Portable Solar Power

[MEANZ06]

anyone have this or similar? was thinking about getting one for when i need power when a plug in isn't available... what you guys think?


GOAL ZERO Holiday Offer (http://www.goalzero.com/holiday/)

[bee utey]

Quite frankly you only buy a complete kit off someone if you don't have any electrical skills! I would suggest you try US ebay.com and look for solar panels, solar regulators, deep cycle batteries etc and choose the goods to suit your personal needs.

[MEANZ06]

Quite frankly you only buy a complete kit off someone if you don't have any electrical skills! I would suggest you try US ebay.com and look for solar panels, solar regulators, deep cycle batteries etc and choose the goods to suit your personal needs.

i don't have any electrical skills, and thanks for your reply...

[bee utey]

OK to put it another way, you need to tell us what it is you need power for. It is very easy to purchase a fancy rig that is totally inadequate as well as overpriced. IE are you walking, 4WD camping or powering a hunting lodge?

Solar panels, needless to say, work best in full sun, an overcast day or heavy tree cover will reduce useful output to as low as 10% of maximum. A portable rig made from rigid panels can be cheap and effective so long as you get someone to wire it up for you.

[MEANZ06]

OK to put it another way, you need to tell us what it is you need power for. It is very easy to purchase a fancy rig that is totally inadequate as well as overpriced. IE are you walking, 4WD camping or powering a hunting lodge?

Solar panels, needless to say, work best in full sun, an overcast day or heavy tree cover will reduce useful output to as low as 10% of maximum. A portable rig made from rigid panels can be cheap and effective so long as you get someone to wire it up for you.

i am thinking of using it for a few electrical devices on my vacation property. a light or two, laptop, maybe a TV. the place gets plenty of sun so thats not an issue...

i like the idea of this "overpriced fancy rig" as you put it because of its portability. i could theoretically use it here also if the power goes out...

[Blknight.aus]

mate you can make up a much better setup than that for roughly 1/2-2/3 the price than the large one and at best all you'd need to set it up the simple way to do what you want would be

colour perception
the ability to read
strip a wire
drive a crimping tool.

If you're good a bargin hunting and dont mind second hand parts you could get the functionality of the large one for the price of the small one.

[MEANZ06]

mate you can make up a much better setup than that for roughly 1/2-2/3 the price than the large one and at best all you'd need to set it up the simple way to do what you want would be

colour perception
the ability to read
strip a wire
drive a crimping tool.

If you're good a bargin hunting and dont mind second hand parts you could get the functionality of the large one for the price of the small one.

i get the idea of building my own system but my biggest issue is the "plug and play" portability.

so you're saying i can build this and be able to move it from one place to the other relatively easily?

id like to know how?

[Debacle]

i get the idea of building my own system but my biggest issue is the "plug and play" portability.

so you're saying i can build this and be able to move it from one place to the other relatively easily?

id like to know how?

Here's a simple one I made to take camping. It powers a 12v 20w fluro plus a 600 lumens led light and charges phones and the laptop.

Panel is 40watt and battery is 18ah and has 2x merit plug + 2x cig lighter plug outputs.

The stand for the panel is easy to make, it is just 20mm square tubing with connect it fittings plus some braces and a couple of brackets to peg it to the ground. The panel and braces are attached with wingnuts and it can be assembled and disassembled easily and doesn't take up much space.

Don't buy the tubing from a hardware store, go direct to an aluminum wholesaler, they will probably even cut it to size for you and should stock the connect it fittings.

I bought the panel online and the rest of the components I got from Jaycar.

You just need to run wires from the panel to a male plug which then plugs into the input socket (the one in the middle in the photo) that is wired to the input terminals of the regulator (the black thing in the bottom of the box). The output terminals of the regulator go directly to the battery terminals. The regulator stops your panel from overcharging the battery and prevents the battery from discharging back through the panel at night.

There are output wires from the battery that run to the terminals bolted to the sides of the box and the output sockets are powered from these.

Worked very well last time we went camping.

[THE BOOGER]

Nice setup debarcle, I went even cheaper a heavy jump starter with usb and cig lighter socket and a 40 watt panel with clips just put the panel in the sun and clip to the jumper. Recharges the phone/tv/dvdplayer and runs lights, can start the car if needed:D

PS comes with a car charger and 240 charger looks neat will run my fridge for 2 days

[bee utey]

I would use a simple battery-in-box setup like Debacle's, add a solar panel kit like this one:

Portable Solar Charging Kit Folding Kit With Case 80 Watts 12 Volts | eBay (http://www.ebay.com/itm/Portable-Solar-Charging-Kit-Folding-Kit-Case-80-Watts-12-Volts-/150704214190?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2316abd0ae)

Add a small inverter for mains appliances and you should be good to go. The seller looks like he should be able to set you up with a complete charging solution if you rang them.

The GoalZero kit only has a 30W panel, you can't run anything serious off that.

[Blknight.aus]

i get the idea of building my own system but my biggest issue is the "plug and play" portability.

so you're saying i can build this and be able to move it from one place to the other relatively easily?

id like to know how?

I am... heres how to do it one way.


Nice setup debarcle, I went even cheaper a heavy jump starter with usb and cig lighter socket and a 40 watt panel with clips just put the panel in the sun and clip to the jumper. Recharges the phone/tv/dvdplayer and runs lights, can start the car if needed:D

PS comes with a car charger and 240 charger looks neat will run my fridge for 2 days

Heres some bits and bobs that will let you do it yourself

first get one of these
http://www.durst.com.au/pdf/BJC-7800%20V1.04.pdf
specify it with the removable anderson socket and the ciggy lighter socket so you can get power out of it without needing to put anderson plugs on everything.

then go get
Recreational Solar Panel Premium Package 160W - Jaycar Electronics (http://jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=ZM9303&keywords=solar+panel&form=KEYWORD) that one if you want an out of the box solution

or go grab you choice of panels, regulators and cabling.

Jaycar Electronics - Search results solar panel (http://jaycar.com.au/productResults.asp?whichpage=1&pagesize=10&keywords=solar+panel&form=KEYWORD)

if you flick through the pages from that search on the jaycar site you'll cover all the parts you need to put together a basic charging system, all you'll need then is an inverter and a power supply for the laptop and lo
12 - 22V Laptop Power Supply - Jaycar Electronics (http://jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=MP3476&keywords=laptop+12v+power+supply&form=KEYWORD) that one does the job nicely (although there are better pricier units available elsewhere) for charging the laptops.

then
grab an inverter like Jaycar Electronics - Search results pt-4424 (http://jaycar.com.au/productResults.asp?keywords=pt-4424&keyform=KEYWORD&SUBMIT.x=0&SUBMIT.y=0) and fit the input leads with Jaycar Electronics - Search results pt-4424 (http://jaycar.com.au/productResults.asp?keywords=pt-4424&keyform=KEYWORD&SUBMIT.x=0&SUBMIT.y=0) one of them.

and you're set

of course

http://jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=MI5103&form=CAT2&SUBCATID=1002#12 and http://jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=ZM9038&form=CAT2&SUBCATID=1004#12

and youve got the funcitonality of their (go zero) $400 unit for under $200

[wardy1]

Ummmm....... that kit from Ebay sounds good....right up until you read the last page which says NO INTERNATIONAL ORDERS!

[seano87]

Ummmm....... that kit from Ebay sounds good....right up until you read the last page which says NO INTERNATIONAL ORDERS!

Given the OP is from the US, that might not be a problem to him!

[bee utey]

Ummmm....... that kit from Ebay sounds good....right up until you read the last page which says NO INTERNATIONAL ORDERS!
Heehee there's Meanz06's location that's relatively close to the seller, I deliberately searched ebay.com instead of ebay.com.au.:)

Here's the Australian equivalents:

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/NEW-80W-Folding-Kit-Solar-Panels-Monocrystalline-Module-12V-Camping-Caravan-/220888050659?pt=AU_Solar&hash=item336df42be3

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Folding-80W-Solar-Panel-12V-25-yr-Pwr-Warranty-Ideal-camping-etc-/320812209685?pt=AU_Solar&hash=item4ab1e5d615