Battery charging with your TV

[AustinBoston]

I dream of a day when all of us can have solar collectors on our roofs and efficient batteries in our homes in order to provide all the electricity we need for day-to-day operations. I'm no engineer, but I have to believe that day is not too far off. What do you geeks think?

The problem with that (which looks like it will continue to be a problem for a while) is the installation cost.

The places I see solar panels are where bringing other power there is difficult or prohibitive, such as remote or portable signs, spacecraft, etc.

Check out the cost of a spacecraft lately?  :yikes:

Austin

[wavery]

The problem with that (which looks like it will continue to be a problem for a while) is the installation cost.

The places I see solar panels are where bringing other power there is difficult or prohibitive, such as remote or portable signs, spacecraft, etc.

Check out the cost of a spacecraft lately?  :yikes:

Austin

Solar panels run about $4 per watt right now (3400w system is about $14K). The gvmt is giving tax incentives and I suspect that the price of solar cells will come down and tax incentives will go up. I'm hoping that I can install a 6,000w system for under $10,000.

http://www.partsonsale.com/comparison.html

[Tim5055]

How about this for an option for charging:

Cordless Battery Charger (TM)

[wavery]

How about this for an option for charging:

Cordless Battery Charger (TM)

Informative article. However, I got a kick out of this statement, "Of course I'm not the first to think of driving a car alternator with a gas engine.  But from what I can tell, I'm the first one to do it correctly."

That is exactly the system that I built on my yacht back in 1988. A lot of cruising yachts use that method.

I also solved his "Automatic shut-off" problem. If he wanted the engine to shut down at, say, 14.8 volts of charge, all he would have to do is put a 14.8v relay, attached to the engines ignition system. You can buy them at any solar panel store. That would cut out the ignition system at 14.8v thus killing the engine. I put that on my solar panels and wind generator to keep them from over-charging my batteries in my absence. It's simple and cost about $10.

[chasd60]

My next home will be solar powered. I look at the initial cost as a price to pay while I have an increasing income. I look for the payback to come when I am on a fixed income and the energy rates are still rising.
 
When I am not camping, I use the power that the panels on my hybrid produce to power the television and lamps in my bedroom.

[TroutBum]

Kudos to AB and Wave for mending the rift.  I think I am not alone in saying that I value input from both of you.  

AB has almost 2,000 posts and has been a member for quite a long time.  Ergo he has been around this pop up thing a while.

Wave has taken camping to the extreme (the middle of the ocean), in situations where breakdowns and problems are more than just minor inconveniences.  

For that matter, I have tent camped in Kenya and Venezuela for months at a time, and have done a fair deal of winter camping and "peak-bagging" (nothing requiring enough climbing skill to be called true mountaineering, but climbing 2500 vertical feet on snowshoes and then returning to sleep in a tent), so I feel I have "made my bones" in the tent camping department. (I still can't beleive people camp with air condidtioning- not a value judgement, simply geniune awe, I never would have concieved of such a thing untill I joined this forum).

All of us come from different backgrounds and bring different camping backgrounds to the table.  I am quite new to the PUP thing, and fly fishing has become my adventure recreation of choice as I have grown out of my 20's.  So I am looking to exploit the benefits of a pop up, while getting way the heck off the beaten path and into secluded water ( I am planning a trip this summer up to some alpine lakes in the Wind River Range in Wyoming to go float tubing for
my first golden trout).

To this point I have never taken my PUP out for longer than a 2 night trip when boondocking, and my winter camping trip was only one night.  I have managed to
nurse my battery for that ammount of time with minimal difficulty (all the lights and heater and stuff are still new luxuries for me).  I am investing $70 in a second battery, so I beleive that I should be able to make 4-5 nights (the longest I can ever envision dry camping in my PUP) with no problem.

Since I don't _need_ anything in my pup to survive, the obvious answer is that charging my battery using my truck is a bad idea.  I keep my white-gas backpacking single burner stashed away for emergencies, I have a water purifier that I would never leave behind (and I could always crawl underneath the pup and fill my H20 bottles  using the drain valve on my 19 gal tank).  The furnace is an obvious luxury, but nothing a nice down sleeping bag and some polarfleece can't make redundant.

That being said, what is the best value in a solar system?   I don't need a lot, but would love the freedom to be able to not need to be quite so frugal if I didn't have to be.

Thanks in advance

[wavery]

That being said, what is the best value in a solar system?   I don't need a lot, but would love the freedom to be able to not need to be quite so frugal if I didn't have to be.

Thanks in advance

IMO, it would be a waste of time & $ to buy anything less than a 40W array. Actually, I wouldn't do it, myself, unless I went with a 200W array. eBay is always a good source to check out prices IMHO.

At 40W, you would be getting about 3.5A at peak sunlight (trickle charge), for a few hours a day. At 200W you would be getting 16A at peak sunlight, for a few hours a day. To me, that is a viable resource that should take care of the batteries even if you have a cloudy day or two and I would feel comfortable leaving the gen-set home. Anything less would still warrant me bringing both systems on a camping trip. In my way of thinking, it just isn't worth the hassle to do both.

A good compromise might be a 100W array. You can figure about $4 per watt when you get into decent arrays. So about $400 and some wire and you'd be set. With a 100W array, I wouldn't bother with any kind of controller. They are expensive and actually reduce your maximum output. You would just have to remember to disconnect it from the batteries at sunset. If you don't, they will work in reverse and put a discharge on your batteries.

In your situation, with boondocks camping, I'd take about (2 lengths + & -) 100' of 12g wire. That way, you could put your PU in the shade and set your panels up in full direct sun. It would give you flexibility to move the panels into different positions to maximize output also.

This is about the best deal that I have seen:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Solar-Panel-50-Watts-100-year-life-commercial-quality_W0QQitemZ6049414572QQcategoryZ41981QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
Here is an entire kit:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Evergreen-120-Watt-Solar-Power-Panel-RV-Kit-NEW_W0QQitemZ6049377593QQcategoryZ41981QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem