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#235817 - 11/18/11 09:55 AM Best "turnkey" solar products?
dweste Offline
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 02/16/08
Posts: 2463
Loc: Central California
My brain seems set on "dumb" when it comes to trying to figure out DIY assembling of solar stuff to generate power. Are there some decent, already figured out or "turnkey" setups for a decent range of battery and electronics charging?

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#235825 - 11/18/11 12:23 PM Re: Best "turnkey" solar products? [Re: dweste]
Eugene Offline
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 12/26/02
Posts: 2997
There are plenty out there but you will pay double for them. There really isn't a lot to small solar systems, you need a panel, wire from the panel to the charge controller, then a charge controller and then battery and if your going to an inverter. So 3-4 main components with a + and - wire to each.

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#235892 - 11/19/11 05:16 PM Re: Best "turnkey" solar products? [Re: dweste]
dweste Offline
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 02/16/08
Posts: 2463
Loc: Central California
Good, better, best? Compatibility of components? What is a reasonable array of solar systems: car battery trickler charger, weather resistant / impervious backpacking electronics battery charger, home electronics charger, etcetera?

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#235904 - 11/20/11 12:48 AM Re: Best "turnkey" solar products? [Re: dweste]
Eugene Offline
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 12/26/02
Posts: 2997
Its best to keep separate anyway, if you buy a special all in one box and one part breaks you may have problems replacing it.
So what are you trying to build, something that will charge anything and everything, just home electronics or are you wanting to power larger items too? What is your end goal specifically, what devices?

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#235912 - 11/20/11 02:04 AM Re: Best "turnkey" solar products? [Re: dweste]
dweste Offline
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 02/16/08
Posts: 2463
Loc: Central California
First, a battery charger for AAA and AA. It would be great if it could charge other sizes of batteries through D.

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#235915 - 11/20/11 02:23 AM Re: Best "turnkey" solar products? [Re: dweste]
Eugene Offline
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 12/26/02
Posts: 2997
Good place to start. MAHA are on of the best, Lacross is another. I've purchased from http://www.thomasdistributing.com/Maha-Chargers_c_1022.html before
I have a c401FS and a c9000 and a bunch of Sanyo Eneloop and Maha Imedion.
Most of them use an external power supply and either come (c401) with or you can buy separate (c9000) a 12v adapter to charge from your car or from a 12v battery charged by your solar or wind system.
When I buy batteries I number them with a sharpie and make a spreadsheet then run them through a refresh/analyze cycle on the 9000 and note the tested mAh. Then once a year or two I'll do it again so I can see if any have degraded. I have some old Sanyo 1650mAh cells from 1999 that still had 80% of their capacity in 2009 when I last tested them.
I usually make a habit to pull the batteries out of gear in the spring and fall and test the gear then top off the charge.

The next step then in preparing for a small scale solar system is realizing those old automotive cig lights plugs are junk. I started looking for something better and found that a lot of ham radio operators use anderson power poles and they are somewhat of a standard for ecomm. They are not perfect but better than the old round cig plugs. I bought a couple packs of those and a roll of wire then a couple male and female cig plugs and made a few short adapters to go between the two.
Then if you do that you can put just a couple of the old round plugs on your solar system and a few of the power poles. Then make up some replacement power cords using power poles for some of your gear. have extra flexibility that way and you can just buy something like http://www.westmountainradio.com/content.php?page=RIGrunner to eliminate some wiring.

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#235916 - 11/20/11 03:35 AM Re: Best "turnkey" solar products? [Re: dweste]
LesSnyder Offline
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 07/11/10
Posts: 1680
Loc: New Port Richey, Fla
I purchased a folding Goal Zero 7w dual solar panel with a gift card from Bass Pro..I'm not a back packer or camper so can't speak to its durability, but it is marketed as a piece of expedition quality equipment....I wanted a backup to my car charger for hurricane season, and as a former science teacher, a gizmo to fool around with...

in an effort to standardize my small batteries to AA .. (primarily my Grundig radio and LED mini mag lights) on the recommendation of AFLM purchased a set of Sanyo AA Eneloops and a microprocessor charger... on 120v AC, 4 partially charged Eneloops took about 2hrs to receive a full charge... using the solar panel and 12V cig plug the other 4 took a little less than 4 hours...

to orient the cells to the Sun, I fastened a nail as vertical as possible on a small piece of plywood, then elevated the board so the shadow of the nail fell on itself, orienting for the most direct rays

later purchased the companion Goal Zero Guide 10 power pack which works with included small 12v plug or USB to recharge the Eneloops, and has a small LED light, and a USB to mini USB cable out to charge my cell phone

as I commented on earlier in the Summer, don't have a ammeter to see the actual charge rate..

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#235973 - 11/20/11 11:55 PM Re: Best "turnkey" solar products? [Re: LesSnyder]
Slatu Offline
Stranger

Registered: 11/20/11
Posts: 11
Loc: Central New England
As mentioned before, the "turnkey" solutions can be suspect and expensive. A system design is kinda like a triangle. Fire's triangle includes fuel, oxygen, heat; Solar/wind is based on production, storage, and usage. Depending upon what you plan to do, (off-grid) systems may include the following:

1) Production - solar or wind
2) Control - charge controller. Solar needs it, and most wind system have it built in.
3) Storage - batteries
4) Fuse - appropriately sized
5) Inverter (optional) - provided you need to bump it up to 120 or 240.

I've played around, and have a small hobby system. 20w panel, charge controller, 7ah battery, and (3) 3w led spotlights. The controller has the lights come on for 4 hours after dusk every night. Neat little project, and from this, the sky's the limit.

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#235989 - 11/21/11 01:40 AM Re: Best "turnkey" solar products? [Re: Slatu]
hikermor Offline
Geezer in Chief
Geezer

Registered: 08/26/06
Posts: 7705
Loc: southern Cal
Slatu, what are some good sources for the components? Any brands you would recommend specifically? Inquiring minds want to know....
_________________________
Geezer in Chief

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#236321 - 11/26/11 05:15 AM Re: Best "turnkey" solar products? [Re: hikermor]
Slatu Offline
Stranger

Registered: 11/20/11
Posts: 11
Loc: Central New England
Sorry for the tardy response around the holiday, I had to tour the Harpoon and Sam Adams breweries.

My solar panels are generic, so finding the best $/watt ratio is pretty much the focus. My charge controller is by Morningstar, and it works well for my smaller system. Batteries can be found anywhere, just make sure it is appropriate to its task. NorthEast Battery, BatteryPlus, and even Cabela's carries 7ah batteries. Those are small, sealed batteries that you'd usually find in a building's back-up lights in case of a power outage. Just find a battery to fit your need. Always have a fuse as close to the battery as possible. If you need an inverter, there are lots of options for generic modified sine wave inverters.

altestore.com - decent site, even with some reviews.

westmarine.com - you will spend 2x the cash here because it is "marine" based, but those sailors know 12v systems by heart.

partsexpress.com - for some misc parts that are needed. Radioshark will sell you $40 hdmi cables, but here you can get them here for $4.

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