My solar Panel Collection.

This is my small solar panel collection.

The biggest one is a ten watt panel in the upper right of the pic. There are also a few 3 watters, a 5 watt panel, and two are 6 volt-3 watt panels. I have been collecting them for a couple of years, buying one here and there from Ebay when I happen to have an extra 10-30 dollars. I think I payed $40 for the 10 watt panel. I did a few rough calculations and I believe that I have about 40-50 watts.

I also have a 60 watt solar charge controller, not in the picture. It was a cheap Chinese one that I think I paid about $17.00 for. My inverter is a Black and Decker 400 watt 12 volt DC to 120 volt ac. I payed $22.00 for it also from Ebay.

It isn't much but it is a start.

I put this in the survival forum because if the time is called for, I can go get the battery out of the car and run the radio, recharge the phones, and the kids Nintendo DS's, my portable CB weather alert radio and run a small led light. Not all at once though.

I know that deep cycle batteries are the way to go. I am hoping to buy a 110 amp hour marine battery this summer. We will have to see about that because of the current state of gasoline prices

Lj01 just wanted to share my little setup with you all and I would like to say that if you have a spare 20-30 bucks you can start your own little project. It has already payed off a little bit when the power went out this winter.

I have some led diodes and some resistors to make my own 12 volt led lights.

I will add to this thread in due time with pics to show my setup in operation. This will include amperage and voltage readings on my voltmeter.

Feel free to add info if you would like. I have done a litle research on this topic and if you have any questions feel free to ask.

I am sorry for hitting the enter key too soon when I started this thread.

I'll be back....loves me some solar panels.....

Des

reply to post by Destinyone


I really hope you was'nt expecting a big setup. Maybe I should have said small solar setup or something.

I feel kind of embarrassed about my small setup.

It is a start.

Originally posted by liejunkie01
reply to post by Destinyone

 

I really hope you was'nt expecting a big setup. Maybe I should have said small solar setup or something.

I feel kind of embarrassed about my small setup.

It is a start.

It's a fine fine,. really fine start.....and worth the wait....

Des

reply to post by Destinyone


I plan on putting it all in one unit.

I need to do some wattage/voltage matching before I connect them together.

I will add more pics when I get around to it. I am currently waiting for the sun to rise a little higher in the sky. My yard is pretty shady in most spots so it might be a little while.

It gets really old chasing the sun around the yard

Excellent start. S&F.

Have you thought about using mirrors to increase the output of the PV panels?

Or ...With a little clever math, a stepper motor and an old computer, you could set the panels up so that they track the sun.

Or... Use an old foxtel dish and some spray chrome and you could fit one of the smaller panels at the foci of the dish (feedhorn) set up the whole unit to track the sun.

Solar panels can bring countless hours of joy.

reply to post by liejunkie01

At the very least you could use these to power energy saving light bulbs (CFL's or compact fluorescents) and/or charge rechargeable for flashlights and similar. I must admit I'm kinda waiting for the next generation of solar cells as I find the ones available now too expensive for what they offer but the flip side of that is I have nothing. I really am not expecting a SHTF scenario, even in 2012 but I may well be wrong.

reply to post by OccamAssassin

Or ...With a little clever math, a stepper motor and an old computer, you could set the panels up so that they track the sun.

Believe it or not, I have a few stepper motors. I took apart a couple of old, old printers from the company I worked for. On the way to the trash can I tore them apart, and stuck the motors in the car.

Do you happen to have a link on how to do this? If not it is cool I can look it up sometime.

The mirror idea is a pretty good idea. I am goin to have to tinker with that.

I think when the shtf solar panels will be currency, so it's good to stock up as much as you can. I made this small setup a while ago for emergencies. I use a 10w panel and it can fill the caps (16.2v 500 farads) in about half a day. The setup is fully automatic, turns the charging on and off as well as the light, so just plug it in and no worries, but can also do manual. Batteries would be the more economical choice, although they can't be stored with no charge, or they die. I plan to put this in a metal container, in case of emp or similar.

img215.imageshack.us...

Originally posted by LightSpeedDriver
reply to post by liejunkie01

 

At the very least you could use these to power energy saving light bulbs (CFL's or compact fluorescents) and/or charge rechargeable for flashlights and similar. I must admit I'm kinda waiting for the next generation of solar cells as I find the ones available now too expensive for what they offer but the flip side of that is I have nothing.

I really am not expecting a SHTF scenario, even in 2012 but I may well be wrong.

edit on 30/3/12 by LightSpeedDriver because: Correction

I am in the slow process of acquiring some 12 volt lights. I have the led's, but I really hate soldering. The small amorphous solar cells got the brunt of my lack of soldering skills. They are still usable but the tabs are gone on a few of them. I was originally going to solder up my own panels but after that I decided to go the smaller wattage panels on Ebay. I found out that the winter time is when they mostly go on sale.

I really am not expecting a SHTF any time soon, but they come in handy camping or when the power goes out for a while.

2012 I am also a skeptic

I wonder if telescope trackers would track the sun they track stars and planets well oh I forgot the sun is a star ha ha. I think solar pannels are nice , hope to get some if the price would go down some per watt.

reply to post by Freezer




That is one nice looking job.

One day when I google enough, maybe I can accomplish this.

I was not expecting that at all.

If you do not mind me asking, about how much did you spend on this setup?

reply to post by oldrockinchair


Start small.

They add up over time. I only purchased one at a time. Except for the 6 volters. I got them both for twenty dollars.

Go to ebay and just look up watt solar. Be prepared to look through a whole crap load of stuff, but patience sometimes pays off.

I would like to just buy some 100 watters, but I didn't win the mega millions

Seriously though, it becomes sort of an obsession. I really think it is about time to make the girfriend mad and buy another one.

Originally posted by liejunkie01
reply to post by OccamAssassin

 

Or ...With a little clever math, a stepper motor and an old computer, you could set the panels up so that they track the sun.

Believe it or not, I have a few stepper motors. I took apart a couple of old, old printers from the company I worked for. On the way to the trash can I tore them apart, and stuck the motors in the car.

Do you happen to have a link on how to do this? If not it is cool I can look it up sometime.

The mirror idea is a pretty good idea. I am goin to have to tinker with that.

You may find something helpful here.....

How to Create a Solar Panel that Tracks the Sun


Although this guide shows how to create a control system to make a solar panel track the sun, its main purpose is to show how to write your own program for a PC to read analogue inputs and then control stepper motors according to your requirements. As such, the principles learned here pave the way to a wide range of other applications. The focus of this guide is mostly on the hardware and software to implement the control system with only a passing reference to the mechanics involved in linking the stepper motors to the solar panel.
We will be using two boards from the “Bee” range from PC-User for this control system. They are the “WASP”, which will provide the analogue inputs and the “StepperBee”, which provides the drive for both stepper motors. To implement the software we will be using the multi-board DLL (Beehive) provided as a free download at the following link. www.pc-control.co.uk/beehive.htm
www.pc-control.co.uk...

And more here....this is part 3, you can view 1 and 2 on youtube.

reply to post by Destinyone


Thank you for the info.

I see some research in my near future.

reply to post by liejunkie01


The solar controller is sold as a kit (cirkits) which you solder yourself, which was around $50. I choose this controller because it was the cheapest I could find with an adjustable cutoff. The circuit driving the led, is a SEC 18 board (spatial energy coherence) made by Dr. Stiffler, but it's purpose isn't really for driving leds, but it's super efficient so I used that, which powers a acrichi 110v led. The caps cost about $120, but I bought those caps used and on sale. New they would be around $80 for each cap (x6). The whole setup cost around $250, but it took a lot of labor. Without the caps it's fairly cheap for the quality and efficiency.

reply to post by Freezer


Thank you for the info.

That is a little out of my price range at the moment. It looks like I will be going the lead acid marine battery route. I also have my sons scooter battery and my daughters power wheels batteries if I needed them. Although they would not be happy, the option is there.

Here is my wonderful cheap, chinese, no name brand charge controller, a few led's, and my resistors. I went to the resistor calculator and ordered them also. I think the blue resistors came with the leds. I believe that they are for ac voltage, but do not hold me to that.


I really feel like I am going to break the charge controller I feel like it can fry out at any moment. and it is not even hooked up. I plan on upgrading in the future.

reply to post by liejunkie01


If you have red LEDs to help your night vision, you should look into blue instead. Your eyes adjust better and faster from blue to being outside at night and the color doesn't carry as far either if their was a leak in the blinds.

Blue also looks more natural at night and blends in with the surroundings, Red stands out as a un-natural light.

Pretty cool though, I'll give you that. Will you be posting instructions on how you set this up?

reply to post by liejunkie01

You should check out Lidmotor's channel on youtube, he's got some good videos of efficient light drivers which will be a bit more efficient than a typical led driver. The best I have found was Dr.Stiffler's sec15 circuit, you can find it at the energetic forums under the title high voltage from thin air, but it will take some diggin because that thread is pretty long. It can drive about 50 leds with around 1/2 a watt off a 12v la battery. His newest setup uses no batteries, although you have to be at expert level and beyond to get something like that to function.

reply to post by TDawgRex


Thank you for the led color info.

I believe that the bigger one's are red and the smaller one's are white. It has been a little while so I need to test them.

Will you be posting instructions on how you set this up?

Sure, maybe I can break them out this weekend and start matching some panels. I will add more pics when I do.

Of course it all depends on the weather. There was severe thunderstorms with hail today. I need to check the forecast.

Sorry for the late reply. I was engeaged in another thread.