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Who knows of a honest Company that sells wind generators and solar panels for a decent price?
RV batteries, generators and solar panels?
I have a question that is probably so basic that is why nobody has covered it. Everytime I mention generators being loud and not campground friendly they boast that the new models are quieter…quieter maybe but noise is noise non-the less and it’s not a road I’m willing to go down…ever!
That leaves solar and battery banks right? I currently have 2 batteries and starting comparing prices on solar and it’s still quite expensive. Up here in the north a decent solar setup will still run you in excess of $800 CDN. A sealed battery for my RV is just about $100 so I’m wondering how much bang for my buck I’ll be getting by adding new batteries? How many batteries are overkill…is there such a thing as too many? I understand the virtues of solar but what I don’t have is information about battery banks?
Try Northern Arizona Wind and Sun. Their prices are decent, not always the lowest, but decent. Service is good, and the forum they sponsor has helped many.
Another company, partsonsale.com, has good prices, but you need to wade through the hype. Know what you want, and don’t believe everything you read.
On occasion, some Home Depot stores actually stock the large 165 and 175-watt Mitsubishi panels.
Any good sources of wind power or solar power generators at a good price? How about efficient generators?
In my experience, any solar power panels or windmills that generate power worth buying are pretty expensive.
However, I built a windmill myself a couple of weeks ago to try to save money on electricity.
I was able to build it in one Saturday afternoon and I got everything I needed from the hardware store for less than $150.
Now it is powering a couple of lamps and a TV. I am expecting huge savings on my next power bill.
Here are the plans I used:
http://energyfromhome.com/link.html
How do I build a solar generator for my cabin?
We don’t use much electricity, so we don’t need anything too heavy-duty. I would like to run our cabin on solar electricity, but am having trouble getting help as far as what size battery, inverter, solar panel I will need. I know I also need a regulator, but don’t know anything about them either. From start to finish, what do I need and where can I get all he parts I need at a reasonable price? Is it cost-effective to buy an already put together solar generator?
Try http://www.solarelectricsupply.com/
The stuff they sell seems to more or less live up to the specifications.
If you decide to buy discounted panels be a little careful. It was my experience that the specifications overstated the performance by 50% to 100%
BTW – the best investment you can make is a good recent book on the subject. Anything copyright before 2007 is probably obsolete.
Good luck
You said you are not looking for information about a generator but looks like everyone wants to offer generator info anyway.. Too funny..
What is over kill for a battery bank? The easy answer is anything over what you need is over kill. Get a kil-a-watt meter (40 USD) and find out how many watts you normally use in 24 hours.. If you are using a 12 volt battery bank divide that wattage number by 12 volts. This will give you how many AH’s you use. You NEVER EVER want to run a battery bank lower then 50% discharged. So double the above number and you will have your battery bank size in amp hours.
Now that you know how many AH’s in batteries you have mutliply that number by .05 and you have the Amps you need in solar modules.
Example.. If you have a 450 AH battery bank (4 Trojan T-105)
450 * .05 = 22.5 amps at 12 volts.
Now amps times volts gives watts so
22.5 * 12 = 270 watts in modules minium.
What is your experience with the solar generators that are advertised on the web?
They cost about $1500 to $3000 depending on power. A panel, a charge controller, huge lithium battery, inverter.
I’m not asking if the price is right. They sound so sensible I’m wondering why they aren’t being offered by the larger manufacturers?
Anyone have any experience?
Thanks!
Without a link to the products you are talking about, it’s hard to give an accurate review. My guess is they are either kits that have been put together from the basic components, the few I saw from a Google search were just all of the components available at any solar equipment provider or an all-in-one device that combines battery, charge controller, and inverter that you plug a solar panel into. They are off-grid systems, which means you can only power the equipment from that battery, if the battery runs out (during a rainy stretch of weather), then you would need to unplug from it and plug into your regular electric. Duracell is rebranding an all-in-one device, except for the solar panel, that is made by Xantrex, and selling it as their own, so the big companies are starting to get into the game.
Something that size is probably just good enough to either provide emergency backup power in the event of an outage or enough for a cabin. A one-size-fits-all system is hard to make to work for most people. We put together kits that are a good starting point, but are often customized to meet the customers particular needs.
http://www.altestore.com/store/Portable-Power-Systems/Xantrex-X1500-Backup-Power-System-802-1500/p2066/
http://www.altestore.com/store/Kits-and-Package-Deals/Off-Grid-Cabin-Systems/Off-Grid-Cabin-package-1-170W-PV/p5692/