This is very very clever and handy as all get out too.
Al sent this to me to share with all y’all.
Bustednuckles
Documenting The Death Of America
This is very very clever and handy as all get out too.
Al sent this to me to share with all y’all.
I like this idea. quiet as well. everyone around here has those loud big box
store noise makers that scream while running.
for years now, I have wanted to find a nice lister diesel engine for sale
one of those old monster single lung type. slow speed, low fuel use.
they used to be made in india I think.
seen a few at old engine shows, but they want a arm and leg for them.
this seems like a better way to go though.
I worked in Africa a lot. One place I lived had a Lister single cyl. putting out 12v wired direct to the house.
A solution would be to have a battery bank recharged by a propane generator. It would run for only as long as it takes to recharge the batts. A genset hooked to a house will output all it’s power even when you’re not using it’s max output. You will lose the excess of supply over use which costs in fuel wasted. Batts will supply only what you need. The genset provides constant power to recharge the batts via a 12-120v inverter. A more efficient use of fuel and less constant noise. It does entail additional costs for the batt/inverter setup, so that should drive your decision.
Please see my same answer below. I corrected it to show using a 120-12v converter from genset to batts and a 12-120v from the batts to house voltage. Sorry for that.
Nice!
Many Thanks!
that is beyond neat as all get out!!! (but still over my head!)
It’s quite simple when you look at how the individual parts operate. Solar panels generate power (amperage) as the sun strikes the cells. The voltage they produce changes with the strength of the sun-ave=17v. Charge controller takes the variable voltage from the solar panels and turns it into a steady 12v to charge the batteries. The inverter turns 12v from the batts into 120 v AC power which plug into a power strip to charge/run your computer, fridge, fan, etc.
When you look at off grid solar power supply websites, many have resource guides that explain how these systems work. The Kill-a-watt meter lets you determine how much energy your critical appliances draw. That gives you your KW numbers to size your batteries and panels.
Anyone concerned about emergency survival MUST have a working knowledge of electrical theory, food storage, self defense, etc. I hope this response inspires you to learn more. Thanks! Lang in Tucson.
just a thought, would the inverter out of an old camper work as a cheap alternative?
maybe spend the extra on bigger panels, more batteries?
Good question. Most any inverter will work if it is the correct size for your needs. The cheaper inverters output a square wave 120v. A modified sine or pure sine wave inverter is important for powering electronics and medical devices. It’s a “cleaner” output product.
Determine what power you need and see if your older inverter is a good fit. It’s probably a 12-120v, so your 12v batteries must be connected in parallel to it.
Thanks for your knowledge Albert and welcome to the gang as your new to me but I have been out of pocket some lately.
I worked in Africa a lot. One place I lived had a Lister single cyl. putting out 12v wired direct to the house.
A solution would be to have a battery bank recharged by a propane generator. It would run for only as long as it takes to recharge the batts. A genset hooked to a house will output all it’s power even when you’re not using it’s max output. You will lose the excess of supply over use which costs in fuel wasted. Batts will supply only what you need via a 12-120v “up” inverter. The genset provides constant power to recharge the batts via a 120-12v “down” inverter. A more efficient use of fuel and less constant noise. It does entail additional costs for the batt and 2 inverter setup, so that should drive your decision.
That is an excellent idea. However, do not purchase the windy nation vertamax inverter pictured in the post, they are a piece of crap. And windy nation does not stand behind their warranty on that product, and wanted 200 bucks for an attempted repair. And are rude as well. For the newer refrigerator freezers, a pure sine wave inverter is best. I was using a modified sine wave for my fridge and it made the interior light pulsate. Not sure how it was doing for the compressor. I have said for years now, you can’t be completely controlled by tptb if you can make your own electricity.
Thanks for your experience with the Windy Nation inv.
What do you think was the problem? Did it ever work or just quit during use?
I have about 20hrs on mine with no issues so far. THX
Hi Albert. I had a 3000 watt vertamax inverter, and I used it intermittently and it had probably 48 hours on it. I used it mainly for a light in my “office” area, with computer and cable hooked to it, and the tv which I never used. I would run 50 foot long extension cords to the garage where I have a refrigerator and a freezer, and one to the kitchen where I have a refrigerator, and it would power those all day and night. Then, out of the clear blue sky, the 120vac would randomly stop working on all of the outlets. The incoming dc voltage was always up around 13, plenty to run the inverter. Windy nation was absolutely no help, I found an electronics repair person, he replaced the mosfets but that didn’t cure the problem. Then he gave it back to me and said good luck. It is in my shed holding down a shelf and gathering dust. You can email me at fredhorn37@gmail.com for more info. I really like your portable system.
I have solar on my RV (two 175a panels) & I think solar is magic!
This is a nice set up… Most of what we use is 12vdc, it’s easier for our day to day in the RV.
I have a modified sinewave inverter that I use for the vacuum cleaner and other AC things as needed. I tried it on my tabletop ice maker, I thought out in the boonies with solar powered ice would be great!
The icemaker worked but it visibly vibrated on the modified sinewave power. I stopped it and put the idea away until I can buy a better inverter.
Very handy, straight forward design, and I love the portability aspect of it. Thanks for sharing!
One of the concerns I have with this set up is the amount of connections and sizing of the cabling. In DC voltage especially, every connection you make creates a small voltage drop just within the connection, then as corrosion sets in, more voltage and current drop. The cabling between the panels and the charge controller to the batteries do not appear large enough gauge to again have adequate load capacity, again DC voltage needs large gauge then does AC voltage/current. For temporary, occasional use this might work well. I would be leery of using a set up like this on large demand appliances.
I agree with Fred Horn’s comment, not about Windy Nations, I have no experience using them, but with getting and using a Pure Sine Wave Inverter. Your electronics, medical devices and cell phones will appreciate it, even drill motors, refer compressors will run better and with less heat. I even replaced the inverter in my travel trailer with a pure sine wave unit and upgrade my cabling to six gauge from inverter to batteries and then using semi truck large gauge 12V plug in I continued using six gauge to a sixty amp relay then to my electrical junction box to my charging system and it takes very little time to charge my group 27 RV batteries. My next project is to mount two 180amp solar panels to the roof of my trailer with the C/C. The pure sine wave inverter is already wired for a PV system.
Good points. I used 8AWG for the panel to charge controller (30′) and CC to batt (2′). Rated 40A DC for a 30′ run. The current from the panels is max 14.2A@ 17v, so I run them in series for 34v to the CC–higher v = lower loss/ft.
The batt jumpers and feedlines to the inverter are 2/0 good for 200A+. This is a portable emergency setup not a permanent house system. I have run it for 3 days continuous with no transmission loss to heat. I use an IR thermometer to check batt/wire temps.
Proper wire sizing is critical as you said.
Looking at your setup as described, and assuming an 85% efficiency (the inverter is likely closer to 80, and assuming all your cabling is the correct size (your article shows it to be too small) you will run out of power (at a usage of 1.4KW) after 9 days. (assuming you start with a fully charged battery bank and have 8 hours of sunlight a day and re-orient the panels often to the correct position to get that 120 W as the sun moves across the sky. Small angle errors make for very large losses in output when it comes to solar cells.
A very nice short term setup, but not 100% sustainable for too very long.
You need more solar collection area or a gneset to make up for the shortfall of your current setup.
I made a mini version of that about 15 years ago just to run a few things when the power goes out for a day or less. I have a 12V deep cycle battery in a battery box on a small dolly. An 800 watt inverter is mounted to the front of the box and a distribution center is on top. The distribution center has jacks for 12V, 9V, 6V, 3V and 5V USB. The inverter has enough output to run a small flat screen TV for about 12 hours or so before the battery drops too low. It still has enough juice to charge the phones and Kindles, though. I normally keep the setup hooked to a battery minder, but this past June our power was out for four days. I have a small solar setup that I used to recharge it through an Esky charge controller during the long outage. The bad thing was that it took all day to just get it back to a minimally useful charge. I really need to get more panels. I do have a 2000 watt inverter that I’ve never gotten around to using. I had planned to build a battery bank with a larger solar array, but never got around to it. It looks like it now may be a good time……
Technology improves with the passage of time. The batteries one should use for a portable PV system are lithium ion 12V 100A, found all over Amazon. They are expensive, but provide much more useable energy than SLAs or other lead acid variety, as they can be discharged to almost 100 percent, and recharged to do it all over again, they are also extremely light compared to lead. The best MPPT charge controller, such as those from Victron, are also much better at maximizing the output of the solar panels and matching it to the input of the battery. The inverter should be chosen based on conversion efficiency, pure sine wave output, and reliability. Many inverters have a constant draw, even when not in use, so beware of this and plan accordingly.
When using Lithium battery sets, be very wary of overheat – the batteries can go into thermal runaway and you now have a hard-to-put-out lithium battery fire. Keep ’em cool, I sez!!
Ask Samsung about lithium battery packs shorting out…
First thing I thought was the lifetime of the lead-acid batteries. They self-discharge when left sitting, and don’t last more than a few years before they go completely dead. The SLA batteries in my UPS are totally dead in 3 years.