solar power while camping?
saintclare
17 years ago
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saintclare
17 years agoRelated Discussions
Solar-powered landscape lights: Suggestions?
Comments (3)My son got me some for a gift that are on the shepard's hook (which are metal, not plastic). I have had them in the ground for about 7 years. Where we use to live, we had very cold freezing winters and I never brought them in. Now we live in very rainy weather in the spring and warm in the summer, still leave them out year round. Have not changed the batteries yet either. They look old fashion, too. The newer ones he has bought me, with just the stakes with lantern on top (plastic), two have broken already. Hope this helps....See MoreSolar Power
Comments (18)Steve, most homes with an existing well or watersource use one of two pump types to create pressure water. If pumping from a stream, cistern, lake pond or shallow well, they use a AC jet pump. If pumping from a drilled well, they use an AC submersible inline pump. Both of these pumps types, hard start, that is the pump uses full power to try to push the full head of water. This causes a major initial draw of power, which in most cases, is either too much draw off the inverter, and a major drain of power. To add alternative energy to a on grid home, as back up power for the grid being down, requires a separate breaker panel, wired to specific circuits on the main panel. This is done because the alternative power array, and the battery bank are too small to run the whole house. Unless the well pumps are replaced, there is not enough power to run the well pumps, and as in most applications the well pumps are also the pressure pumps, there will not be running water, other than the initial amount in the pressure tanks, while the grid is down. They make however, soft start AC submersible inline pumps. These pumps have a built in valving system that allows bypass to the pump vanes, so the initial draw by the pump is easily handled by the inverter. These pumps are not cheap. I have not been able to find any soft start AC jet pumps. So, with an existing on grid house, to run the well pump during a blackout, will resuire in the minimum, replacing the submersible or jet pump, with a very expensive soft start submersible pump. Off grid homes are another matter, and I would suggest that the system be built around a 24VDC or 48VDC soft start submersible inline pumps, as these pumps are capable of providing both lift and pressure, (or if the well is close to the house, 120VDC soft start submersible inline pumps)....See Moreportable diy micro solar power generator
Comments (1)Hey Dale, This is pretty cool! Do you mind if I put this on my blog? Regards, Tim Here is a link that might be useful: TheCampingGuy.com : Family Camping Tips...See MoreSolar power questions
Comments (15)Winter storage is something that I hadn't thought of jemdandy, but it makes sense. Especially since our camp is snowed in, in the winter. We usually snowshoe in once or twice, to remove the snow from the top of a couple of campers and check to see that everything is ok, but other than that it's shut down from November to April (roughly). So, if we did have a unit like this, storing it in our basement over the winter would probably be a good idea. Economical, no I don't think it's going to be economical. We'd be ok with 'not ridiculously expensive' for what we get out of it. And 'what we get out of it' would be as much convenience and enjoyment as it would battery power. The chance to have a little 'silent' power out in the woods would be really nice. It's interesting that you, Jemdandy and OJ, brought up the gas powered refrigerators. They do still make them. They are pretty expensive (about the same as the solar generator we are looking at). They are something we have actually considered. The down side (besides expense) is that they are a one trick pony! You get refrigeration, nothing else. You can't use one to run a pump (on the well) occasionally, or to recharge a phone battery, or to make toast! That's why we pretty much ruled that option out. OJ, that tiny sink in the camper actually never gets used for actually washing anything. We don't even have water hooked up to it. Actually, I usually just set my dirty dishes and spoons in it while I am cooking at the stove. When it's time to wash dishes, I gather everything up, and move it to a table outside (in nice weather) where I wash my dishes using a couple of plastic dishpans (one for wash water and one for rinse, which has been heated in a big soup pan over the propane burner) and spread the clean dishes out on a towel to dry in the sun! In rainy weather, I will make do with doing the same thing on the kitchen counter. That little sink is just too small to fit much of anything in anyway! Kathi_mdgd, I'd love to be able to have a home run fully on solar like that! Dances, the trickle charger sounds pretty much like what we're looking at. I will actually post a link here to the website for the item we're interested in. It's locally made, right here in the Michigan U.P. by a couple of former students from our local (and pretty well known) Michigan Technological University. A lot of good engineers come out of that school and it's good to see some of them using their talents so close to home! Here's also a link to an independent review of the product: http://www.suburbsolar.com/independent-review-of-the-easysun-1500-solar-generator/ There is some other really good information from the manufacturer at the bottom of that review, in response to some questions from the reviewer. Jemdandy, I'd be interested in your feedback after reading all of that. Here is a link that might be useful: Easy Sun Solar Generator...See Morewesty66
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