# Simple solar setup....



## Armed Iowa (Apr 4, 2014)

Hello,
Please forgiive me if this has been covered. I own a small house and the wife and I want to add a solar panel to the roof of our garage to keep a couple deep cycle batteries charged in our garage for back-up power. I would have lighting and maybe a fan or two hooked to these batteries. I am aware of the limitations of batteries as I am an avid camper and boondock sometimes. Without getting to indepth, what is it I need to keep said batteries fresh and charged for emergencies ? 

Thanks, Armed Iowa


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## pheniox17 (Dec 12, 2013)

a changing regulator...


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## budgetprepp-n (Apr 7, 2013)

If all you want to do is keep a couple of deep cycle batteries charged up for emergency's that should be easy to do
and not cost to much eater. 
To keep them charged up just let the sun shine on the panels. The regulator will not let them over charge and keep them full.


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## Casie (Feb 26, 2014)

Howdy AI

My husband is working on wiring up a half dozen tractor headlamps to light up our yard in case of an emergency during a power outage. He wants to run it off a series of batteries with a hand crank/bicycle generator. He has been looking at *battery minders*. You plug the thing in the wall and it can babysit up to 4 batteries for years, keeping them perfectly charged and ready to rock when the time comes.

It's like this:
BatteryMINDer from Northern Tool + Equipment
Amazon.com: battery minders: Automotive

I have no idea which one he has ordered, but I can ask him if you think it's something that might work with your project.

PS. We'd consider a solar panel too, but we live in a shady forest and it rains a lot.


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## HuntingHawk (Dec 16, 2012)

If you use 12VDC fans & 12VDC LED lights then you will not need an inverter.


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## Slippy (Nov 14, 2013)

Backwoods Solar - Solar, Hydro and Wind Systems for your home. Backwoods Solar

Good info on Backwoods Solar website. Good luck.


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## bad (Feb 22, 2014)

A hand or bicycle crank system won't get you much electricity. I have tried it.


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## Dr. Prepper (Dec 20, 2012)

Armed Iowa - I would recommend that you look at several RV discussion forums on-line. Many of the big-rig motorhomes and 5th wheel campers use solar systems daily. Mrs. Dr. Prepper and I had a 42 ft. motorhome for 9 years and lived in it fulltime for 6 years when I retired. We volunteered at 10 different National Parks for 5 of those years. We had a very sophisticated solar system on board and it worked flawlessly. Many times we boondocked in the Arizona desert from late December through March with no "shorepower" electric. These folks have many solar power discussions on-going year round. Lots of good info. there.


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## Maine-Marine (Mar 7, 2014)

I work for a company that does communication systems for oil and gas wells. Many of the sites are way way way off grid and use cell modems or satellite to allow the companies to communicate with and see what is happening.

the basic set up is... solar panel (s) hooked to a Sunsaver (SS not SL model) 10amp 12 Volt and then the sun saver is hooked to the battery and also to a power block


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## Casie (Feb 26, 2014)

bad said:


> A hand or bicycle crank system won't get you much electricity. I have tried it.


Oooo, I may need to pick your brain a little bit, Bad. When I have a little more time tonight, I'd love to ask you some questions and get some practical input from someone who's tried it. Heaven knows if its not going to recharge our batteries I'd rather know now, than *after* I put money into it! lol! Thanks for posting, Bad.


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## Slippy (Nov 14, 2013)

Casie said:


> Oooo, I may need to pick your brain a little bit, Bad. When I have a little more time tonight, I'd love to ask you some questions and get some practical input from someone who's tried it. Heaven knows if its not going to recharge our batteries I'd rather know now, than *after* I put money into it! lol! Thanks for posting, Bad.


Casie,
Here is a link to Practical Preppers website. These 2 guys are Engineer 775 and Southern Prepper 1. You can find them on YouTube. They know their stuff. I'm not suggesting that you buy their stuff but I am not saying don't buy their stuff either. I just think they know their stuff and if I had lots of money I wouldn't mind hiring them for consulting but I don't have lots of money (See thread where I explain my investments go to whiskey and women )

Anyway they have a product called Crank-A-Watt and I'm pretty sure you can build one but the learning curve may make it easier to buy one. I would hook it up to a stationary bike to use leg power rather than the hand crank. But FYI...
https://www.practicalpreppers.com/o.../practical-prepppers-crank-a-watt-detail-view


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## Slippy (Nov 14, 2013)

Dr. Prepper said:


> Armed Iowa - I would recommend that you look at several RV discussion forums on-line. Many of the big-rig motorhomes and 5th wheel campers use solar systems daily. Mrs. Dr. Prepper and I had a 42 ft. motorhome for 9 years and lived in it fulltime for 6 years when I retired. We volunteered at 10 different National Parks for 5 of those years. We had a very sophisticated solar system on board and it worked flawlessly. Many times we boondocked in the Arizona desert from late December through March with no "shorepower" electric. These folks have many solar power discussions on-going year round. Lots of good info. there.


Dr. Prepper,
We've fantasized about motor homing it and working at National Parks when (if) we ever retire. Cool adventure. If you are so inclined I think it would be a great thread to discuss some reviews of National Parks. We tried to spend all of our vacations visiting ALL of the Parks and we were fortunate to visit many over the past 15 years or so then our kids grew up and left us! We still talk about it.
Thanks


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## Casie (Feb 26, 2014)

That's the one Slippy! It looks waaaay better than most out there. 

We have our lights and have done a night test with them using the batteries. It's going to be awesome being able to sit on the deck, hit the lights and have the entire yard lit up. The bank of batteries will easily last the whole night, but it won't do us much good if we can't get them charged again the next day! lol Thanks for the reply. I want to pull the trigger on this, but I'd love to talk to someone who has this generator already. (Or tried something similar.)


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## bad (Feb 22, 2014)

It is real tough to make a continuous 50-75 watts of electric output. Your input power will be a lot more. That means that it will take all day to put in a half of a kilowatt hour into your battery. It is time that you wont be able to do much else. Definitely if you choose this don't go with hand powered. Your arms don't have but a fraction of the force that your legs can generate.

I used to be a bike racer and ultra rider. One of our bikes has gone 50 miles in an hour and 66 mph top speed.


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## Casie (Feb 26, 2014)

*This is what the website says:*

_Please note! The Crank-a-Watt(TM) system will shut of automatically, if the battery voltage drops below 12.0 volts. This is to protect the battery from damage. From that point, to recharge a dead battery, it will take less than 20 minutes cranking by hand, and only 10 minutes if using a bike. This is cumulative. In other words, you can do a little cranking at a time, until 20 minutes is achieved. There is very little physical effort needed. It's a very powerful generator._

But now, after hearing your real life experience I'm thinking this sounds like an oversell. 20 minutes does sound too good to be true. Thanks so much for taking the time to reply, Bad. It means a lot to me. And I'm interested in every word you have to say on the subject. I'm going to search for reviews and scam warnings on this generator now.

Thanks again!

..................

Ok, the interweb says exactly what you are saying. A super FIT man can pedal 100 watts for a short time. Average is 30 watts. Also I found 6 bad reviews on ripoffreport.com. *Six! *


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## Casie (Feb 26, 2014)

Ok, I would have been pissed if I bought this! Bad you are 100% right right right. Thanks again man.


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## Maine-Marine (Mar 7, 2014)

Unless I am wrong...it is better to slow charge a deep cell battery


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## Maine-Marine (Mar 7, 2014)

Most good battery chargers have a deep cell setting... When we charge our battery before they go into the field...we charge them as deep cell 2 AMP

to figure what batteries you need you have to know how many amps per hour you will use... then by a X amp hour battery...


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## budgetprepp-n (Apr 7, 2013)

******* version,,,,,,,,
Think of your solar panel as a battery charger. No matter if it is small or large it will fill the batteries.
But,, how long will it take? 1day? 4days? 
And you may want to look for some energy savings bulbs like leds or something like that.

I use solar (small set up 300w) to run my lights TV computer-all the small stuff 
I have learned to turn the lights behind me off


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## Casie (Feb 26, 2014)

Armed Iowa, thanks for starting this conversation! I've learned a lot from the information posted... and from the hours of internet searches it _generated_!

See? See what I did there!? I'm funny!
Anyone? No? OK.


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## hotpig27 (Dec 24, 2013)

budgetprepp-n said:


> ******* version,,,,,,,,
> Think of your solar panel as a battery charger. No matter if it is small or large it will fill the batteries.
> But,, how long will it take? 1day? 4days?
> And you may want to look for some energy savings bulbs like leds or something like that.
> ...


You will never get ahead because I keep sneaking into your house and turning all of the lights on.


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## hotpig27 (Dec 24, 2013)

Here was my start up system. I originally had 2 100 watt panels and added to it as I won minimum bid auctions that included free shipping on ebay. Right now this system has 5 100 watt panels on the top row and 2 125watt panels in a second row. I get about 390 watt during peak sun from my grid tie. I also added two more batteries. Next pay I may add two more. I also have two of the 125 watt and two 80 watt panels that are in my garage waiting to be mounted. My primary goal is to have some battery back up power and the ability to recharge it even in less than ideal weather. Lower utility cost is just a added bonus.


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