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Solar Power Generator | |||||||||||||||||
Using parts easily available from your local stores, you can make a small solar power generator for $250 to $300. 1. Buy yourself a small solar panel. For about $100 you should be able to get one rated at 12 volts or better (look for 16 volts) at an RV or marine supplies store. 2. Buy yourself a battery. Get any size deep cycle 12 volt lead/acid or gel battery. You need the deep cycle battery for continuous use. The kind in your car is a cranking battery--just for starting an engine. It should cost about $50-60. 3. Get a battery box to put it in for $10. (This will cover uup exposed terminals in case there are children around. If you going to install the system in a pump shed, cabin, or boat, skip this.) 3. Buy a 12 volt DC meter. Radio Shack has them for about $25. 4. Buy a DC input. I like the triple inlet model which you can find at a car parts store in the cigarette lighter parts section for about $10. 5. But if you want to run AC appliances, you will have to invest in an inverter. This will convert the stored DC power in the battery into AC power for most of your household appliances. I bought a 115 volt 140 watt inverter for $50. More powerful inverters are available by mail. Count up the number of watts you'll be using (e.g., a small color television(=60 watts) with a VCR(=22 watts), you'll need 82 watts). 6. Use a drill to attach the meter and DC input to the top of the box. 7. Use insulated wire to attach the meter to the wingnut terminals on the battery. Connect the negative (-) pole first. Only handle one wire at a time. Connect the DC inlet to the battery in the same way. Connect the solar panel to the battery in the same way. 8. Close the lid. Put the solar panel in the sun. It takes 5-8 hours to charge a dead battery; 1-3 hours to top off a weak one. This system may be added on to with larger panels, inverters, and batteries. Options: A pop-up circuit breaker may be added between the positive treminal and the volt meter. Some of you will want an ampmeter as well. The panels I recommend have built-in bypass diodes, but I recommend charge controllers for people who have panels without diodes. Another option is a voltage regulator, which is not necessary for a system this small, but a larger system would require one.
atish, Jul 03 2005
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I don't understand the point of this post. How much energy can this produce? Is it less expensive than getting it from the power company? Why should a person go to all this trouble and expense?
It has a few uses. When the lights go out you can have a ball!
I did this for a lot less. I bought a battery-keeper for $30 from auto parts store, used an old battery I had, and bought a female plug from RS for $2. I charge my cell phone and PDA from it every few of days. I doubt I have saved any money or reduced CO2 emission, but I enjoy it.
This type of system might be useful in desert or remote environments where public utilities are not available.
I had a windmill on my sailboat to top off my batteries. Many boaters used solar cells instead to do the same thing. Imagine what you would do out in the middle of the ocean if your battery died. With no method of charging you could not start your engine to charge your batteries, make hot water to shower, or pull into port where there isn't enough room to maneuver. Without charged batteries you can't use your marine radio to ask for assistance.
In the mountains and deserts people still use ham radios to communicate. This provides a practical and low maintenance means of communication.
For more power, steam generators have been built utilizing solar collectors. One such well documented project produced about 2.5 kilowatts of power. That's about 20 amps of 120 volt power. Enough for a laundry machine, run a well pump, run a swamp cooler, pull down refrigeration, ... They would need to control which combination to run at the same time.
Since you can figure out a little math--My question to you is what is your pay back time (cost of system, battery replaement, P.M.)for your bright as a burned out light bulb idea--I will answer my own question--Decades IF EVER--do not forget you will have to replace the batter/ies about every 4 to 7 years, 10 if you are very very very lucky. Why not use hand powered it will be a lot cheaper and you might just loose some weight using them???? Too lazy????
If you lived far from power lines were it would cost in the 10's of thousands of dollars to run a line you can do it a lot cheaper than solar by using a 3 to 4 cylinder water cooled engine to run a generator to keep a battery bank charged and provide hot water while only running the engine about once a week for about 2 to 3 hours--this has been done many times.