I have one of those little 1.8 watt powersport panels.
It has been hooked to a charge controller that mantained a car battery at 100% all summer long.
Now, for the past week it won't give me enough juice to light the LED on the controller due to the cloud cover.
We have had 2 feet of snow over the last3 or 4 days and expecting another foot by Friday.
I expect some power failures as the trees are getting pretty heavy with snow.
If I were relying on solar, my batteries would be pretty well drained by now and not much hope for sunshine to recharge them in the near future.
Makes me wonder about solar as a viable option.
This page has an excellent table to show the relationship between watt vs panel size and battery charging ability. 1.8 watts has a VERY low charging amperage. Hope it helps.
http://www.geodatasys.com/amps.htm (Bulldog Power Pack) Its the green table down on the right side.
JAB
as with any path,
a couple of contingency plans are beneficial
you need a gennie and/or a way of drastically reducing consumption during sun droughts
some winters we never have to start the gennie to charge the batts
but this winter it is almost weekly, no sun for days,
then 1 day of sun coupled with shortened days and you have to implement your contingency plan
we started with 1/2 the solar we have now, and learned how to survive on very little
so even if the gas runs out, we know how to consume to conserve
it simply requires a different thought process
we would never go back to grid power,
better to rely on your contingency plans than the power company
And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her;
for no man buyeth their merchandise any more:
The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones,...
and slaves, and souls of men.
You have a pretty darn good battery charger sitting in your driveway right now if you can get it close enough to your batteries for some jumper cables....
That tiny panel is only good to keep a charged battery from discharging.
Our society has gotten so used to cheap power that everything has become an electric "plug it in" and we've become energy pigs.
If you want to go solar the first thing is to get everything off electricity you can. Propane fridge, stove, water heater. Wood heat. Clothesline - you get the idea.
You can run lights, TV, computer etc off your own supply but you need some alternate to just solar.
I was testing some solar stuff a few years back and in an entire December there was one day with sun.
Matter of fact the absolute best education I've ever heard in the series of interviews Steve Harris is doing on The Survival Podcast. Steve is at solar1234.com
I have one of those little 1.8 watt powersport panels.
It has been hooked to a charge controller that mantained a car battery at 100% all summer long.
Now, for the past week it won't give me enough juice to light the LED on the controller due to the cloud cover.
We have had 2 feet of snow over the last3 or 4 days and expecting another foot by Friday.
I expect some power failures as the trees are getting pretty heavy with snow.
If I were relying on solar, my batteries would be pretty well drained by now and not much hope for sunshine to recharge them in the near future.
Makes me wonder about solar as a viable option.
Just to give you some perspective, I use a similar (if not the same panel with a different brand name on it) panel to charge 8 AA batteries in series, in a SW facing window that gets good afternoon sunshine. This time of year it takes a couple of days of good sun to charge 8 AA batteries. Granted there is 2 panes high iron glass (not good for light transmission) in front of the solar panel and the aiming of the panel is probably off by 30 degrees or more, 1.8 watts just isn't very much power and all you can realistically hope for is just over 1 amp @ 12 volts. The small battery 'maintainer' chargers that mount under the hood of a car and plug in with a block heater are usually 2 amps.
In the past I used the same panel to give a car battery a 'little help' in very sunny, -30C weather and would say it made the battery act as if it was -20C or so after being parked (with the panel on the dash facing south) for 5 or 6 hours. I hope this gives you some perspective.
Than= I’d rather be rich than poor.
Then= I first became hungry then I ate.
There = She is there now.
Their = They have their things.
They're = They're going to the mall.
To = They came to the house.
Too = That's too bad.
Ugh...a long post lost to the internet goblin!
Anyhoo...
Thank you all for the input.
Let me just make it clear that I never expected anything more from a 1.8 w panel than a neat little project thingie.
My point was more that just when I need solar the most, it may not be able to give me enough juice.
I had a 3 LED light hooked to a car battery and this panel all summer long and the darn thing never drained and the light stayed on 24/7.
It does work for topping off, but likely would never recharge a drained battery.
When I do get my solar setup, it will be for backup power for some LED lights and NIMH battery charging.
One thing I do know is that my batteries will need alternate charging sources...
I have a 7.5Kw gennie and I know about the car to charge as well...just looking for more redundancy.
I will also be using an old but running lawnmower engine to turn an alternator for battery charging as well...Ah summer projects!
Quick and easy NIMH AA solar battery charger. AA, 8 pack battery holders for battery powered remote control cars and trucks are available. Attaching a plug (pay attention to polarity!) that can be plugged into your 1.8 watt solar panel gives you an easy inexpensive AA solar charger. You already have the *cough* expensive *cough* part so the rest is pretty darn cheap. Your time with a soldering iron is probably worth twice or more than the 8 pack battery holder.
Good luck!
Than= I’d rather be rich than poor.
Then= I first became hungry then I ate.
There = She is there now.
Their = They have their things.
They're = They're going to the mall.
To = They came to the house.
Too = That's too bad.