Prepper Power - Homemade Portable Solar Generator
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Our first experiment with making a small solar generator for our ham radio The connectors used are Anderson Power Poles purchased off ebay in bulk. http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_trksid=p2050601.m570.l1313&_nkw=anderson+power+poles&_sacat=0&_from=R40 The cigarette lighter adapter was purchased at walmart for under 10.00 The SAE connectors that were used came with the portable solar panel. We just clipped one end off and added the power poles so that everything would be plug and play.
Comments
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One other thing, you can use the generator or alternator connected to a bicycle, they charge up a LOT faster and will help you when there are cloudy days. Basicly any motor is also a generator, just check how much power it is putting out before connecting. Car generators will out out 14.8v and more efficient plus you get to exercise and if the kids want to charge their cell or computer make them use the bike to supply their energy! !
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Some great ideas but may I offer some suggestions as I have made things like this and now working on a whole house system. For lighting use LED's, options are unlimited (this is where price does matter, opt for the better ones). Add a couple usb ports, they will be useful charging computers, cell phones etc. and they are cheap. You can add a load switch on the outside (off/on). If you are going to make a system that is not so portable and want to add many batteries, junk yards will normally give (for free) battery cables. Get there a week before they are going to crush the cars and they will normally let you go back and take them. In a larger system, the cables and terminals can add up a lot of $$. Add one cig lighter to box that connects only to panels. If your property is like my impression, you have a barn with equipment. The equipment (including trucks) have batteries with high amp hours. Harbor freight has 45 watt panels with charge controller and accessories, if you get them at the right time they will cost barely over $100. So, on the south side of your barn (or house) these are great and have mounting frames with them for mounting on the ground but you can also mount them on the roof, a few sets of these with connectors can charge your smaller units plus you can add batteries as needed or whenever you come across one here and there. You can get large (tupperware like) tubs to put your batteries in so they won't be on the ground and will not be subject to minor flooding (great if you are installing in your basement plus you can add a 12v sump pump as I did and never worry about flooding. And finally, for your next video, make a script so you don't keep repeating yourself, show all equipment at the beginning and explain what each is, what it does, the cost and any personal data or experience you have with that particular item. Over all, I think you have some great ideas. You made me decide to make a portable unit. Overall, "great", so I am subscribing and looking forward to your next video. Oh, the outside units (45 watt panels), you can start with one set and add a set whenever they have their sale and you can use a coupon, Harbor freight is one of the best stores I have ever been to.
Remember...Watts divided by volts = amps you can reverse it also, Amps X volts = Watts
Converters at Harbor Freight are cheap also and good to have around. 100w, 200x, 450w etc, real inexpensive and as a prepper, you know they will come in handy. I have some other ideas also and they will probably come to me in the middle of the night so I will write them down and if you don't mention them next time, I will add in comments. INFORMATIVE SHOW !!! ^5 -
build me one??
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Thanks for the awesome video
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Safety First! 12 volt can and will cause a fire if not fused properly. Any thing you connect to a powered circuit needs to be fused to prevent a fire! The connections in the lid of your box are connected to a breaker if its like the one I got, but the stuff you connected directly to the positive battery post needs to be fused to prevent a fire. The charge controller needs a fuse between it and the battery. Solar panels produce power and need a fuse on the positive wire to prevent a fire. Check any commercial solar system and you will find fusing on the powered wires. Nice setup but needs to be fused.
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it actually is a 420 watts/hour storage..consideration must be taken on not depleting it past the 50% of its capacity which is 210 watts which you should wisely determine on what to use them so you do not damage the battery or kits life....and watts is watts no matter if you use them in an hour or during a whole day or even days while recharging having sunlight availability.
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Nice, but I would fuse the outlets.
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Actually with that 35 amp/hour battery you built a 420 watt solar power generator
(35 amp x 12 volts = 420 watts)..NICE JOB!!! -
I wonder why they call those Anderson plugs? I like how practical you did this, I consider that alone very wise.
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wow the fan is loud
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Very nice video!! One thing that is wrong though is the post labeled "CC" doesn't use power directly from the panels. The post labeled "CC" does use battery power, the difference between posts "B" and posts "CC" is that post "B" will drain your battery to 0% if you leave your stuff on, and post "CC" will cut off all power when battery is at 50% to prevent battery damage.
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I am putting together a program for my Carrollton TX amateur radio club about SOLAR. I would like to show your video and request your permission to use yours. You have more knowledge than you may know. Thanks David AF5U
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very nice project...indeed well thought and calculated.....Bravo!!!
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Nice project, you put some thought into it
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Great idea for off grid. Making one myself. where did you purchased the black and red lead with buttery fly cover?..👍😊✌
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Dang your confusing
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Hey Prepper, have almost a similar setup with the exception of 100 Ah battery, 1 Harbor Freight Brief Case Solar Panel and 1 inverter. Question, After having everything hooked up (except the inverter) I couldn't get any amperage showing on the charge controller (Harbor Freight - same as yours). Being that the solar panels are rated 400mA I would think the controller would exhibit at least .4 amps. Does your charge controller display .4 amps when you have only the brief case solar panels hooked up?
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I looked for the Battery Power Center Box and found one through Sears and will get it for $0.00 because I had exactly enough Shop Your Way rewards points to cover the cost and it will be shipped to my local store so I do not even have to pay shipping. What a country!
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Ideally for the average Blue Collar guy say in Florida or Louisiana on a beer budget prepping for H'canes...a "Solar Generator" battery pack that would get you thru the night (say 10 to 12 hours) with enough energy for some lights, a fan or two, a couple of small power supply battery chargers and a radio or TV (asking for a lot from batteries, I know) . One could back that up with one of those little Harbor Freight petrol generators for the refrigerator if a longer term outage occurs.
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your panels are in parallel, series adds voltage not amps/watts, parallel adds wattage/amps, not voltage. otherwise you would be producing 48v.
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