Solar power

[Doc]

I've been intersted in solar energy since visiting the Centre for Alternative technology in Wales as a child.

You can get 50% grants to install photovoltaic panels. I have a south facing roof and if I had a spare £5000 kicking around I would be tempted. The thought of selling 'green' electricity back to the grid is a good one.

Unfortunately, I don't have the spare shekels At home I have various 12v sealed lead acid gel cells that I use to power my amateur radio station while away from home, or for power cuts. I'm looking to put together a solar charger - probably about 4 to 5 watts.

Silva do a nice lightweight 12v 5 watt folding panel - could potentially have bushcraft/camping uses. Although I appreciate it is good to leave 20th/21st century technology behind too.

Maplins are currently offering a solar charger for nicad/NiMh batteries reduced to a fiver. I bought one and it works. Takes about a day to recharge a pair of modern high capacity AAs though!

 

[JFW]

Doc,

I bought one from maplins a few years ago, it charges 2 AA batteries and has various leads to charge other batteries or run small electrical devices. I think its great when I'm away for a week or so to charge my torch or radio batteries, but as you say it takes a day to charge 2 batteries. I usually mount it on my rucksack (the unit with batteries is very light) when I'm walking during the day and when I need the power for my torch or whatever it's ready to go. All my electrical equipment runs on AAs so it's fine for my purposes.

Cheers

JFW

 

[arctic hobo]

If you want real high tech stuff, SpectroLab are at the forefront of the efficiency race. www.spectrolab.com
It is possible for them to manufacture a cell measuring 1cm x 1cm that will generate up to 25 Watts of power! It does need its own cooling plate, but it's very impressive. You could power your car with a bunch of them, even in British weather

 

[Spacemonkey]

I have been quoted 5000 euros to fit a solar system to my farm in Spain, which would consist of a huge deep discharge battery system, and 3 large panels as well as the correct invertors. Now i appreciate that in the UK we need different types of cells for the less bright sun, but I still think it is a rip off here. Its about a couple of hundred euros for a water heater over there, and I'm sure a heck of a lot more here! You still need a wind vane and a mini generator for some winter days as back up though. Still, a good idea.

 

[arctic hobo]

A couple hundred euros? You can make your own with copper pipe, a pipe bender, and black polypropylene. Best is to melt it to soft, although I appreciate that that's a bigger job. I made one when I was doing TEFL in Nepal, I messed up the pipe bending a couple of times but it's all surprisingly easy. If anyone's interested in doing it themselves I can explain it properly or write some instructions

 

[Doc]

I remember seeing a simple solar water heater: a black hosepipe threaded through dozens of 1.5 litre plastic drink bottles and laid out on the lawn.

 

[grahoom]

A couple hundred euros? You can make your own with copper pipe, a pipe bender, and black polypropylene. Best is to melt it to soft, although I appreciate that that's a bigger job. I made one when I was doing TEFL in Nepal, I messed up the pipe bending a couple of times but it's all surprisingly easy. If anyone's interested in doing it themselves I can explain it properly or write some instructions

yes please, i am interested.

 

[moduser]

Permaculture is an interest of mine and I have a couple of links to viable projects

http://www.ecosainstitute.org/solar_water_heater.htm

http://www.bigginhill.co.uk/solar.htm

http://www.diydata.com/projects/solarpanel/solarcollector.htm

http://www.itdg.org/docs/technical_information_service/solar_water_heating.pdf

I'm sure there's loads more info out there.

Hope they are of interest

 

[Stuart]

I have a solar charger that a made by cutting up parts of serveral other store bought systems in an attempt to get the best of all of them.

the pannels are very robust and fold in half, when open the pannel is the size of an A4 sheet. it is connected to a 12 AA battery pack which stores the power. from there I can either use the battries or plug items in via a 12V cigarette light plug.

I have used it many times now (usually in deserts or tropical contries) and it keeps my battery hungry camera equipment running.

the benifit of having a battry pack is that you can leave the pannel on the top of your bergen/vehical and use the power it has stored in the evening

most of the parts came from products made by Smart solar http://www.smartsolar.co.uk/solar-chargers.html

they make very good for value for money solar battery chargers

 

[arctic hobo]

yes please, i am interested.

Check your PM

 

[george]

A couple hundred euros? You can make your own with copper pipe, a pipe bender, and black polypropylene. Best is to melt it to soft, although I appreciate that that's a bigger job. I made one when I was doing TEFL in Nepal, I messed up the pipe bending a couple of times but it's all surprisingly easy. If anyone's interested in doing it themselves I can explain it properly or write some instructions

I'm interested too please.

George

 

[arctic hobo]

Check your PM