Looking for "portablity"

[KWKSLVR]

Sorry in advance for my retarded newbie self. Volts, Watts, Amps, etc are greek to my brain, although I'm slowly starting to wrap my head around it all. I'm trying to get some hands on experience with solar and I have plans to eventually have a hunting cabin that is completely off the grid (out of necessity due to desired placement on my property). For fun, I picked up one of these to play with thinking it might be a viable option for charging a few things. Instead I've found it's an option to charge a single thing throughout the course of the day. I have several sets of good rechargeable batteries, but the panel is good to charge up about one and a half sets a day on average. I need more juice (and more battery for that matter).

I'm certainly not tied to Goal Zero. I know it's over priced per watt and I'd like to explore the possibility of building something like this: http://youtu.be/6GyxzvoPRyQ with a little more capacity in a smaller form factor, powered by a foldable panel that can charge stuff like two or three smart phones, my garmin rhino and a laptop (DC charging for the laptop). I should clarify, I don't need to charge all that stuff throughout the course of a day, but solid laptop charging as an option would be awesome. I spend a lot of time on the road, so panel is something I could literally leave in the windshield of the car and the rest of the system in the floorboard when not at my property.

I've searched the web for some kind of plans, forum threads, etc where others have done similar things and I either suck at searching or my idea just isn't out there. I certainly don't want things spoonfed to me. I know it's annoying, but does anyone have any ideas for where I can start at? Thanks for any suggestions!

[inetdog]

Sorry in advance for my retarded newbie self. Volts, Watts, Amps, etc are greek to my brain, although I'm slowly starting to wrap my head around it all. I'm trying to get some hands on experience with solar and I have plans to eventually have a hunting cabin that is completely off the grid (out of necessity due to desired placement on my property). For fun, I picked up one of these to play with thinking it might be a viable option for charging a few things. Instead I've found it's an option to charge a single thing throughout the course of the day. I have several sets of good rechargeable batteries, but the panel is good to charge up about one and a half sets a day on average. I need more juice (and more battery for that matter).

I'm certainly not tied to Goal Zero. I know it's over priced per watt and I'd like to explore the possibility of building something like this: http://youtu.be/6GyxzvoPRyQ with a little more capacity in a smaller form factor, powered by a foldable panel that can charge stuff like two or three smart phones, my garmin rhino and a laptop (DC charging for the laptop). I should clarify, I don't need to charge all that stuff throughout the course of a day, but solid laptop charging as an option would be awesome. I spend a lot of time on the road, so panel is something I could literally leave in the windshield of the car and the rest of the system in the floorboard when not at my property.

I've searched the web for some kind of plans, forum threads, etc where others have done similar things and I either suck at searching or my idea just isn't out there. I certainly don't want things spoonfed to me. I know it's annoying, but does anyone have any ideas for where I can start at? Thanks for any suggestions!

Hi QWKSLVR, and welcome to Solar Panel Talk!

Some of the folks on this forum have built or used small charging systems and larger portable solar power systems.
But all of the will advise you that trying to get power from a solar panel inside a car windshield will be frustrating.
1. The window will reflect or absorb (especially if tinted) a good fraction of the incoming sunlight.
2. Solar panels lose efficiency as the temperature goes up, and so putting one inside a parked car may not work very well either.
3. What direction will the panel be facing while the car is parked? It makes a very big difference what angle the sun is hitting the panel at. Aimed directly at the sun is best.

Cars, like some Toyotas, that feature a small solar panel to help with ventilating the car when it is parked build the panel into the roof where there will be no extra glass in the way, the panel always faces the sun (well, it faces up) and it can get cooled by outside air.

Other options may make sense for you.

[Sunking]

I spend a lot of time on the road, so panel is something I could literally leave in the windshield of the car and the rest of the system in the floorboard when not at my property.

Well you are pretty much dead in the water before you start. A car windshield or any window just as well be a dark cloud as it blocks all usable light for generating electricity.

It takes around at least a 40 wat panel to charge a laptop, and you are not going to fit a 40 watt panel inside a car, and with windows just makes it useless. With all that said your car alternator can do more than any 1000 watt panel can do and is not limited to a few brief hours when the sun is shinning an dis more than capable of charging everything you have listed at fraction of the cost and do a much better job.

[Mike90250]

for that much power, you need size & good sun.

60w PV in the Monolith :
http://ae-zone.org/2009/09/mikes-mon...solar-systems/Mono_2005_CS_056.JPG

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1485191288541.2069021.1196643274&type=1&l=afceab33de

[KWKSLVR]

I was kind of afraid that it was wishful thinking to do anything quite that dual purpose. I've seen the monolith before, but its too large for me to put in the back of my vehicle and leaving anything like that on our property is just asking to have it stolen.

I've noticed the struggles of charging through a windshield. Currently I toss it on the top of the roof when I'm stationary (private investigator) and it works exponentially better. I was hoping to be able to charge/run a laptop for about 4 hours off of something that could fit in a large toolbox not including the panel, which is why I was thinking of finding something foldable. Looks like its back to the drawing board for me!

I'll look at the monolith again. Thanks guys!

[SunEagle]

Here is a couple of pictures of my small portable system. It has 2 - 40 watt panels, a small 10 amp cheap charge controller, a 65Ah Blue Optima battery and a 200 watt inverter. The battery is in a box that has 2 cigarette lighter plugs and external battery terminals where I connect the battery charger or can connect a 12 volt DC load. The box also has some lights to tell me if the battery is below or above 12 volts. The hand cart is something I got from Harbor Freight and the two orange holders for the solar panels from Home Depot.

Total cost was about $500 where the majority was for the folding solar panels and charger. It easy to move around and will give me some amount of energy but comparing the cost for this system as to a nice inverter style generator I would go with the generator.

Hope you find what you are looking for but be prepared to spend some money and yet only get a small amount of power generation.

Small Portable PV sys pic3.jpgSmall Portable PV sys pic2.jpgSmall Portable PV sys.jpg

[KWKSLVR]

Here is a couple of pictures of my small portable system. It has 2 - 40 watt panels, a small 10 amp cheap charge controller, a 65Ah Blue Optima battery and a 200 watt inverter. The battery is in a box that has 2 cigarette lighter plugs and external battery terminals where I connect the battery charger or can connect a 12 volt DC load. The box also has some lights to tell me if the battery is below or above 12 volts. The hand cart is something I got from Harbor Freight and the two orange holders for the solar panels from Home Depot.

Thanks for the pics! I'm a visual person so it helps to see what others have done and read what they can and can't do with it. It's pretty clear to me that powering a laptop will be out of the question. Maybe a chrome book (will trickle charge off of 1+ amp USB) but not the real thing. I think I'm going to have to come up with my own version of the tackle box system for the woods. At least it would give me enough juice to keep my cell phone, tablet and Garmin topped off.

[inetdog]

Remember that you will have to find a pretty large clearing in the woods for the panel.
Direct sunlight for many hours without having to move the system several times per day will make it more practical.

[russ]

At least it would give me enough juice to keep my cell phone, tablet and Garmin topped off.

An outdoorsman 2014 style? What about an MP3 player?

[mschulz]

I am just getting into this myself, but my limited research says dollar for dollar, you are better off spending it on extra battery packs for the device and charge them when you get home at night. For your Ipod and cell phone. Look at a Solio http://www.solio.com/chargers/. I charge my at night at home and it will top off my device. If I am out for a while and there is direct sun, it can add a little more to it as well, but for the most part, it is just a battery with a solar panel on it.

[SunEagle]

I was kind of afraid that it was wishful thinking to do anything quite that dual purpose. I've seen the monolith before, but its too large for me to put in the back of my vehicle and leaving anything like that on our property is just asking to have it stolen.

I've noticed the struggles of charging through a windshield. Currently I toss it on the top of the roof when I'm stationary (private investigator) and it works exponentially better. I was hoping to be able to charge/run a laptop for about 4 hours off of something that could fit in a large toolbox not including the panel, which is why I was thinking of finding something foldable. Looks like its back to the drawing board for me!

I'll look at the monolith again. Thanks guys!

If you are in a stationary car and want to us your laptop then why not just use the car battery as an energy source or a battery on the floor board as your charging system. You can charge the spare battery the night before so you should have more than 4 hours of use in it or run your engine for about 15 minutes to recharge the car battery. It's not as glamorous as using solar but functionality may be more of what you are looking for and less expensive.

I own a small HP mini laptop which comes with a car charger and have never drained either the car battery or the laptop battery.

[KWKSLVR]

Great stuff here!

Remember that you will have to find a pretty large clearing in the woods for the panel.
Direct sunlight for many hours without having to move the system several times per day will make it more practical.

Well, the existing house actually faces S/SE with open pasture. What's cooler, is that the pump house is about 20 yards further south and the sloped tin roof faces the same direction with zero obstructions.

The future hunting cabin will go on the edge of what will probably be a 2-3 acre green field that has not been cut yet. (Yes, I want to be able to hunt from a window if the opportunity presents itself ).

If you are in a stationary car and want to us your laptop then why not just use the car battery as an energy source or a battery on the floor board as your charging system. You can charge the spare battery the night before so you should have more than 4 hours of use in it or run your engine for about 15 minutes to recharge the car battery. It's not as glamorous as using solar but functionality may be more of what you are looking for and less expensive.

I own a small HP mini laptop which comes with a car charger and have never drained either the car battery or the laptop battery.

Mostly the idea behind this is for fun and to do it for the hands on education. I mention the car because originally I was thinking that it could be a system that remained topped off on a regular basis due to being able to leave a solar panel on the dash. I'm currently an apartment dweller and the way my patio faces I get sun for about 3 hours as it's setting. If you aren't there to adjust a panel, you'd get about an hour and a half each day. I didn't fully realize how bad glass killed that goal. I figured that sunlight was sunlight. Shows what I know doesn't it!

To go a little deeper on info, I don't fully trust the wiring in our current farm house. It was built in the 1890's and the wiring is close to 40 years old. I can only imagine what kind of small critters have nested/feasted/or done whatever else in that attic. It needs to be replaced but that decision isn't up to me (shared family property but I'm not technically an owner). My hopes were that I could build a portable system that could keep me mostly off the grid for when I go down there. I power a laptop off of an inverter in the vehicle on a regular basis (I'm doing it right now). In fact, I'm charging a laptop, camcorder and two cell phones. I'll probably top off my tablet here in a bit as well. Doing this stuff on a regular basis IS hard on an alternator, especially converting from AC to DC to AC. I do it almost daily, although I've only been stranded a few times over the past 7 or 8 years because of a killed alternator.

So it's really less about necessity and more about the "different" factor. I have been snowed/iced in on our property before (rare in Alabama) with no power (but propane heat). If I hadn't had a full tank of gas or if it had been longer than a day, power for devices would have been a real concern considering the property is last on the list for repairs due to it's rural location. Every so often some dipwits come through and take down live power lines for the copper as well (3 times in the past 2 years). Every time we discover it, it takes a week to get someone out to hang a new power line. Usually the times we discover this stuff is when we are there for hunting trips. A portable solar system would also prevent ruined trips because I could run my dad's CPAP and potentially do a few other things that aren't particularly feasible from a vehicle.

I suppose I could build something that I could keep topped off by plugging it into 12V A/C then just hook up solar down there? And, like suggested, I could toss it in the truck and travel with it just for kicks if I wanted to.

[SunEagle]

Great stuff here!

Well, the existing house actually faces S/SE with open pasture. What's cooler, is that the pump house is about 20 yards further south and the sloped tin roof faces the same direction with zero obstructions.

The future hunting cabin will go on the edge of what will probably be a 2-3 acre green field that has not been cut yet. (Yes, I want to be able to hunt from a window if the opportunity presents itself ).

Mostly the idea behind this is for fun and to do it for the hands on education. I mention the car because originally I was thinking that it could be a system that remained topped off on a regular basis due to being able to leave a solar panel on the dash. I'm currently an apartment dweller and the way my patio faces I get sun for about 3 hours as it's setting. If you aren't there to adjust a panel, you'd get about an hour and a half each day. I didn't fully realize how bad glass killed that goal. I figured that sunlight was sunlight. Shows what I know doesn't it!

To go a little deeper on info, I don't fully trust the wiring in our current farm house. It was built in the 1890's and the wiring is close to 40 years old. I can only imagine what kind of small critters have nested/feasted/or done whatever else in that attic. It needs to be replaced but that decision isn't up to me (shared family property but I'm not technically an owner). My hopes were that I could build a portable system that could keep me mostly off the grid for when I go down there. I power a laptop off of an inverter in the vehicle on a regular basis (I'm doing it right now). In fact, I'm charging a laptop, camcorder and two cell phones. I'll probably top off my tablet here in a bit as well. Doing this stuff on a regular basis IS hard on an alternator, especially converting from AC to DC to AC. I do it almost daily, although I've only been stranded a few times over the past 7 or 8 years because of a killed alternator.

So it's really less about necessity and more about the "different" factor. I have been snowed/iced in on our property before (rare in Alabama) with no power (but propane heat). If I hadn't had a full tank of gas or if it had been longer than a day, power for devices would have been a real concern considering the property is last on the list for repairs due to it's rural location. Every so often some dipwits come through and take down live power lines for the copper as well (3 times in the past 2 years). Every time we discover it, it takes a week to get someone out to hang a new power line. Usually the times we discover this stuff is when we are there for hunting trips. A portable solar system would also prevent ruined trips because I could run my dad's CPAP and potentially do a few other things that aren't particularly feasible from a vehicle.

I suppose I could build something that I could keep topped off by plugging it into 12V A/C then just hook up solar down there? And, like suggested, I could toss it in the truck and travel with it just for kicks if I wanted to.

Interesting. I originally built my small solar system to be used when I fly my RC planes at places that don't have power. Most people just charge the plane batteries connected to their car or truck battery but I wanted to try out solar for fun and knowledge.

I also built it to run my CPAP machine in case we lose power from a hurricane. While my system is small (65AH @ 12v) it will easily provide power for the CPAP and a cell phone charger over night without draining the battery more than 25%.

[KWKSLVR]

So, I'm trying to do some energy calculations, and I'm having a pickle of a time trying to figure it out. Going back to the small system I'm talking about (looking at charging stuff like cell phones, tablets and rechargeable AA/AAA batteries) what kind of available power would I be looking at with a 6v 12AH battery? I know my cell phone, as an example, is 8.36Whr (2200mAh, 3.8v) but how could I convert a 6W 12AH battery into mAh? I assume I'd need to run two of these in series to have 12W 12AH and match it up to a 10-15W panel?

Is there a way to know, as an example, how many times a 12W 12AH battery could recharge a cell phone at 8.36Whr? I'm embarrassed to even ask such noob questions.

[KWKSLVR]

Interesting. I originally built my small solar system to be used when I fly my RC planes at places that don't have power. Most people just charge the plane batteries connected to their car or truck battery but I wanted to try out solar for fun and knowledge.

I also built it to run my CPAP machine in case we lose power from a hurricane. While my system is small (65AH @ 12v) it will easily provide power for the CPAP and a cell phone charger over night without draining the battery more than 25%.

A buddy of mine runs a similar sounding system with a deep cycle marine batter at his 12x12 hunting cabin in the winter. They have enough juice to charge cell phones, flashlights, and power a tiny TV/DVD player for a movie or two over a weekend, and run his father's CPAP. I'm not sure how far down they drain that battery doing it, or the exact specs. I know they were running the ole Harbor Freight 45 Watt special into a car battery for a while, but stepped up to a 100 watt panel and the marine battery this past hunting season.