Yay ....they have the goal zero stuff in Australia too. Thanks for the link Mountainman!
Link for Aussies: http://www.goalzero.com.au/
Link for NZ: http://www.goalzero.co.nz/shoppingcart/
& http://www.goalzero.co.nz/faq.htm

You can get similar products from Canadian Tire. Maybe not the highest quality but they work.
http://www.canadiantire.ca/AST/browse/4/Auto/SolarPortablePower/SolarEnergy.jsp
If you are charging batteries and the unit does not come with a charge controller I highly reccomend getting one.
I bought the Blue Planet 60W Solar Power Kit, 3-Panel to recharge the batteries on my 5th wheel and it works great.

I'm a former employee of CT (auto shop). The alternative energy stuff they sell is outsourced, there's nothing wrong with it. And it's Canadian Tire, they exchange or replace it. From my experience, just don't bother to ask the employee's anything about it...they'll likely just read you stuff from the brochure that you yourself read. Or what's on the back of the package. There's very very rarely anyone that knows about anything extensive in their departments.

As far as the tools that they sell, they are just fine if your looking for something you won't be using on a constant, every working day level. The difference really being that really good power tools have metal casings - to help dissipate the heat from the tool. Plastic insulates. And metal is obviously more durable then plastic.
Stay away from the Jobmate line. It really is junk. It'll do if your looking for a cheap, perhaps one-shot use of it. Or something to lend out that you expect you'll never see again.
The Maximum line is comparable in quality to many real-brand name stuff. However, there's always the odd piece that is crap. Exchange it. For things that require precision (say a torque wrench), I use them, I barely trust the accuracy of it though. When I feel I have to be sure that I have to have something torqued properly - I use my professional grade wrench. That's my preference.

Runs With Scissors

Amen to that! you are right on.

I hope solar qualifies as alternative energy. I monitor solar technology when I can, you may find the following links helpful if you are in the market for portable solar panels and accessories.

http://www.goalzero.com/portable-solar-panels/

http://www.uscav.com/search.aspx?search=brunton+solar&tabid=548&os=1&catid=5230

Keep the lights on when the grid falls!

Mountainman.

gc mountainman do you have a solar powered home? I was watching a vido of a man in Calgary who has solar and wind turbined power for his house trailer and he has a system for his country place he says also, but his system cost him $10,000 for the trailer from what I understand...that is alot of money we don't have...do you know can you do it a panel at a time? work your way up to fully solar? and who do you get to hook it up..change over the fuse box to the batteries?

There are some companies in California selling solar panels at $1/watt and one Canadian company out of Ontario at $2/watt, which is a huge drop. If there was ever a good time to increase solar capacity this would be it. The Canadian company would probably be preferable as the shipping from CA is probably crazy-expensive. We are trying to increase our capacity and we will be looking at going to 24 or 48 volt panels and picking up some good batteries. gc mountainman do you have any battery suggesions as you seem to have a lot of knowledge in lots of areas. Thanks,

Howdy lgsbrooks and morningcoffee,

Not sure how I got voted as solar expert, lol. I will try to help with my limited knowledge. If you can attend the RV EXPO in the town closest to you. Calgary, Red Deer and Edmonton for sure have the RV Expo. Calgary is usually around the end of January or February. They usually have real solar experts who host lectures & Q+A sessions. Of course, an RV is already solar ready unlike most homes.

Having said that.....Yes, you can build your solar system one panel at a time. Recently 15W panels at Canadian Tire were $70 + GST. That is a pretty good price. If memory services, in a solar system you need a solar panel (or many), a controller - so you do not cook your batteries, batteries - deep cycle and lots of them if you can afford them, 12V wiring and sockets, and finally an inverter to convert 12V DC into 110V AC power.

There are sheets to calculate the total power needs to run your home. Once you know how much power you use, you can scale your solar system to match. For a small place using a mix of 12V lighting and 110V appliances you will want to have at least 200W of panels and probably 8x 12V deep cycle batteries or 16x 6V deep cycle batteries. I have been told the 6V wet cell, deep cycle batteries are the best. They are the same type as the use in golf carts. Because of the golf industry these batteries are not cheap, but they provide good life and can be serviced.

As for who can hook up your system, first choice would be a solar installation tech or a licensed electrician. It is possible to have the solar hooked up to provide power to the grid if you want to go that route, in which case you have to get a reversible power meter from the power company. This may be an option for some, until they can have a total stand-alone solar system.

As for specific battery by manufacure and model. I do not have that information at this time. Sorry. 🙁 6V golf cart batteries is where I would start my internet search. The heavier the battery the more years of service you will get because there is more lead inside.

No I do not have solar or wind at my condo, lol. I would like to be in a position to be off the grid and the monthly ripoff of the controlled service provided. Yes, 10G's may seem pricey but what do you pay a year for grid power?? I bet 10G's is used up quite quickly. With fixed items on the monthly bill, no matter how much you conserve at your house, you bill never goes down. The fixed parts keep going up. In the long run, getting your own power not from the grid will save you money. Of course, you will need a good battery bank to help get you through long cloudy periods.

I think I am rambling so I will stop for now.

Mountainman.

What I got for camping for a family of four in a large tent is the Motomaster Eliminator.

At the heart of this is an 800 amp battery, charge controller to accept my 15watt/12 volt solar panel & 110vac household charging. There is also a 600 watt, 12 volt DC to 120 volt AC inverter, to plug in low draw household items; and a USB socket to charge iPods etc.

Plugging in my LED emergency night light/flashlight is ideal

This unit has an easy carry handle, an LED spotlight and a set of booster cables to jump start a vehicle.

You can add the small 12 vDC windmill for night time charging.

Having some limited knowledge of motors, generators, and alternators, I can honestly say it's very easy to build windmills and hydro power generators. Even rebuilding an older alt/gen/motor is easy. The only difficult part is identifying which of the two types the motor is, and winding/wiring accordingly.

I am actually in the process of converting an older marine water pump into a small 12vdc generator. So, we'll see how it works.

H

If getting a goalzero solar portable pack ensure its the plus model.
This one charges your ipad, the older model at some retail stores doesn't.

survivalwa,

Thanks for that important observation. Do you own any goalzero products?? If so, would you mind posting a review??

Mountainman.

Found it.

http://www.goalzero.com.au/

GARDEN LIGHTS!!!
Here's an idea that I use all the time when camping. I get these solar garden lights from the dump and friends for free, often even find then at garage sales for super cheap like 4 for a buck. I found that they contain free rechargeable batteries (1 or 2 per unit), some even have a feature that allows you to turn off the light at night allowing for multi days of charging, You can take em apart and put like 6 to 8 on a piece of 1 by 4 wood and place it in the window of your rv or car out of the elements. or just remove the everything down to the top part so you can charge them on the picnic table. This will allow you to use AA devices for along time without having to find or buy batteries. If ne 1 here is good with messing around with electronic's you can make as large of a charger as you want that looks respectable for near free. Will up load pics for you in a bit. I found a few videos on youtube that are kinda like what I do, some buy these at the dollar store and they seem to have AAA's in them. Hope this info is useful to someone else as well.

Great idea coinzero. Look forward to your pics and will invest a few bucks to give it a try. Thanks