?Solar Power - For battery charging?

[SupaRice]

So, been thinking about how I would keep optics, flash lights and other lighting, and batteries for comms up and running in an extended power outage scenario.

 

Do you guys have any exposure to solar powered battery charger setups?

 

I've been looking at this one:

 

http://www.goalzero.com/sherpa50.html

 

I like how it looks easy to use (wife could figure it out easy), and it seems like a well engineered system. However it's on the pricey side, and there is no flexibilty for other types of power should it be needed.

 

 

 

I've also seen this one, which is appealing since it doesn't require sunlight and can be multipurpose as a camp stove. Also a little pricey for what you get I think and I worry about reliability on this one as well as power output.

 

http://shop.biolitestove.com/BioLite-CampStove_p_15.html

 

 

 

What have you guys seen, like?

Edited March 22, 2013 by SupaRice

[tennessee01tacoma]

heres a video I actually first watch today very very basic

 

http://youtu.be/qoeK_hdw2hM

 

oops guess your probably looking for something more portable.  Your first link is very interesting.

Edited March 22, 2013 by tennessee01tacoma

[peejman]

http://www.tngunowners.com/forums/topic/54582-fire-powered-cell-phone-chargers/

[Dolomite_supafly]

I have a very small Kodak charger that uses AA batteries. It can recharge itself in a day so with only that I will always have power for a flashlight or cellphone. That stays with me most days. I can remove the AA's and put them in whatever else needs to be powered.

 

For long term I will use two larger solar panels and 12v batteries that is run through an inverter. The inverter then can be used to charge anything that might need it. And with the 12v batteries I will also run LED lighting in the house. It will not run a refrigerator or heater or anything else other than lights and the occassional item that has to be recharged. I figure I can go a week or two between charges if need be but as long as I have at least one day of sun every couple of weeks I will have indefinite lights. I will isolate the house from the grid then flip all the breakers for the house. I will plug the battery into a outlet then flip the breakers for the areas i have the LED lighting in. The power is there to keep the lights on and the boogeyman away, nothing more.

 

It is not very portable but I have zero intentions of going anywhere if we find ourselves in a long term power outage situation. I will use fire to heat and cook with. I made a handpump for my well and have a water filter that can do 3+ gallons of water a day.

 

My whole solar setup would cost under $200 to duplicate.

[Guest damonsecloro]

well if you wanna just charge flash lights and charge AA/AAA batteries, the easiest solar charger by far (i own one) is the sCharger-5, i bought a USB AA/AAA Charger similar to these:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Targus-Usb-Aaa-Battery-Charger/dp/B0025X1ASG/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1306793816&sr=8-7

http://www.walmart.com/ip/ROV-USB-CHARGER-W2AA/14860667

 

then bought:

http://www.suntactics.com/shop/usb-scharger-5/

 

you can get a y-connector /splitter so you can charge 2 things at the same time or get their scharger-12 that has dual usb ports so you don't have to charge one at a time. Went to that site and i would not pay 400 bucks for a solar charger, these cost half as much as that and probably do a better job, i love mine!

 

hope this helps.

 

oh ps, the suntactics site also has a storage battery charger, so at night you can charge with the storage battery and in the morning you can charge the actual storage battery, pretty handy, i use mine to recharge my gps and led lights.

Edited March 22, 2013 by damonsecloro

[RichardR]

I use crank-powered rechargers, they are much quicker than solar ones & can recharge batteries even on cloudy/overcast days &/or at night.

[Guest Cami]

I have a very small Kodak charger that uses AA batteries. It can recharge itself in a day so with only that I will always have power for a flashlight or cellphone. That stays with me most days. I can remove the AA's and put them in whatever else needs to be powered.

 

For long term I will use two larger solar panels and 12v batteries that is run through an inverter. The inverter then can be used to charge anything that might need it. And with the 12v batteries I will also run LED lighting in the house. It will not run a refrigerator or heater or anything else other than lights and the occassional item that has to be recharged. I figure I can go a week or two between charges if need be but as long as I have at least one day of sun every couple of weeks I will have indefinite lights. I will isolate the house from the grid then flip all the breakers for the house. I will plug the battery into a outlet then flip the breakers for the areas i have the LED lighting in. The power is there to keep the lights on and the boogeyman away, nothing more.

 

It is not very portable but I have zero intentions of going anywhere if we find ourselves in a long term power outage situation. I will use fire to heat and cook with. I made a handpump for my well and have a water filter that can do 3+ gallons of water a day.

 

My whole solar setup would cost under $200 to duplicate.

I would love to know more about your set up for this.  For instance what size panel and how large a system you have?  How many leds etc? 

[SupaRice]

+1 on Dolomite's setup.... Would love to see pics of your setup.

 

I would also like to be able to charge tablets and Laptops if need be, or something of that size. Portability is a plus.

[stjohn45]

http://solarjoos.com/products

 

Mine is rock solid and hasn't let me down for over a year. Goalzero makes good stuff too!

 

Steve