Alternate Power Concepts

I have been meaning to post this for awhile, however with the current events on the east coast, I thought it was a timely idea to post this now.

The below is an ongoing experiment to find a easily usable and fairly portable alternate power source that can help maintain the basic needs of charging various gadgets and also provide some very basic household lighting if and when the power is out for an extended time such as we are seeing in NY and NJ.

The one and major drawback of this concept is that it currently depends on solar power only. This okay in the summer but right now it is not as we have had nothing but rain and clouds for days. A small generator has been thought of but without any major power outages in the 3 years that we have lived in our current home, it does not make any financial sense. The alternatives is to charge the batteries from the truck but this now leads to possibly keeping more fuel on hand. That said, with testing so far, the power consumption for basic charging has been quite good with the main consumption being the 12 volt RV lights mentioned further below.

The overall cost for thus far has been reasonable and although as mentioned, it is an ongoing experiment, I am confident though that if we were to have a power outage for any reasonable length of time, we would be better off then most people. Future plans include a possible second battery/booster pack or another deep cycle battery which is probably the better way to go.

Just one thing to keep in mind, the picture below is just a representation and I would would not have that much plugged in at once and consuming power with this current setup. That voltmeter was very steadily dropping numbers as I arranged and took a few pictures.



Back row, left to right.
12 Volt RV light. Very inexpensive (around $8.00). We have 4 of these lights with about 6 feet of wire length and a 12 volt plug on the end. I should really order some LED light replacements from Ebay as the LED's really sip the power as compared to the incandescent style bulbs.

750 watt inverter (IIRC, $40.00 on sale.) Not used much as the fan is quite loud when the inverter is under any load. Can run some smaller tools like a 3/8" drill and a small jig saw etc. Although you cannot see, this inverter has alligator clamps which can connect to any 12 volt battery. Has 2x 120V outlets.

300 Watt inverter. Can power a small table lamp, can charge phones, computers, batteries. Very good all around sized inverter and it is much quieter. These often come on sale for less then $30.00 and we also keep another one in the truck at all times.

700 amp battery / booster pack. Nice little system for the price ($75.00 on sale.) Can be re-charged by 120V or 12 Volt. Has 2x 12 volt plugins, and 1 USB plugin. The voltmeter on top is not part of this system and was added by me. Small Velcro patch keeps it in place.

Middle Row, left to right:
Solar panel charge regulator which is used with the solar panels below. There is actually 2 sets of these panels but only one set shown below.

12 volt and USB (x2 ports) power adapter. Has 12 volt plugin connector or can hard wired into a vehicle.

Small travelers power strip.

AA/AAA battery charger. Only works on 120V.

Old phone for emergency backup, pay as you go calls only.

Front Row, left to right:
Samsung Galaxy phone. We have 2 of these same phones and as I mentioned in another earlier post today, I ordered from Ebay, 2 spare batteries and a separate charger for them.

AA/AAA battery charger. Runs from 120V or 12 volt.

iPad...self explanatory

Not shown:
1 more RV light plugged in providing some photo lighting off to the left side.

Group 31 deep cycle battery underneath the table. This is a fairly new purchase as the old Group 34 battery went south very prematurely...don't ask.

A few 12 volt LED singular lights used as experimental/testing over the last couple of years.

3-4 long strings of LED 120V patio lights.(Think Christmas style) but these lights work great with inverter and certainly cheaper (and more reliable) then 12 volt LED string lights which I recently wasted $20.00 or so dollars on...
These light strings are power misers even with the slight inefficiencies of 12 volt to 120V conversion through the inverter. With some some imagination, these lights can be strung up almost anywhere in the house and plugged into the battery pack.

Solar panels, have another set of these also.



Thoughts, questions, criticisms?

I like it! Definitely go with the LED conversions for the RV lights. I am switching all my RV lights to the LEDs. The difference in the power drawn is pretty impressive.

Have you considered a hand crank or bicycle driven generator? You could build your own, or find one of the older military versions at surplus. That would supplement your recharging on cloudy days and not require fuel (other than food).

Greg

no picture seen.

[The pictures come up just fine in my browser.]

Nice setup. Random thoughts:

I assume you also have a bunch of portable LED lights that aren't in the photo?

The solar panels will still generate power in cloudy conditions, though at a reduced rate. I often do charging tasks during the day -- the battery just acts as a voltage regulator for the panels and hardly discharges at all.

The solar panels can of course keep the vehicle battery topped off too. Nice to have a backup that doesn't use gas.

The danger with using DC directly from a powerpack or vehicle battery is that there's no protection against discharging the battery too deeply. A car-type inverter, though, will shut down somewhere around 11 volts to protect against battery damage. That's pushing it though; I would never run a standard battery that low. Also, good inverters will stay shut down and alarm; but cheaper ones will cycle off and back on because the voltage rises once the load is removed. A cheap inverter once destroyed a battery in one of my powerpacks by doing that.

In a cold climate, the one big drawback to power packs that use sealed lead-acid "gel cells" is that they must not be charged while frozen. This will ruin the battery. My fleet of powerpacks (most of them scrounged yet functional) comes into the basement in winter.

BTW, where did you get that voltmeter? Neat looking item.

I like that Elimintor. My old boss had one and I used it to charge my car battery a few times. Worked like a charm. I'm thinking of getting one as a back-up power supply at home. We're not allowed to use generarors and this seems like a good compromise.

How do like yours? How long will it hold a charge?

@Izzy: pretty sure it's a rebranded Xantrex. A big hardware chain up here (Canadian Tire) puts their own house brand label (Motomaster) on them. It's worth checking the reviews for different power packs on places like Amazon -- there are a few junkers to watch out for.

No critisisms at all,nice small setup! I LOVE small solar,and as Tes points out,anybody can do this,its not difficult to set up and net has a 1001 sources with pictures to walk you thru,dont need to be an electrician.

But I do like having a small generator in addition.Just a 2000 watt (1600 continous),with extension cords can rotate appliances and keep refer and freezer cold.

And during the run times so you dont try to run 24/7,charge the batteries for night use.

This sounds silly but I had neighbors whose food rotted in refer and freezers,and snow was on the ground,just move it outside,some folks never thought of that.

700amp battery? SWEEEET!!!!
-Blast, jealous.

@Doug
Yes I have some portable lights. As mentioned, a few strings of patio lights that were on closeout for $13.00 in late summer These light strings are about 23' and with a collective 70 bulbs, really throw off a lot of light for their size.

I also have 6 of these lights. They were on closeout at Superstore in early summer for a few dollars each. Being LED and with 4 AA Eneloop batteries installed, they will run about 15 hours straight before the batteries are dead. What I like about these lights is they have a slot in the back which allows them to be hung on a nail or picture frame hook on a wall.

You are correct about the danger of DC discharging the battery to low even though the inverter will shutdown on low battery conditions. I don't fully trust it though which is why I added the voltmeter as a quick visual reference. BTW, the voltmeter came from Ebay and cost $8.00 IIRC.

@Izzy
The power pack was purchased at Canadian Tire which is a national auto parts / sporting goods / home improvement type of store. I know they are not in the USA however I am sure that there are other brands available down there. Stanley tools makes a couple of which they sell up here as both Stanley branded and also as the Canadian Tire Eliminator brand. As for this particular model, I am not sure who makes it but Doug is probably right.

@Bacpac
I purchased this Eliminator power pack earlier this year on the advice of a friend and so far, so good. The key to any battery is not to run it down to low as this will quickly destroy any battery's life. As for how long it will hold a charge, that is very subjective as it really depends on how much use it gets, the amount it has to charge any devices, if you are using an inverter with it etc. In the summer, we took it on a week long car camping/hiking trip and used it quite a bit every day just to get a feel for it's capabilities. Between charging cell phones, GPS, AA batteries, camera, running the 300 watt inverter at night with the above LED light strings over the campsite, I only had to charge it once with the solar panels which took about 6 hours of charging in very clear weather and direct sunlight.

It also has it's own built-in 120 and 1 volt charger but they are both slow. What I found works better is to connect a regular 120V battery charger to the jumper cables and charge it this way.

For occasional light use, it works great. We really like it's portability and the on-board 12 volt and USB outlets as compared to lugging around the deep cycle battery that has nothing built-in. This particular model comes on sale quite often as it was just last week or the week before. The sale price on it is usually around $75.00.

Yes it easy to setup, however what you don't see in the picture is the deep cycle battery and mess of wires and connectors underneath. Next project is to create a small panel that will have easy connect points for all the wires. I am also thinking off mounting this power pack, deep cycle battery, inverters and panel on a small hand truck I have. This will make it truly portable and can be taken anywhere at a moments notice.

Did you go AGM on that battery?

Seen handtruck setups,very cool.

Speaking of battery packs I use this,129 at amazon,it started a diesel cummins TWICE,thats pretty dang good,love those things,got it after a dead battery episode in Jetta,the original start great/dead battery car when it failed. So if your car has the small battery/large electronic load and you cant get a larger battery,thing is awesome.Holds a charge for many months too.

When purchased in 2009 was the most powerful I could find at the time.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000JFJLP6/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00

Clore Automotive JNC660 Jump-N-Carry 1,700 Peak Amp 12-Volt Jump Starter

Price: $129.50 & this item ships for FREE with Super Saver

In Stock.

Tes's system is awesome.Also the advice on string lights very good.

I could go on and on about inverters/batteries but wont.

All that does is muddy the water and make easy sound very complicated.

A goal zero is a GREAT start for anybody.Just that will blow your mind first time you solar charge a battery or whatever.

The important thing is just do it,then when you have it go for upgrades as your confidence increases.... which will soar after youve started,its very infectious.

Just love that stuff.

Again,well done!

Thanks guys. We've added one to our shopping list. Sandy was a just a little bump here, but with a nor'easter about to arrive (we're already below freezing here) and what looks to be a wintery winter on the horizon, we're not going to wait for Christmas shopping time for this one.

Sandy was a good wake up call in this house. The only part of our preps that I think we failed on was heat. (ok, we're not ready for a flood either, but given our location, a weather related flood is highly unlikely.) If we had lost power and it had gotten cold like they were predicting... I'm a little overly protective of the nest and brod these days, but we've gotten a little complacent the last few years.

Jackie... if you are looking at a kero heater, this site was helpful...

http://www.milesstair.com/

Thanks so much Les. We had a look at the propane heater we bought in the summer and think that of it's not older than God, it's probably a turn of the century model, so we're not going to trust it. Donating it to our Scout group, who is awesome at fixing up such relics, and going on a hunt for something we can actually use in the house. This looks like it's right up our alley. Thanks!

i was just working my way down today's posts and i see that a kero heater is also mentioned as a heat source for a winter power loss.
once again not a bad idea but i think i would need two,one in the basement to keep the pipes from freezing and another in the "warm room" where we would live and sleep until the power came up.
again it's the storage of kerosene and i assume i would need lots of it and just not couple of the five gallon plastic jugs i see in the big box hardware stores.

Forgot to mention yesterday that we have 1/2 dozen of these solar garden lights. These cost $2.99 each in a mid summer sale.






The lights come with a cheap rechargeable 400 mah NI-Cad battery which don't last very long so I immediately replaced with Eneloops. I am not sure how much the batteries get charged but from preliminary testing in August, I found that with a low battery, a full day of sun would allow the light to work for about 2 days. A fully charged Eneloop fresh from a charger will allow the light to have about a 3 day+ run time before it is too weak to give off any decent illumination.




These lights are perfect for hallways, bedrooms, bathrooms etc. They don't give a lot of light but certainly enough to allow you see, especially in bathrooms that do not have any windows such as this one and fits perfectly in the towel rack.

Very cool idea, Teslinhiker. I guess because they're solar, I never thought of them for indoor use.'It never even dawned on me that they's have a battery in them. Thanks for the education!

Not terribly practical, I'm afraid. Heat tracing and heat lamps suck a lot of juice -- too much to run off a battery or car inverter system for more than a couple of hours.

In that situation, I would rapidly be doing a gravity draindown of the house potable water system, followed by a blowdown with an air compressor, and then RV antifreeze in all the water traps (sink, toilet). That's SOP for winterizing seasonal cabins and RVs up here. I keep a few jugs of RV antifreeze around at all times for exactly this reason.

A well thought out kit for alternative electrical power.

A hand crank might also be useful to power a cell phone when all else has given up its last electrons.

i.e. such as the Freeplay Energy - Freecharge (12v charger)

It will give out about 6-10W - I have even powered a 6W LED Lamp through a 75W inverter with one, along with Mobile Phones, radios etc. Making a phone call on a cell phone just require someone else to keep turning the crank.

The portable power products from Powertraveller are also quite handy.

I have also come across a small scale (240 Whrs) LiFePo4 battery solar charge regulator which has recently interested me as well.

http://www.batteryspace.com/lifepo4battery12v20ah240whwithcontrollerforsolarpowerstorage.aspx

This has certain advantages over SLA batteries, i.e. can be fully discharged not just to 50% capacity without damage and greater number of charge/discharge cycles i.e up to 5 times more.

The 3Kg weight would make it into the luggable weight range.

I have thought about a hand crank solution, however I would think that with no power for an extended period of time, my hands would be full (no pun intended) enough with other things that need attention and would not have the time required to also hand crank our own power for whatever needs.

For the 2 cell phones (same brand/model) we have, I have ordered 2 spare batteries and a standalone charger which should take care of any future phone battery concerns.

Fie on hand cranks! I am a hard core cyclist and I have a stationary cycle for those times when there is bad weather or something in my schedule that prevents a bike ride. I hope on the seat and crank away. I have long thought that I might as well be charging some sort of battery while I am keeping fit. Anyone have any notions about some kind of conversion kit for a stationary bike? Seems like a no-brainer......

hikermor...you could DIY rig something like this from an auto alternator with a friction wheel, storage battery and inverter...this gizmo claims 300W for an experienced cyclist



http://www.econvergence.net/The-Pedal-A-Watt-Bicycle-Generator-Stand-s/1820.htm

Les, thanks for the lead - looks promising!

You can take any dc motor and couple it to a spinning wheel to generate electricity. If you had the right motor and gearing then you could generate the proper voltage without having to go through inefficient voltage conversions.

I am surprised at the claim of 125-300 watts from the pedal a watt. I've heard numbers around 100 watts for a normal person. Remembering how much the old flip down bike generator lights slowed me down when i was younger, I think now I'd be lucky if I could power the tv remote with my bike, let alone the tv.

Alternator? No, no, far too inefficient. Think generator -- a DC motor with permanent magnets. Apply juice and you get torque; apply torque and you get juice, even at very low speeds.

And ideally, you should also have a gear or pulley setup to increase the speed to the generator and absorb all the weird directional forces that might cause premature wear.

And even more ideally, if you could find a common, mass-produced source for such items, designed to run in the 12-18 volt range, and often available for free when the batteries konk out, you'd really be in the sweet zone.

And if you said "hey, that sounds like a cordless drill," give yourself a gold star.

dougwalkabout... ok...bearing blocks on each end of a 3/8" shaft, friction wheel in middle, enough clearance to attach the shaft to the drill chuck...alignment bracket to support rear wheel of bike.....I think you have given me something to play with for a week or two... thanks, hadn't thought of it, though others have mentioned using a drill to energize a generator's field windings...

Take a look on Youtube with the search terms "bicycle generator". There are a few slick ideas and some right down to redneck level. Many utilize a treadmill DC motor as they are more effecient but there are some using an alternator with good results also.

That's in fact cranking amps rating, not Amp/hours as you might be thinking. So, it's not that impressive, as some trucks may need 900 Amps for jump starting. As for the capacity, I have found that it's never posted for the cranking batteries like that at all. Including the manufacturer web sites. I doubt it's more than 40 A/h