Solar power on the cheap Solar Power Many people are beginning to become very interested in solar power -- and for good reasons. Most of us know that the coming times are not offering any comfort to those of us who watch these types of things. Loss of power can be very critical for one's survival in the coming days. Solar power is power that we control with no meter running to make sure that you give “the powers that be” their pound of flesh. The real consideration with solar power is that you need to become conscious of the power you use and what you really need. Reminds me of a story of how I got 2 100-watt panels for real cheap. A woman moved here to the mountains of New Mexico and had her roof covered with solar panels and all the necessary hardware to live off the grid. After spending a several thousands of dollars doing this, she discovered that she does not have enough power to run her clothes dryer. So she sold her solar panels and got hooked up to the grid. The problem came in when she did not consider what her power use was! All electric products come with what is known as a UL tag. This tag gives the power consumption of the product. If you are looking at a TV, and the UL tag says it uses 50 watts (this would be a small TV), the power to use that device is 50 watts. But what does that really mean to someone who is going solar? Let’s say that you have a set up like I do: I have 500 watts of solar panels and 8 large, deep cell, RV/Marine batteries. With this you could use 500 watts per hour and never run out of power. What would that look like? 50 watts, TV running all the time 180 watts, 2 laptop computers 150 watts, water pump For your own design, consider what you really need and what you can live without. Just do the math. If you add up what you need to have running and that is 900 watts at a time, you will need 1000 watts of panels and 10 deep cell batteries. Most people who adopt the living-off-the-grid lifestyle can live off 500 watts very comfortably. TV, Radio, water pump, lights, etc. By the way, we light our house with very efficient DC fluorescent lighting, available from RV parts stores. A 15 watt light keeps the bedroom well lit and a 45 watt light makes the living room/kitchen/dining room bright. With this said, you could see there is not a lot of extra power for this type of system, but it is very livable! I know a guy who lives in Mexico. He is off the grid and his wife has a clothes dryer, washing machine, satellite TV, sprinkler system, alarm system, flood lights, dishwasher, hair dryer, well pump, to name a few of the modern conveniences they enjoy. But the real rub is what it cost him to use all those items by solar -- over $100,000.00. You see, the more modern conveniences you require, the more it’s going to cost. A system like mine cost $2000. What does it include? Solar Panels: 500 watts of solar panels Storage: 8 deep-cell batteries Wire for batteries and solar panels ( about $200: Don't skimp on this -- the lower the wire gauge, the more power gets to your batteries. You can voltage with thin wire. The loss on 12-gauge wire is 1/10 volt per foot, but 6-gauge wire only looses 1/20th of a volt per foot. This is also a good reason to locate the solar panels, batteries and house as close as possible to each other to reduce line loss). Voltage Regulators: I know there are many out there that sell real fancy voltage regulators with all sorts of high tech stuff. I have used two different types and in both cases neither was as efficient as a good old Ford resistor-type voltage regulator. The old (from the 60ies) Ford voltage regulator with a resistor. These are easy to identify because they have a wire resistor on the back of the housing. This looks like a thin rod with wire wrapped around it. What this does is diverts any voltage overflow to the ground. This is all the real expensive digital ones do, anyway. Batteries: Place your batteries as close together as possible. You will have to make your own 6 gauge (I prefer welding cable for this because it is very flexible and strong) battery cables. Use just enough wire to make the connection, the shorter the better. Now, this is very very important -- you need a good earth ground. Get a ground rod from the hardware store. It should be around 6 foot tall. As close to the batteries as possible, drive the stake into the ground. If you live in an area that has alkaline soil (mostly out west) get some Epsom salts and dilute them in water and use the solution to wet the ground as you drive the stake into the ground. This will do two things: 1) make the soil easy to drive the ground rod into the earth 2) Increases the conductivity of the earth ground. (It helps if twice a year you re-wet the ground with Epsom salts to keep the conductivity up.) Check you batteries! This means that you need to physically inspect the batteries and connection daily! Period, end of story, no arguing! If you want your batteries to last they need to be tended daily, water (distilled) in the batteries when they need it and check connections. This is important, because overnight the connections can become corroded and this kills your power. You'll need a cheap battery brush (around $5 from Harbor Freight) to keep the terminals clean. Don't get lazy about this -- the life of your batteries is at stake. Tend them well and they will last for years, treat them badly and they will last a few months. Where to point the solar panels? The sun rises in the east and sets in the west. Because of this you will need to follow the sun. If your house is not pointing the right way make and easel for your panels to point the right way from the ground or a platform. When we built this house we made the roof have a single pitch, this means the house is 17 high at one side and 12 foot at the other. This, along with the fact that the slant of the roof is facing south makes for a good arrangement. All I had to do was put the panels on the roof and they were pointed in the right direction, however we tweaked the panels so some pointed slightly to the east, some slightly to the south, and others slightly to the west. This helps get the sun all day long. How to get batteries on the cheap: Fork Lift batteries can be had cheap as well as golf cart batteries. These batteries have most of the time become mineralized. This means that the area on the lead plates are coated with minerals. These minerals interfere with the battery’s ability to store electricity. This can happen from using tap water to refill the batteries. Their loss is your gain. Here's why: The reconditioning of wet cell batteries is easy, but care must be taken. Things needed: Rubber Gloves Protective Glasses Battery Acid (get from auto parts stores) EDTA ( a chealator that can be had from health food stores) Distilled water Battery charger Baking soda (not baking powder) Take the battery to be reconditioned and remove the battery acid by pouring it out (you can pour it out into a 5-gallon bucket). Place 1 cup of baking soda in the bucket to neutralize the acid. You'll notice that the stuff coming out of the battery is nothing like what new clean acid looks like – it will be full of chunks of minerals and cloudy looking. With that done, put distilled water into the battery and place it on a charger for 4 hours on a low amp charge. Come back in 4 hours and pour the contents of the battery into the bucket and notice what comes out -- more battery poopies! Then take 1 tablespoon of EDTA (open the capsules) and dilute in 1 gallon of distilled water. Mix well and put this in the battery to fill it up. Place the battery on a battery charger and use the low amp setting and forget about it for the next 12 hours. Then pour the contents of the battery into the bucket and notice what comes out -- more poopies! Then fill it again with distilled water and put the caps back on and shake it good. Pour out the contents and still more poopies. Then fill the battery with battery acid and give it a low amp charge and the battery will come up to over 13 volts (most of the time). My experience was this, we reconditioned 10 batteries and all but one came up to spec. These batteries were having trouble staying above 11 volts. The one that did not pass had black chunks coming out of it, so for future reference if you see black chunks coming out of a battery in most likely not worth reconditioning. You can find used batteries all over the place. Car repair business Golf courses Warehouses Dumpsters Dumps to name a few. Most of the time these places get a $5 core credit for the dead battery, not withstanding those you can find for free. Just offer them $5 cash per battery and recondition them and if you reconditioned 10 of them you should get at least 8 up to snuff. That is the average I have seen and if you paid $50 for 10 batteries and got 8 to work your net cost is less than $10 each with the reconditioning. Consider that “Wallyfart” sells their large capacity deep cell batteries for $80 + a $7 core charge (and that is a real deal)! You could bank bank batteries for the future with out spending much money. Inverters: Inverters are used to change 12 volt DC power to 120 volt AC house current. You will need these to use your free power with your devices. Here is the rub… many buy inverters that are too large in wattage for their use. By this I mean that if you are going to be using an inverter for a TV that uses 100 watts and it is hooked up to a 500 watt inverter, then there is a waste of 400 watts that is draining out of your batteries, but not being used to power anything. Carefully consider what you’ll be using and buy inverters that match what you’ll be using. For example, a 100 watt TV should use a 150 watt inverter. Don’t get tricked into buying a powerhouse 1000 or worse 2500 watt inverter. The minute you power up the inverter it starts drawing 2500 watts no mater what you do. So chose carefully what your needs will be and match those needs with the appropriate inverter(s). Also on inverters, inverters make an inaudible noise called EMI, electro magnetic interference. This makes a harsh noise on AM and Shortwave radios. We find if we want to listen to Alex Jones on shortwave, it means turn the inverters off. I know that they sell noise filters, but most are only designed for mild AC EMI, not EMI from an inverter. If you don’t plan to use an AM radio or Shortwave, these inaudible noises won’t bother you. How to wire the house: from the batteries run heavy gauge wire to 12 volt cigarette lighter plugs (female type). Inverters and most 12 volt devices use this type of plug. Place the female plug through the floor where you know you’ll be using it. Avoid using long runs of wire. Remember line losses. Consider carefully where you place the following. Battery box Solar panels House wiring You need to consider what you’ll be using Where you’ll be using it The most efficient way to do it. Put your plans on paper and consider what you are doing. Make safety your first priority. Wear rubber gloves and goggles when handing batteries and there is no such thing as safe electricity, use care in all you. Visit my blog for past postings http://aloneinnewmexico.blogspot.com/
Excellent info! I've got a great article with tech info from a Mother Earth News mag from last year. It doesnt mention the wire length variable. Important info that I didnt know. Thanks again! I know solar power will be in my families future.
I figure I did it and made plenty of mistakes, that's what the problem was........ most things you had to pay to learn by buying stuff you don't need or the wrong thing for the application. Peace Dan
