Does anyone have some quick links to view anything related to solar power on the playa? It can be any link you feel is helpful. We're two people, we'd be using it to power our smallish camp. Just ipods and speakers and camera charging and what not.
Thank you for your help.
Solar Power Links
links...
here's a few I had book marked as I'm putting together a similar project. If you haven't already, its critical to figure out how much power you need, and then build the system based on usage. I too was planning music till I did some math.
Remember: watts = volts x amps, if an Ipod player uses 3 amps on 120v that's 360 watts. times that by hours used (don't forget loss of inversion from 12v to 120v). Not really realistic unless you want to buy a lot of panels.
You'll also need a battery. Don't use a car battery, get a deep cycle marine; one that doesn't have any sort of cold cranking amps rating, only amp hours. Again, using your calculated usage, figure out how much you'll need in terms of a % of the battery. if you're going to use 25 amps a day get a battery that will only be brought down to around 70% of its value...the lower you go % wise, the longer it will take to charge.
I recommend some sort of spread sheet to help figure your consumption, it really helped me get it figured out. I rewired some LED string lights to work off 12v (.9a x 5 hours= 4.5a), and have some small computer fans that push 92 CFM (1.4a x 3 hours= 4.2). I might run a small water pump for an evap fountain(1.9a x 6 hours = 11.4a). This brings my total consumption to 20.1 amps for the day. Around 1/3 of the *wattage* my panels are rated to. This is also a good rule of thumb I learned here on eplay: 1/3 of wattage will roughly equal amperage produced in 12v.
anyway, you asked for links...sorry if that's too much or redundant info. here's some links:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Solar-Generator/
http://www.instructables.com/id/Solar-Power-System/
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/D ... mber=90599
http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/ ... rch%20Page (this is what I'm bringing)
http://store.solar-electric.com/kykc65wasomo.html
Good luck! have fun
Remember: watts = volts x amps, if an Ipod player uses 3 amps on 120v that's 360 watts. times that by hours used (don't forget loss of inversion from 12v to 120v). Not really realistic unless you want to buy a lot of panels.
You'll also need a battery. Don't use a car battery, get a deep cycle marine; one that doesn't have any sort of cold cranking amps rating, only amp hours. Again, using your calculated usage, figure out how much you'll need in terms of a % of the battery. if you're going to use 25 amps a day get a battery that will only be brought down to around 70% of its value...the lower you go % wise, the longer it will take to charge.
I recommend some sort of spread sheet to help figure your consumption, it really helped me get it figured out. I rewired some LED string lights to work off 12v (.9a x 5 hours= 4.5a), and have some small computer fans that push 92 CFM (1.4a x 3 hours= 4.2). I might run a small water pump for an evap fountain(1.9a x 6 hours = 11.4a). This brings my total consumption to 20.1 amps for the day. Around 1/3 of the *wattage* my panels are rated to. This is also a good rule of thumb I learned here on eplay: 1/3 of wattage will roughly equal amperage produced in 12v.
anyway, you asked for links...sorry if that's too much or redundant info. here's some links:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Solar-Generator/
http://www.instructables.com/id/Solar-Power-System/
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/D ... mber=90599
http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/ ... rch%20Page (this is what I'm bringing)
http://store.solar-electric.com/kykc65wasomo.html
Good luck! have fun