string of white led x-mas lights for over 14 hours. i can recharge battery with jumper cables in 20 minutes. couple well placed strings put out a lot of light

 

[Cosmo]

I think the highest you can get right now is 2600 mAh NiMH. I will check the site I order from. Or better yet here you go:

http://www.batterymart.com/

IIRC, I bought a bundle pack of those TENERGY NiMH batteries last year for about $100 shipped (4 D, 4 C, 24 AA & 12 AAA) from All-Battery.com.

It looks like they changed the special up by reducing the number of AA batteries & added 2 9V batteries. They did reduce the price by quite a bit also.

My review is pretty good. I have to say they work as well as any other NiMH batteries we have used for the last 8-10 years (Energizer, Ever Ready & Rayovac) and are less as expensive as well.

 

[Roland]

I have a solar powered set up. It's a little expensive, but it works good. I start out with a 5 watt solar charger battery charger, I got at Harbor Freight, that charges up two deep cycle UPS batteries I have. Then I connected up a 1500 watt inverter to convert the 12 volts to 110 AC, and that'll power up standard lamps to light up my house. This also gives me up to 1500 watts of 110AC for small appliances as well.


Solar panel from Harbor Freight......$ 40.00
two UPS batteries........................$ 40.00 each
110 ac 1500 watt inverter.............$ 120.00
Misc cables, extention cords..........$ 25.00
Two lamps with bulbs about ..........$ 20.00

So for under $250 I have a solar powered emergency lighting system. This will also power small hand tools, drills, grinders, saws.... etc.

Hmmm...this is very interesting to me.

Being a complete moron when it come to electricity and solar stuff, if I understand correctly, you use your solar panels to charge up the battery (I assume they are car batteries, like the one under the hood of your car/truck). Once that is charged, you hook the inverter to it, and from the inverter, you can plug in a household item, say a coffee maker, and it will run off the battery you charged via the solar panels, and the inverter will ensure its pulling the proper load. Or am I missing something?

I see harbor freight has this set up on sale:

http://www.harborfreight.com/45-watt-solar-panel-kit-90599.html

Now, if I wanted to charge up say a standard car battery, how many of these would I need? And how long do you think it would take to charge a typical car battery (I think they are 12volt, not sure, like I said, I am a dolt when it comes to this stuff).

Also, how about this inverter:

http://www.harborfreight.com/400-watt-continuous-800-watt-peak-power-inverter-66814.html

Thoughts?

I recently purchased a 25w folding solar panel and Duracell 600 Watt Power Pack (http://www.duracellpower.com/backup-power/power-packs/powerpack-600.aspx)

I have played with them a bit, and they seem to work ok. I have need for the ability to recharge AA batteries and some other, small items in case of power failure/loss (batteries for walkie talkies, rechargeable flashlights (mine also have crank generators as well). I would like the ability to string up some internal lighting as well, because the flashlights, while OK, would not really be a long term type system.

Would this solar panel package and inverter (plus a car battery) be a good solution? Or should I grab a few more of the Duracell Power Packs instead of the car battery(ies).

Thanks in advance.

 

[Silver Survivor]

First off, I'm not using car batteries, I'm using two UPS deep cycle batteries, they are better suited for back up systems and charge better. I got them used at a battery store for $40 bucks each.

They will supply your electrical needs depending on how much wattage you are using. A coffee pot for example will pull a lot of watts and make your batteries run down faster than just a couple of 13 watt cfl light bulbs.

I came real close to getting the Harbor Freight inverter but bought one from 12 Volt-Travel instead, about the same money but mine has a really handy meter on it's front panel that will tell you how much wattage your using. The inverter you link to is only a 400 watt inverter, not enough in my opinion, but may be good for a couple of light bulbs. My inverter is a 1500 watt inverter, it costs more but it'll run more appliances with it.

The solar panel I'm using is only a 5 watt panel, which isn't much but seems to be enough to keep my batteries topped off and fully charged. Charging up a dead battery would be a different story. This is why I also keep a standard battery charger to charge up the batteries while I have my normal electricity still available.


Of course a higher wattage solar panel will give you more watts, but they are also more expensive.

I'm not that familiar with the Duracell unit, so I can't really review it.

 

[Optimist]

My rig has been in use for about six years now. Solar panels (I salvage the out of date ones from natural gas pump sites, with the company's permission) to 12 volt battery, though I can make up Edison cells if I have to. An LED will run for a very long time on a 12 volt truck battery.

 

[brutalsun]

You should be sleeping when there is no lights. Just saying, practice light control at night, don't give away your position. All lights at night say is..."hey someone is living here" Not necessarily a good thing.

 

[Silver Survivor]

Lighting tends to scare away burglars. They don't like lights. Or Dogs.

 

[Roland]

First off, I'm not using car batteries, I'm using two UPS deep cycle batteries, they are better suited for back up systems and charge better. I got them used at a battery store for $40 bucks each.

They will supply your electrical needs depending on how much wattage you are using. A coffee pot for example will pull a lot of watts and make your batteries run down faster than just a couple of 13 watt cfl light bulbs.

I came real close to getting the Harbor Freight inverter but bought one from 12 Volt-Travel instead, about the same money but mine has a really handy meter on it's front panel that will tell you how much wattage your using. The inverter you link to is only a 400 watt inverter, not enough in my opinion, but may be good for a couple of light bulbs. My inverter is a 1500 watt inverter, it costs more but it'll run more appliances with it.

The solar panel I'm using is only a 5 watt panel, which isn't much but seems to be enough to keep my batteries topped off and fully charged. Charging up a dead battery would be a different story. This is why I also keep a standard battery charger to charge up the batteries while I have my normal electricity still available.


Of course a higher wattage solar panel will give you more watts, but they are also more expensive.

I'm not that familiar with the Duracell unit, so I can't really review it.

Great, thanks for the info.

Am I correct, though, in my explanation (solar to batteries, batteries to inverter, inverter to plug in appliance) of how the system would/should work?

Any opinions on the Harbor Freight 3 panel system?

My uses/needs for power would be the following(in descending order):
A couple of lights for my interior
Recharging the batteries in my hand held walkie talkie radios
Recharging my flashlights (which, as mentioned, are also crank operated, and could be ommitted if it put too much strain on things)
Possible need for a couple of AA batteries to be recharged
Optional-small cube refrigerator from my college days

I like the Duracell unit, seems pretty hefty, has a built in light, clock, and radio. Comes with jumper cables for a car battery. Seems pretty robust, and price is not bad.

I think if I do go with the HF 3 panel set up, I will grab a few deep cycle batteries for it. I take it that they are specially designed to be run down and recharged a lot, rather then small runs and recharges, like say a car battery?

Thanks again for the help. Always an education here for me.