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Mad Max
Trad climber
Bakersfield
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Topic Author's Original Post - Dec 1, 2015 - 10:25am PT
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Hi,
I'm planning a small solar system for my Ford Expedition, for extended trips on or off the roads and I wanted to have a 100W solar system for my vehicle so I don't kill the battery while charging laptops or powering a small fan or compact space heater, or I can jump my own battery if needed.
I wanted to buy a 100W solar panel and hack it into a GoalZero Yeti 400 solar generator, to avoid buying their outrageously expensive solar panels of inferior wattage.
The Yeti 400 is compact and straightforward, so I am choosing that over building my own to save lots of space and maintain portability to some extent. I may size up to the Yeti 1250, if my needs necessitate it.
Any insight you can provide is much appreciated, thanks ladies and gents.
Cheers,
Max
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Aside from Werner you might find better info elsewhere, n'est ce pas? ;-)
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Mad Max
Trad climber
Bakersfield
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 1, 2015 - 11:19am PT
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It was worth a shot, thanks anyways :)
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Dingus McGee
Social climber
Where Safety trumps Leaving No Trace
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microwave, sound system, drives hot water heat & Charges 2 ebikes of 1670 wH battery packs.
Home Made!
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fear
Ice climber
hartford, ct
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You can mix n' match panels all you want as long as the voltage is the same. Your plan of a large cheap 100w panel would work just fine although it might not be a good thing to mention to Yeti warranty support should the need arise.
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Dingus McGee
Social climber
Where Safety trumps Leaving No Trace
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the space heater is going to need more than 100 watts more like 12 x 20 = 240 watts. Get a heated coat or an electric blanket.
An ebike battery pack will charge your laptop many times and still run a 12 v charger to start your vehicle. re-Charge the bike pack when you get home.
Solar or not, let's be real. The gas to move that expedition is far more than a Honda gas generator would use on a trip.
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Mad Max
Trad climber
Bakersfield
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 1, 2015 - 02:14pm PT
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The legend himself! Hope you had a good Thanksgiving, and I'll keep everyone posted if I find an effective and economic solution.
A Heated blanket or jacket is a brilliant idea, and saves space. Thanks!
As for the comment on gas consumption, I typically will park the vehicle and walk/bike anywhere I need to within 10 miles of the parking spot if I need to get over there.
In the meantime, any other tidbits of info I can use are much appreciated, I'm slowly building up a better understanding of what I'll need to run my system. My Ford Expedition isn't big enough inside to handle all the awesome gear they have out there for solar systems, but I only need to charge a laptop occasionally or keep my devices and headlamps charged. I could always size up to a Yeti 1250, but by then I might as well rack batteries and find a better suited vehicle for this project.
As for now, the search continues...
Cheers,
Max
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ClimberDave
Trad climber
The LBC, CA
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I haven't installed a system but have been looking around at options.
Found this http://www.renogy-store.com/default.asp site to have some pretty reasonable prices on panels. Was looking for something in the 150-200 watt range in the near future.
Had seen them in a few different UToob videos.
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Brandon-
climber
The Granite State.
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Not sure if they've got what you need, but the owner is a guy I've known for 30 something years so I feel obligated to plug his business.
http://store.sundancesolar.com/
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WBraun
climber
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Will run a 12 inch table saw ,for several hours.
AT full load?
I had potbelly wood stove in my van when I had it.
Way better than any stupid electric heat ......
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Ryans
Trad climber
Idyllwild, CA
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I built a small little setup to run my telescope mount and camera from a 100Ah marine deep cycle battery and parts commonly available at an auto parts store. I'm also currently in the process of building a solar/battery powered astronomical observatory. Here's what I've learned:
-You need a voltage regulator to avoid overcharging your batteries or running current the opposite direction at night (unless you want to unplug the solar panel anytime there is no sun)
-Build some fuses or breakers into your circuits so you don't start a fire or otherwise hurt yourself too bad
-Battery charge monitors are nice to have. A multimeter will work too, but you'll have to measure manually.
You can buy the "cigarette lighter" dc outlets at an auto parts store. They're designed to give you more outlets in your car. However, if you cut the wires, you can hook it up to your batteries to give yourself some DC outlets. Definitely wire a fuse into this rated for a few amps more than you intend to draw at one time.
Converting from DC to AC will cost you a lot of energy. I recommend buying DC adapters for anything you plan to power. Computers, cell phones, and most other electronics run on DC power anyway, so you just need to get the right DC power cord.
I bought wet cell marine deep cycle batteries from Walmart rated to about 100Ah. They say you shouldn't ever dip below 50% of the battery's capacity if you want to keep the battery's lifespan long. These cost about $100 each, plus the disposal fee.
Amp-hours (Ah) are key for selecting the right battery. Find out how many DC amps your things draw (AC amps are different and you'll need to do some simple calculations). My laptop draws 5 DC amps. Theoretically I could run it for about 10 hours on my 100Ah battery without dipping below the 50% mark.
I'm not an electrician, I'm just a guy who studied physics and knows enough to be dangerous. For my observatory, I bought a 300W kit with everything I need to make it safe plus four 100Ah batteries. That way it won't be all jerry-rigged and a fire hazard.
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Outside the Asylum
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Every single human being should be familiar with solar energy.
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drljefe
climber
El Presidio San Augustin del Tucson
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Ryans
Interested in your observatory. I'm an optician. Please tell me more! Try PM function if you want.
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Mad Max
Trad climber
Bakersfield
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 2, 2015 - 01:47pm PT
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I have a 4' by 6'4" by 16" space beneath my oakie bed, so I have some room for gizmos and gear and clothes, so I might build my own system to save money...
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guido
Trad climber
Santa Cruz/New Zealand/South Pacific
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Stay away from the German company Solara!
Years of battles with their warranty BS and continual problems with replacement panels.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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^^^^^ Damn! That's some Flintstones shizz there!
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wilbeer
Mountain climber
Terence Wilson greeneck alleghenys,ny,
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Yep.
Looks like they paid for themselves more than a few times over,Guido.
Despite their glitches. (Least I hope)
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JLP
Social climber
The internet
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Total cost<800,00 dollars.
Will run a 12 inch table saw ,for several hours.
You way overpaid for your specs, IMO - and no, it won't.
Your inverter at full load will draw a little over 15A AC / ~180ish DC accounting for 90% efficiency at the inverter. Your batteries are 100 Ah or less, I would assume, probably in the 80ish range. Your low voltage inverter alarm will go off in probably 15 minutes. The saw will stop working in about 30. The batteries will be absolutely dead and permanently damaged in under 1 hour, the saw will be motionless. With your 80 Watt panels working at a very wishful 50% yield mounted flat on top of your van and possibly in the shadow of that box, you'd be looking at a few days to recover from that glorious 15 minutes of sawing. Even if you shut the saw off in, say, 5 minutes or less, these kinds of rapid discharge cycles will significantly shorten the life of your relatively small battery bank.
Basically, my suggestion, is to educate yourself as much as possible on these kinds of realities before buying anything. Also, as you are shopping for yuppified, productized bullsh!t solar equipment with dismal specs for outrageous costs - suggest you at least compare to assembling the key parts yourself from the myriad of inexpensive and well discussed equipment mentioned on countless solar forums. Nobody with a clue is using "Yeti" or "Goal Zero".
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