Portable 100 Watt Solar Power Generator Kit, I'm building for $680.00 for SHTF or WWIII

Harbor freight has kits for half the price. I puchased two 45watt kits with super coupons for under 400.00.
harbor frt

My father uses a similar system and has his devoted to running a sump pump in the basement and a very small fridge as he is diabetic and keeps his spare insulin in there in case of a power outage. Has worked flawlessly for a few years now and we live north of Buffalo NY, although the battery bank etc are on the inside of the house the panel stays in the same spot all year, just a change of elevation or angle between the seasons. Have you looked into gel cell batteries at all? They are a nice investment especially for portable use in my experience but opinions vary on them as well...

reply to post by SmikeS


Not what I had in mind at ALL. And at $400 not even including batteries, I'm much happier with the portable and compact design I have chosen here. I'm looking to make something futuristic almost, not something that anyone can pick up from old kits that have been sitting in a warehouse five years also. That looks ok to power the lamps that come with it I suppose.

First off I will agree with other posters about the ability of a 2x4 solar panel to generate 100w. They simply do not…and I too have first hand experience of this. However these days a laptop can charge on 65w and smart phones and tablets use even less. If you were to only have one battery charging at a time and one in use you can remove the regulator cause it's not needed. You can use a much smaller inverter and less wire. One deep cell 12v battery will be more than enough to charge a laptop and maybe a smart phone or tablet. With that setup you can scavenge batteries as you go spend a day charging it and then bury it for later use. After a while your AO will have many areas that have a fully charged power supply for you to plug in and use when you can't keep your travel battery charged due to rain or whatever.

I have been looking into something like this but smaller that's able to fit in my pack. Does anyone know of a place to get light weight portable 12v batteries? I don't want to hump a deep cell around. I have looked at the flexible solar panels and have decided that if I used like 4-6" strips with a slight space between them attached to a piece of canvas…it will roll up and be portable. It can then be hung off my pack or put out in a field or hung from a tree. You get the point…it's super portable and doesn't require stop time to charge things. Alternatively you can just run it directly and trickle charge things like phones and tablets without a battery and directly to your device.

Something like this but to my specs...Portable Solar

Good idea.

One question though,

If you are not planning on running a refridgerator, then why buy a 2500 watt inverter?

I have a 400 watt Black and Decker inverter I bought on Ebay, $25. It is more than enough to do what I need. I run a CFL light, radio, and charge our phones. I have a 92 amp hour deep cycle marine battery.

A 2500 watt inverter will waste your precious power and money. Why waste the power on a bigger if you are never going to use it?

From the comments above you seem to be hell bent on purchasing it. Buy an inverter for your needs, anything more is a waste. After all that is what you are after, knowledge and advice right?

Also your math will be a little off because batteries do not hold straight to the specs.

I follow the C8 formula. Take your battery AH divide by half(low/dead discharge) then divide that by 8. This is how much you should charge your batteries for maximum life.

70 Ah ÷ .5=35

35 ÷8=4.375 amps of charging power.

You can change your C factor but it will cost you battery life in the long run.

Also I wouldcosider wear and tear on your flexible panel. They just do not seem rigid enough to handle the constant mobility that you desire, but that is only my opinion.

reply to post by AlchemistSwami


AS
i went and lived on the property of a life long expert on off the grid survival
to get the knowing as opposed to the theory

what ever you do try to find out how it really is before you spend your money

hell, even if the weather gets as bad as forecast just weathering the storms in comfort will be an accomplishment

then you'll know for certain when it counts

Dan
ps
What you know will save you and people close to you...what you don't know might not turn out so good



because i can get batteries from the local marina i was reconditioning them
as long vas they read above 10 volts in the scrap pile
then you use epsome salts and distilled water to desulfate and charge the crap out of it
if it will start a car after that great keep it, if not you are out about $1. 00 time and materieals

reply to post by AlchemistSwami


I love it when people lead successful lives and prepare for the unexpected! Why can't I be like that? Thanks for the thread as this is something I have been wanting to do. I also would like to line a used dtv dish with mirrors and direct it at a pressure cooker which feeds steam to a truck turbocharger which turns a 24 volt truck generator and supplies the electricity to storage batteries. I would like to make it track the sun as it moves across the sky. Arizona where I live has sun 300 days of the year so I think both the solar panels and the solar steam generator would do good here. My neighbor recently put panels on the south facing portion of his roof and I bet he is real happy with it too, but I have not talked with him about it. I do not understand why every new home built in Arizona does not have solar panels.

reply to post by AlchemistSwami


Starred, flagged, and bookmarked.

I'm putting together a BOV and would love to have power on the go besides a gasoline generator. This is an excellent start. I have a nice steel truck toolbox that this would fit nicely into.

Thanks for sharing and inspiring me to do something!

You sound like you are very committed to your design with the larger inverters and such so I will not make any suggestions there but I do have one for you if you want to get your costs down more.

You have listed several large gauge wires that have ends crimped on them. If you have any mechanical skills and want to take a little time to make them yourself, you can cut costs quite a bit in that area. Basically you need the proper gauge and length wire for your application and you can allow for further upgrades to your system by upsizing the wire slightly with future needs in mind. Go to your local hardware store or electrical supply and get the wire sold by the foot, some lug ends and, if you want to go the extra bit and make it fancy and better insulated on the connector lug, some heat-shrink tubing.

The large lugs are typically made by a staking tool or some electricians have crimping dies in large hand-held crimpers or hydraulic presses that can do it. I have one similar to this one Listed on Amazon.com in my workshop for the occasional use as I do a bit of custom wiring every now and again, you just set the stripped cable into the lug, place the lug under the anvil and strike it down with a small sledge hammer. You might even know an electrician or a car-audio shop technician who can whip these together over a beer (or two ).

You have listed $70 for what I perceive to be about $20 in materials and time if you have a way to assemble them.
Also, the remote control switch for the inverter can probably be salvaged from a standard phone (RJ-12) cable and a toggle switch if you can solder.
-ETA: If you look here Cobra Remote Link, you will see that the remote control panel uses the 4-wire RJ12 phone cable and directs one pair of wires to a lighted switch (think doorbell button) and the other pair to an LED. I do not know if there is a resistor in series with the LED but a 1-4.7 K Ohm should do it if needed.

End ETA-
I hope that inspires you a bit more.

-EVC

Personally if the SHTF, I don't Think mobiles and Ipads would be viable.I want something powerful enough to run a fridge and freezer. Off the grid.

reply to post by AlchemistSwami

And if the skies are filled with nuclear debri and dark for years into the future? Its whats been predicted as a real possibility.

Youll need more than solar...

That's not a bad little unit.

You guys ought to have a look at caravans. I've got one myself with all that kit and more

i.e. it's a portable and completely off grid living compartment with;

-120w solar panel
-2 x 100 A/H deep cycle batteries
-Anderson plug to the battery pack for mutiple charging options i.e. I can plug it into my car when towing it and a generator as well as the solar panel option. Even a wind generator could charge it.
- 3 x 240v inverters around van for various small wattage appliances purchased with a battery pack system in mind (items like blender, electric shaver, food processor, phone / laptop chargers etc etc)
- Warm white LED lighting around entire caravan for ultra low current draw and biorythm friendly lighting.
- 2 way fridge that runs on propane or 240v (use inverter while towing)
-12 / 240v TV with built in DVD Player
-Bluetooth car stereo
- propane stove

Park this little baby in a cave upon impending doom scenario and all you got to do is run a solar panel / wind generator outside to keep the batteries topped up.

The only real limitation to my setup is the propane tank, but if you really want to get smart you could convert from propane to methane and utilise rotting vegetation / human waste.

SmikeS
Harbor freight has kits for half the price. I puchased two 45watt kits with super coupons for under 400.00.
harbor frt

edit on @#*+/../ by SmikeS because: (no reason given)

I just got two HF kits for $335

i plan to sell all parts of the kits that i do not need as i have a 350 watt charge controller already in my RV so i do not need there charge controllers.

reply to post by ANNED


there not bad , mine were installed on my camper shell, but I'm changing the setup. the hf charge controllers were giving me problems, I boiled out a few batteries... I've wasted a ton of cash on this stuff, its all very heavy, and I don't use laptops,cellphones, or half of all the gagets I lug around when I'm in the woods. the lights are great when I'm searching for stuff, but I like tosleep at night. if the shtf I doubt I will use half of this crap, its sad really, I've been wasting money on this stuff since Y2K. OPer I really like the flexible panel, but again, I love electronics, and everything to do with them, unfortunatly were better off with a sharp ax, hand tools and hunting gear.

reply to post by liejunkie01


I enjoyed reading all the comments when I got back from work. Thank you to everyone for their input and I do feel this is an interesting topic. It is sort of a hobby situation for me but I want the larger inverter (I have smaller ones too) so that I have the capacity to upgrade the system so that it indeed could run a small camp with refrigeration and other amenities.

If anyone knows of links to discussions about this topic, tutorials, supplies, etc. I would be interested in them. In reality I think having a plan to be prepared and ready for any tragic situation gives me peace of mind and makes it easier to go on about my daily life with all this madness going on in the world.

I have done some things I didn't learn any where, to be prepared and would also welcome any suggestions people have. One thing for example is I stopped buying bottled wine, and got the boxes of wine with a bag of wine in them. I have 7 now completely cleaned out and filled with brita filtered water, and I have them all (about 35 gallons) in a large coleman rolling cooler in the back of a closet. I can even take the tubing off my camelbak water pack and use it with those wine bags, and each one is about 12"x12"x6" and can easily fit in a pack.

I am really looking forward to this summer and lots of fishing and nights by the camp fire for sure. Again thanks for everyone that commented on the topic. I'll check back often to see if there is any more advice. Cheers fellow survivors!

Some other things:

Take what ever specifications that come from the manufacture, or the sales outlet, about these components, along with your arithmetic and simply throw them out the window-they are meaningless in real world applications.

You are never going to know what your system can do until it's up and running. The most problematic feature that strangles solar power is the sun itself. Any manufacture that tells you their panel can produce electricity on cloudy days is being deceptive and out and out lying. Yes, they can produce power however it is so weak it is eaten up in the transfer and back wash can drain your battery instead of charging it.

The placement of the solar array is more important than anything else. If you look at the placement of the arrays in a solar farm they mechanically rotate to follow the elliptic from morning until dark. For panels to produce maximum power the unobstructed sun must fall directly on the center panel. That is how solar manufactures get away with such outlandish claims about their panels production is assuming they will be aligned properly and follow the elliptic all day. That is why the math on the arrays production is flawed.

Dishonest manufacturers-keeping in mind the general public flawed perception on solar panels-is the main reason so many investors(the American taxpayer) lost so much on these projects.

Remember: The manufacturers production output is based on the array being used in the most efficient way possible.

Batteries can be confusing as it's important to remember that Marine grade is a hybrid or combination of a deep cell and a starting battery. You want to use strictly deep cell-not a hybrid or combination.

You would be much better off setting up the system, using a volt meter to determine output, then buy the inverter.

Maximum Power at STC(Pmax) 100W
Optimum Operating Voltage (Vmp) 17.8V
Optimum Operating Current (Imp) 5.62A
Open-Circuit Voltage (Voc) 21.6V
Short-Circuit Current (Isc) 5.97A

These specification on your solar panel are almost criminally misleading. Yes, they could put out these numbers being directly in line with the sun on the solstice from a thousand foot platform-in everyday use that is fantasy.

I'm not trying to poo-poo you project or anything and it looks like fun putting it all together.I just wanted you to know all the things about solar power I had to find out the hard/expensive way.

reply to post by AlchemistSwami


Wood gas can be used. That seems high for 100 watts. A cord a week would run a home I bet. Dry saw dust would be idea. If you have ever seen a match burn you will notice the flame does not touch the wood, but rather burns above it. The wood produces gas which burns and in a low oxygen environment you can capture this gas and run any engine on it even diesel I think.

reply to post by AlchemistSwami


Don't forget the solar powered lights, radios, hot water heaters, laptop charger and so on.. It's cheaper (at least where I live), and smaller to carry around.

In WW3 you will trying to survive in a nuclear winter and you wont get much sunlight for a long time so I don’t know if solar is the best option.

reply to post by AlchemistSwami


not that I'm against DIY, but harXXX freight has 45w systems for $180 ea. 3X45=135W 3X180=540 and that's not buying them during a sale. I know its not the same thing, but $ per Watt plus cost of your time.
well, have fun