Your Questions About Solar Generators
Donald asks…
what kind of solar panel would i need to charge i car battery?
i am looking to build a small solar generator to power a few lights and so forth, i have a deep cycle gel car battery, but what watt and volt solar panel would i need to charge it in an efficient amount of time? also, is it possible to hook up 2 small solar panels to one battery to charge it or would that not work? like would 2 5 watts be as good as a 10 watt?
thanks!
admin answers:
More watts is more power, because watts are a measure of power. Most solar panels produce the right voltage to charge a car battery, but you should really have a charge controller too. See the source for some ideas.
Sandy asks…
What items do I have to purchase to use a solar charger to power home appliances during power outage?
I want to buy a solar charger to power small appliances. The 18 watt solar charger product that I saw in the internet comes with 8 Amp charge controller. The description said I could charge 12 V batteries.
I am not knowledgeable in this. So I would greatly appreciate if someone can tell me the list of items I need to buy with detailed capacities/descriptions of each item and how to connect these items together. I saw a car battery jump starter with DC output in Costco (the description said I can use this to power small appliances but it only had a DC output). Can I buy this as a battery? (I have to charge the battery outside and bring the battery in to use inside home) Or should I rather buy a 12V car battery? Or is there specific batteries for this with all the needed connections? Also I bought an inverter with car charger and AD outlets for using a notebook in the car(150W 110V). But I am not sure I can use this inverter with the solar charger. Again I know nothing about these, so please advise me in easy terms. I’d like to start with a small charger to experiment and if it goes well then I would purchase a higher wattage solar generator so I can use 1500W appliances.
Thank you in advance.
admin answers:
I’m a huge fan of solar, but if your purpose is just to cover yourself during a power outage, I would suggest that you just get a gasoline-powered generator from a hardware store (some are less than $100), and run that to a power strip. If outages are frequent or long, you might want to get a better built generator. That will cost several hundred dollars, but will still be less expensive than the equivalent solar. Keep a 5-gallon can of gas handy, and you can have power for days.
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