your questions about solar generators reviews
Your Questions About Solar Generators Reviews
James asks…
Anyone read this solar panel ebook before?
I have come across an ebook which talking about building own solar panel and wind generator in less than $200. Anyone read this ebook before? Is the method taught inside it working? My friend, who is an engineer is thinking to purchase one and would like to know some review from those who have read it before. Thanks.
This is the website for the solar panel’s ebook: http://ourguide.brinkster.net
Thanks again.
admin answers:
The only people I trust, since they have been into alternative energy since 1969 , is the folks who run a magazine called Mother Earth News. I’ve got the magazine now for 30 years and several times a year they publish information on how to make your own solar panels, wind generators, hydroelectric and solar drying and dehydrators, and tons of great ideas.
They also have an extensive library, including e-books, of authors who have published articles in their magazine. Get their magazine, like I said I’ve been getting it for 30 years or more and I still eagerly await every issue. It’s all about sustainable living and doing things yourself. Plus it’s only about $10 a year subscription.
Look at their online site to get some ideas and maybe look at their alternative energy library. Whatever books or DVD’s I purchased from them have always been excellent
http://www.motherearthnews.com/Renewable-Energy.aspx
Ruth asks…
I am making a model of a miniature eco friendly city, Please help!?
We’ll be making many small houses, showing different means of non-conventional power resources and their uses. One of the house will have a small LED light, which will be using a small solar cell, which I’ll take out from a Simple calculator. The other house will have a hydro-generator, that is, a small motor, used in electric car toys, which will too generate electricity.
Can anyone give me any more ideas, and review my current ideas?
Will they actually work?
admin answers:
If you could find a piece of tile, or a clay pot, and it it on the “south wall” of the house. Ad take an incandescent light to simulate the sun (incandescent for the heat) this will act as a heat storage wall. (one way to save on heating bills is to have clay/tile floors or walls, with the southern sun directly on it. Some walls even can have water capsuls in them. And this takes the sun’s heat and retains it for the night.
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Your Questions About Solar Generators Reviews
Jenny asks…
Are there problems adding other charging units like wind power to a Harbor Freight Solar Panel ChargeControler?
I would like to buy a small wind generator and just add the negative and positive wires to the negative and positive wires in my Harbor Freight Solar Panel kit. The Harbor Freight Solar Panel kit’s charge control will still protect the battery from over charging right? Even though the charge controller would be buffering more wattage then what the manufaturer probably intended it to buffer? If so, could there be long term implications on the charge controller or battery?
admin answers:
Hey Me, what are you using for battery storage? If I understand the harbor freight kit properly, it does not have a battery included, or it is a very small sealed AGM type battery. If that is the case, don’t bother adding another source of charging power, you’ll just fill that battery up faster and still have no place to put your excess energy. If you have a good sized deep cycle battery or two hooked up, my suggestion is simply get a wind turbine that has it’s own charge controller, most of them do. Then wire it straight to the battery bypassing the harbor freight unit. A good example would be Southwest Windpowers Air 403, puts out up to 300 watts, although in ideal conditions on a tall tower, but has its own internal regulator, like a car alternator. So the two wires coming down the tower go straight to the battery, and the turbine is already prevented from overcharging anything.
In most wind/solar power systems, the charge controller is the achilles heel. It is the one thing that breaks down first and causes the most problems. We’ve been living in a wind and solar powered home for years now, I can speak from experience on this. We’ve not purchased the HF kit because the panels are not built as robustly as they need to be to be mounted on the roof of a home in all weather conditions, and the wiring harnesses are not designed for permanent installation, to be sunlight resistant, etc. Also the electronics are not UL listed to my knowledge, so they would not be legal for in home installation either. They are terrific little units to make small amounts of power in a portable application, like camping, or a remote shed for example. Adding another source of power to be fed through the existing controls of that kit would be like welding a bed on the back of a Ford Pinto in order to use it as a pickup truck. My suggestion is to have a good sized battery pack, like a pair of Trojan T-105 golf cart batteries (220 amp hours) then get a small turbine with its own regulator, and wire it straight to the batteries. The batteries will happily take a charge from either source, or both simultaneously, that’s how our home works. If you really want to do some shopping for this stuff, get a subscription to Home Power Magazine, they regularly run articles on all the available panels, turbines, controllers and othe components to home power systems. If you subscribe, you can use their website to review archived articles in past issues that have all the write ups you’re looking for. Good luck Me, and take care, Rudydoo
Sandra asks…
What are some of the best rechargeable flashlights (solar/winding/shaking/plug-in/etc)?
I think I would like a solar or electrical outlet plug-in rechargeable flashlight for home use, especially for power outages, and a winding/shaking one to keep in the glove box of my vehicle.
What are some of the best performers out there? The only one I’ve found with consistently good reviews is the SolarLite (Costco, Amazon).
admin answers:
Hey jdude
for rechargable go to
http://www.maglite.com/
have been using this brand for years at work.
I have tried a couple wind up lights in my vehicle and they dont last. I think the temp and humidity swings have an effect on generator and/or battery. I now have an LED 2 cell for the car now. It holds up fine.
I’ve had good luck with this wind up from radio shack. Keep it in the house near crawl space for emergency reasons. Tornado/asteroid strike or nuke fall out. (gosh i hope none of this ever happens)
Dynamo Emergency Crank Radio with AM/FM/NOAA Bands
price 40 bucks
hope this helps
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Your Questions About Solar Generators Reviews
Sharon asks…
Best Solar powered generator capable of running a small refrigerator and a few other appliances such as charge?
rs and lamps? pretty much a generator for keeping a house up and running when all of the power goes out. And one that charges in the daytime particularly in 6-10 hours. Reviews or personal experience would be awesome thank you.
admin answers:
Considering the purchase, installation, maintenance, and replacement costs of solar photo-voltaic panels, you’re paying 38 cents a kwh for that power and that’s without batteries, coal costs 1 cent a kwh and natural gas costs 15 cents a kwh. Solar is not a backup power source, it’s only viable if subsidized by the government or if grid power is unavailable in your region.
If you want a backup power source, buy a portable tri-power generator, install a transfer switch and a natural gas valve and you can run your house on natural gas if you loose your electricity, if the natural gas line has been interrupted, you can run on propane, if you can’t get propane, you can run on gasoline. If you’re off the grid, it would be a good idea to use an absorption refrigerator, they can run on natural gas, propane, or kerosene. A large propane tank can be put under your yard for free if you agree to purchasing a certain amount of propane each month. A heat fired refrigerator is often used because of reliability as losing the refrigerator means losing your food.
Ken asks…
What is your experience with the solar generators that are advertised on the web?
They cost about $1500 to $3000 depending on power. A panel, a charge controller, huge lithium battery, inverter.
I’m not asking if the price is right. They sound so sensible I’m wondering why they aren’t being offered by the larger manufacturers?
Anyone have any experience?
Thanks!
admin answers:
Without a link to the products you are talking about, it’s hard to give an accurate review. My guess is they are either kits that have been put together from the basic components, the few I saw from a Google search were just all of the components available at any solar equipment provider or an all-in-one device that combines battery, charge controller, and inverter that you plug a solar panel into. They are off-grid systems, which means you can only power the equipment from that battery, if the battery runs out (during a rainy stretch of weather), then you would need to unplug from it and plug into your regular electric. Duracell is rebranding an all-in-one device, except for the solar panel, that is made by Xantrex, and selling it as their own, so the big companies are starting to get into the game.
Something that size is probably just good enough to either provide emergency backup power in the event of an outage or enough for a cabin. A one-size-fits-all system is hard to make to work for most people. We put together kits that are a good starting point, but are often customized to meet the customers particular needs.
Http://www.altestore.com/store/Portable-Power-Systems/Xantrex-X1500-Backup-Power-System-802-1500/p2066/
http://www.altestore.com/store/Kits-and-Package-Deals/Off-Grid-Cabin-Systems/Off-Grid-Cabin-package-1-170W-PV/p5692/
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