Anyone Know About - Solar Generator

FluMom wrote: Does anyone have any experience or knowledge about this Solar Generator? http://www.mysolarbackup.com/ This generator looks really useable. I just want to keep my freezer running enough not to lose the food in it. I just want to buy some time so I don't have to rush through the frozen food. And if I can get my computer working from this generator or my TV to keep me posted as to what is happening this is great. I would also use it for my cordless phone and or my cell phone when needed.

I don't have time for a full post right now. That system for $1600 and $3800 is not going to power the equipment you have listed for more then a day or two for the large system. The price is way too high for what you're getting and the solar panels are cheap. You need a bunch of learning before you jump into solar. That system is way over priced.

The $1600 System has one 90 watt solar panel. The system will give you about 450 Watt Hours per day of Electricity. You'll have plenty of power for full time Cell phone charger and laptop (not desktop) for 8-12 hours a day. The freezer alone needs more energy then the system can provide. You'll need somewhere around 1000-2000 Watt hours just for the Freezer to keep it on 24 hour a day. Unless it's a tiny TV it's going to draw 120-250 watts per hour. So the TV will have about 2-4 hours per day without anything else hooked to it. Even the $3800 system is under powered for your needs.

You need to first buy a Killa Watt electricity Monitor for $22. You then measure the kilowatt hours used for each appliance for at least 2 days each. Then you add them all together and you'll know how much energy you will use. You can pickup 4 Deep Cycle Batteries, a 800-1500 watt inverter and Two higher output solar panels (two 200 watt panels = 400 Watts) for Under $1500. That would be your minimum setup as You'll have days with almost no sun. That would give you over twice the daily energy of that $3800 system.

The problem is knowing how to wire it all up and all the little things that you might not be familiar with. You need to have a full understanding of how solar works and how many hours a day of sunlight your panels will receive. You'll get about 5 hours of sunlight into the panels per day. So a 90 watt panel will add about 450 watt hours to the batteries per day. Your location matters and so does the time of year. Some places get 6 hours and others only 4.


http://www.amazon.com/P3-International-P4400-Electricity-Monitor/dp/B00009MDBU


Under $2 a Watt Solar Panels

In all reality I would buy a few months of 30 year survival food for $500 instead of spending $3800 to save the $400 of food in your freezer. When people have full blown whole house solar installations installed they get state, utility and federal rebates that cut the cost down 50-80%. The payback period is still 10-20 years with the rebates and tax deductions. You would get nothing back on those systems mentioned above.

Sams Club has a small version of this 120 volt 60 watts for 297.00. With this I can charge my cell phone, run my computer, not sure it will run my small LCD TV in the kitchen. Just a thought especially my phone and computer they are important.

I am just so cheap about losing my food but Tech you are right about the price...I have plenty of survival food already, just hate losing those roasts and steaks and most important the ICE CREAM!!

Thank you for settin me straight...sometimes I just leap and don't think. That is why I ask!!

HI, FluMom and Tech.  Tech is right about the solar. 

You can add several batteries together to double or quadruple your backup reserve time.

One Group 29 Deep Cycle Holds about 1Kw hour.
That's 100 watts for about 10 hours or 10 watts for 100 hours.

Two batteries will double that and Four will give you 4,000 Watt hours.

Your laptop will probably average 30 watts per hour off of AC. My Macbook Pro is Drawing 26 as we speak. More when the battery is charging.

If you have wireless internet don't forget the cable modem/DSL and or a wireless router. Those will add 5-10 watts per hour if they even work when the power is out. Don't forget a long cord to power both from the inverter.

If you have 19" LCD TV you still need to power your Digital Converter with the inverter if you have an Antenna on your roof. You might even have a signal amplifier. If you have Cable TV then you'll need to power that also off the inverter. You can Always buy two inverters to Run off the batteries.

You Could skip the Solar panel and buy a $300 Sams Club Generator and Battery and Charger.

$297 800 Watts and only 27 pounds. This would power your Freezer and TV and Laptop all at the same time. It can put out more power in a day then a 60 watt solar power could in a month.
http://www.samsclub.com/shopping/navigate.do?dest=5&item=426745

Or this one for $539 2000 watts and 57 pounds.
http://www.samsclub.com/shopping/navigate.do?dest=5&item=441378

They only hold about .5 to 1 gallon of gas so you need to refill them every 3.5 -8 hours depending on the model. Still you could Charge those Group 29 batteries with them so you could only run them a few hours a day if you had an inverter.

Sams Club has auctions and you can pickup a 25 Amp Battery Charger for about $20-$30 here. I bought 4 of them and they work great with a generator. I have a bunch of Toys, Boats Quads, Motorcycles, RV's Golf Carts and I drag race and Need to cool the engine with a spare 12V battery with fans or ice between runs. That's why I need four of them. http://auctions.samsclub.com/Scripts/LotSearch.asp?a=t&ListingType=A&submitFlag=1&SORTBY=4&KeyWords=All&merchflag=1&PrevURL=%2Fdefault.htm&TitleOnly=N&SearchMode=gallery&prodname=25%20amp%20battery%20charger

FluMom wrote: I really do not want gasoline anywhere near my home. Your suggestions are excellent. I am going to copy these and put them in my notebook so if I decide to purchase one of these solar units I will know what I need to do. I need to purchase a new antenna and a digital converter, just in case. Thanks for the info...this stuff is Greek to me!

In all honesty the gasoline is as safe as the batteries. You can use the gas from your vehicle. Just keep the tank peaked more often.

If you think keeping 200+ pounds of batteries is safe think again.

Four Group 29 batteries can dump about 3500 AMPS if you drop anything metal on the posts. I've done it with my electric Tractor when the batteries were charging. When they charge they produce Hydrogen and Oxygen. That is exactly what rocket fuel it made of. One of the batteries exploded the top off. Like a big firecracker. Lucky I had safety glasses on as the only damage was ringing ears all day and a destroyed battery. I'm still amazed the Acid didn't dump out or get on me.

The other issues are the acid (if you have Kids that don't know any better) and venting fumes (when charging) are flammable. So in reality, I feel gasoline is not more dangerous then the batteries. The batteries need to be in an enclosed vented container and not in you're living space.

That little 800 watt $297 generator I pointed out only consumes .14 gallons per hour at 400 watts output. .14 gallons of gas will give you the same usable electricity as those 60 watt solar panels will put out in 48 hours.

5 gallons of gas will give you the energy of 71 days of solar based on a 60 watt panel.

Good points Tech! I have two vehicles hold a total of 35 gallons and I keep 2 gallons for the mower and I two empty 2 gallon just in case I need extra or need to siphon off my cars, I have a syphon tube just for that.

I did the fcc thing and I have great coverage where I live. So I need to get a converter box and an antenna. I am only looking to keep informed in case TSHTF, so I will only run it at news times.

I guess I need to reconsider, since I have all that gas anyway. I only need to run the freezer for maybe 2 weeks and then go to the refrig for as long as I need or can. The refrig I have in the garage is new last year so it is efficient. I bet I could just go with the refrig with it's freezer if I just made decisions as to what was most important...meat!!

Like I said the refrig is nice to have but I can do without it but can't do without my cell phone, laptop, and TV for news. So that small generator may do the trick but I never go small, sad to say. Have to do some research!

We run the mower dry of gas to store and we use the gas in the can for our snow blower. So our gas stays fresh. But if I did I would use stablizer. I do know about that not much else but I do know that. LOL!

Will try the rabbit ears and a converter to see how the receiption is.

The Swine flu is going to hit the hardest during the colder/coldest months. No need for Air Conditioning and the Freezer will use less electricity if you keep the Freezer in the coldest protected location you can find.