Cheap small solar system

9 posts / 0 new
Last post
andrew
andrew's picture
Offline
Last seen: 14 years 9 months ago
Joined: Tuesday, November 28, 2006 - 17:21
Points: 1361
Cheap small solar system

Found this from Costco:

http://www.costco.com/

search "solar", item is "Coleman CL3600 Solar Back up Power Kit
54 Watts by ICP"

You'll need to buy a 12v deep cycle battery and an inverter for it to work to provide 120v power. 54 w peak is not a lot, but it might be enough to keep an e-bike or small scooter charged.

reikiman
reikiman's picture
Offline
Last seen: 3 months 3 weeks ago
Joined: Sunday, November 19, 2006 - 17:52
Points: 8447
Re: Cheap small solar system

How many light years away is this small solar system? How many galactic credits do they want for it? }:)

- David Herron, http://davidherron.com/

andrew
andrew's picture
Offline
Last seen: 14 years 9 months ago
Joined: Tuesday, November 28, 2006 - 17:21
Points: 1361
Re: Cheap small solar system

Its located at "stars end", at the other end of the galaxy. Only 19.99 quintillion GC. Make sure your hypderdrive is working before you buy. Sardaukar forces will provide protection for up to 2 wks after purchase. ;)

---
Avatar taken from http://www.electricmotorbike.org/
Anyone got one they might want to sell?
My KZ750 Project: here E.T.A. 1 mo

[url=/forum-topic/motorcycles-and-large-scooters/587-my-kz750-electric-motorcycle-project]KZ750 Motorcycle Conversion[/url]
[url=/forum-topic/motorcycles-and-large-scooters/588-fixing-my-chinese-scooter]900 watt scooter[/url]
Pic from http://www.electri

Fechter
Fechter's picture
Offline
Last seen: 15 years 10 months ago
Joined: Friday, November 17, 2006 - 07:01
Points: 199
Re: Cheap small solar system

How many planets come with that solar system? :)

chas_stevenson
chas_stevenson's picture
Offline
Last seen: 13 years 2 months ago
Joined: Wednesday, December 6, 2006 - 17:14
Points: 1309
Re: Cheap small solar system

Maybe the planets are optional equipment.

scratch_head_thinking.gif
Chas S.
My Bicycle Pages

Fechter
Fechter's picture
Offline
Last seen: 15 years 10 months ago
Joined: Friday, November 17, 2006 - 07:01
Points: 199
Re: Cheap small solar system

As I recall, Aerowhatt had a system with several large 12v batteries charged by a medium sized panel.
He used an inverter to power the scooter charger. Since the storage batteries were very large, he could charge at a pretty high rate.

It would be more efficient if you could find a charger made to run off 12v directly. I've seen a 24v one somewhere before. It's like a dc-dc converter with a charge controller.

It's probably more cost effective to go the inverter / charger route. With the money you save, you can afford a larger solar panel to make up for the loss in efficiency. The sun is free either way.

andrew
andrew's picture
Offline
Last seen: 14 years 9 months ago
Joined: Tuesday, November 28, 2006 - 17:21
Points: 1361
Re: Cheap small solar system

Good point Fechter, I was thinking the same thing.

What about using this system to set up a remote charging station? You'll need to dig a hole to put the batteries and inverter in, and set up a pole to put the solar panel on. This way you can set up a charging station without worrying about electricity, and who to pay for it. With a large enough battery bank it will work fine for surge use if needed, and then probably won't be used regularly so the batteries can recover.

If we had enough support we could begin setting these up in cities. I'd need to do research to find out what kind of permits you'd need and how much it will cost. It's kind of like a weather station.

P.S. Sorry the local life form screwed up the planets, then nuked itself :jawdrop:

---
Avatar taken from http://www.electricmotorbike.org/
Anyone got one they might want to sell?
My KZ750 Project: here E.T.A. 1 mo

[url=/forum-topic/motorcycles-and-large-scooters/587-my-kz750-electric-motorcycle-project]KZ750 Motorcycle Conversion[/url]
[url=/forum-topic/motorcycles-and-large-scooters/588-fixing-my-chinese-scooter]900 watt scooter[/url]
Pic from http://www.electri

GrooveConnection
Offline
Last seen: 16 years 1 month ago
Joined: Friday, January 19, 2007 - 00:18
Points: 149
Re: Cheap small solar system

I have been toying with the idea of building a 4-panel solar station under which my car (and possibly the E-MAX) could be parked.

Does anyone know what kind of output I would need in order to power the E-MAX charger ? I thought it would have to be around a minimum of 500 Watts since it's output seems to be 48 V at around 10 Amps....

Rain down with yer math on my poor ol' head ;-)

reikiman
reikiman's picture
Offline
Last seen: 3 months 3 weeks ago
Joined: Sunday, November 19, 2006 - 17:52
Points: 8447
Re: Cheap small solar system

Output from a solar panel depends on the actual light available and how well you've aimed the thing at the sun and how much daylight you have. And whether a Vogon constructor fleet is nearby.

The way I understand the math is .. it's kilowatt-hours. Your panels produce n volts at m amps for w watts, and if you can do that for a 6 hour day you have m*6 killowatt-hours for the day. Your battery pack is also rated in some number of kilowatt-hours. Then there is some lossage depending on how you get the power from the panels into your batteries ... such as, are the panels charging a stationary battery bank, and then you later run an inverter from that battery bank to synthesize 120 volts and feeding that into your regular charger? If so there are several stages of conversion, with each conversion having some loss.

My EVT has a 2.5 kilowatt-hour pack (48 volt 50 amp-hour). So a 500 watt panel would take 5 hours to produce 2.5 kilowatt-hours, if the panel is running at peak efficiency.

- David Herron, http://davidherron.com/

Log in or register to post comments


Who's online

There are currently 0 users online.

Who's new

  • eric01
  • Norberto
  • sarim
  • Edd
  • OlaOst

Support V is for Voltage