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Politics : Rat's Nest - Chronicles of Collapse -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Wharf Rat who wrote (3654)	2/14/2006 1:49:20 PM
From: Clappy	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 24210

Photovoltaics can create independence It is funny you sent me this one today. This weekend I decided that I'm going to build a solar powered deep cycle battery charger to test out. This summer I will spend a week in Yellowstone using my pop-up camper. The campgrounds in the park (except one) do not have utility hook-ups. To provide power for lighting, the water pump, and the propane furnace, it will require me to recharge the large 12 volt battery once a day. For that I have a small, quiet generator. However I decided to test out my idea for a solar powered charger. I calculated approximately what I think my total amp-hours will be per day and sized it to a solar cell that is close to that rating given 6 hours of sun per day. With ideal conditions it should fully charge the battery each day. However, if I am in a shaded campsite or if the weather is less than perfect I'll probably be stuck using the generator for part of the day to recharge. I'm buying a 65 watt panel now and perhaps another in a month or two if I fee it is needed. If I get 130 watts of PV panels it should enable a full recharge even if there isn't full sun. In addition to the panels I am buying a charge controller that will prevent me from over-charging the battery. I realize that I won't recoup my investment in gas savings. But at least I won't be hearing the generator, polluting Ma-Nature, and if all goes well, maybe there will be a market for these on Ebay or something... -Clapper