Emergency Solar Power on the Cheap

[mysteek29]

I have his solar panel set up on my vehicle for emergencies. I dont think that the solar panel has a charge control built in. If left set up it will continue to charge the battery which will cause the battery to be damaged. ( I have do this) It is good for emergency but you will need a voltage meter to determine how high the voltage is in the Battery.

[jmnic63]

Hey man great vid . after watching this i bought a small 12volt battery and the same panel u have . and ive had this set up for about a week now. I am mainly using it for lighting in my room and it works great ! Im using 6 led flood lights mounted in my room and a 12v to 3volt adapter for a car. the system is very efficient and ive had a good charge on a cloudy day ! the lights will last forever on . anyway thanks for posting this ,i would of spent a lot more than i should have !

[Adrianofnagrand]

Plug it in*

[90210cz]

can u post a video with detail ideas regarding how to make one portable, simple ,lighter solar light

[wotan237]

What is the absolute best solar system to power JUST a computer during emergency power outages, or to power teh computer way out in the wilderness???

[LeonRFpoa]

Looks like my solar generators, I got that same panel.

[V607Accord]

Which walmart battery is that? I went there today and the cheapest was like 50 bucks!

[simplistiksoftware]

To correct some of the comments here about days till fully charged... The battery in the video is an 18 ah battery from walmart. It's advertised as 220CCA, which is 18 ah. The solar panel is Amorphous type 150mah at 17.8v. So in perfect sunlight for 8hrs a day (facing the sun the entire time mind you) it will take exactly 15 days from 0 to 18ah on the battery. In real life testing I can say it takes about 9 days with manually tracking the sun. 5W panel would be 5 days from 0.

[izabelleTV]

he put on the negative first and you can see the positive from the inverter cause a spark.

had it been hydrogen fumes from a box or something it might have been a acid bath.

[MrBoggerly]

Very helpful, thanks friend!

[RL968]

thank you, im preparring a kit now, very helpful, i will pick this up next time at walmart lol

[Martyntd5]

As mentioned above, you would need around 800 hours of good sunlight to recharge a deep cycle battery with that solar panel. Assuming 12 hours of sunlight per day at 100% efficiency, it would take 66 days to recharge it. I really dont see the benefit over just storing a battery. You would need a much more powerful solar panel to have any kind of meaningful recharge capability.

[purity4all]

could you get several solar panels and put them together somehow to chare the battery more fully or faster?

[ShooterReview]

Out-freaking-standing! Thanks for posting - keep it up! Have to sub a great channel for off the grid events!

[Skylad14]

i would suggest buying two 5.5 watt panels to go with the 1.8 that way you would have 12.8 which would charge it faster but still wouldn't need a charge controller.

[93hostang]

Could you daisy chain a few deep cycle batteries so a fully powered battery is always available? What's the charge time with the solar panel?

[BKSinAZ]

Hope to see more solar videos by you in the future.

[EastJesus87]

I picked up that same inverter today. It works great.

[PreacherPrepper]

Have you tested the charger to see if this solar charger will work. I like the idea a lot. I bought the small thermal lunch box at a thrift shop yesterday and the Harbor freight is having sale on some of the rest of the parts to finish the kit. I would like to use it upstairs for a lamp to get ready for bed etc. excellent idea. Please let me know your experience. Blessings, Preacher.

[veritas8985]

Great video. Great, affordable, backup system that most people can afford. That would be a great thing to have in hurricane prone areas.

[urbansurvivor101]

Great set up! I will have to do something like this!

[sonofsigns]

HOW MUCH FOR THE INVERTER

[offthegridsurvival]

@sonofsigns This particular one is about $50 bucks, but I've seen them for as low as $20.

[R5H4D0W]

@offthegridsurvival I'd go pure sine now, prices have really came down.

[ForNowKing]

1.8 w solar charger that would take forever to charge that battery

even if the charger worked 100% 1.8W (125mAh) That is mili amps per hour of sun !!

a deep cycle battery can need 100 amp hours to fully charge

1.8 w charger might provide battery charge loss

from sitting but will not charge it enough to replace use

[offthegridsurvival]

@ForNowKing which is why I said this setup will keep this battery fully charged for when I need it. I'll be testing this out over the weekend...

[fastacker2]

@ForNowKing it would take approx 700 to 1000 hours of sunlight to fully charge a 100 amp hr battery. If you assume 8 hrs/day that gives over 100 days to charge from dead condition. His battery looks much smaller, so maybe 30 days for a full recharge.

[ForNowKing]

how long will it take to fully charge the battrie with the solar panal?

[offthegridsurvival]

@ForNowKing possibly a few days if the battery was fully drained..

[R5H4D0W]

@offthegridsurvival these 1.8W solar panels are designed to trickle charge only, that is, it offsets the natural self discharge of the battery, and that's it. I hate to tell you man, but you'll need at least an amp if not greater to charge that battery of yours, or it will sulfate in the process between charges. Likewise I use a 50W panel to charge a 35AH battery and it could barely keep up with the occasional use of an 150W inverter!

[jmnic63]

I have the 2 watt version of this and it seems to charge a battery just fine. just takes a little while longer. But i can understand what u mean. thats why im only using my setup for led lighting.

[Machi74005]

I suspect that drill pulls alot of juice. Impressive.

[offthegridsurvival]

@Machi74005 Yea it does, I think about 700 watts.

[DixiePrepper]

COOL VIDEO! 

[ewtoutdoors]

Exellent video, would do a good job on charging all kinds of low power devices to keep things going. Does the inverter have a USB port alot of newer devices charge from USB.

[offthegridsurvival]

@ewtoutdoors Yes, this inverter has two 110 volt outlets and one USB outlet... it does the job well.

[x4167]

Very nice, I have similar setup,i put my battery in a battery box,and i mounted the inverter to the top of the box cover,i can power my laptop for nearly 6 hours straight.

[offthegridsurvival]

@x4167 Awesome!

[elira67]

very good idea, thanks for the info...

[poormanprepper]

this is a damn good idea, i can even scale it up. this is a great idea for starters. thumbs up and fav!

[offthegridsurvival]

@poormanprepper the sky is the limit! Thanks for the comment!

[TheIronicBanana]

Cool, thanks.

[TruthWarriorFilms]

Thanks for the info... I'm heading to OD to see what they have. This would be good for keeping a light or two going in a cabin.

[Ghillieinthebush]

Thanks for sharing :) always good to know little things like this.

[MrPVaSoldier]

great idea! I think im going to go check that out and get a set up like that some time soon

[gforce118118]

i made a very similar system, and i have videos of my prototype and my current versions on youtube. one thing that i would do differently on my setup is to use a DEEP CYCLE BATTERY because it is made for slow, continuous drain, and i believe it can also be discharged more completely without damage to the cell. my system is built for outdoor use, so check it out mabe you will pick up some ideas. nice video!

[offthegridsurvival]

@gforce118118 I agree with using deep cycle batteries, my other kit that is setup in the house has that in place... This vid was intended to setup a small kit very cheaply.. deep cycles are more expensive.

[CommanderXED]

Good job on the video. For my solar backup kit, I went with an 80 watt solar panel and a Xantrex 1500 watt portable battery backup -w- built in inverter. Don't forget that when that small battery dies,you can hook up your inverter to the battery in your car and use it to provide electricity.

[azratt]

Have the same set up other than I use a 90 watt panel for recharging battery.

[thehilitereel]

Great way to get people into solar, start small and work your way up if you aren't sure.

[superdznuts99]

will it run a sawzall

[offthegridsurvival]

@superdznuts99 yes, it will...

[PreacherPrepper]

I am on it. Thanks! Blessings, Preacher

[TangoMikeFoxtrot]

Nice kit, will definitely put this on my to do list.

[hinckleypoland]

definitely a great idea. Thanks for sharing.

[nik416]

great vid thanks for the idea

[SixtyAteOutdoors]

nice idea

[perfectscotty]

Nice video ! I subscribed to you, can you do a larger power source that can power the blower on the average guys furnace ?

[offthegridsurvival]

@perfectscotty it would have to be a very large solar array with several batteries wired up...

[221smay]

Hi - could you tell me where I can get an inverter?

[offthegridsurvival]

@221smay amazon.com, radio shack, walmart, etc.

[NESurvivalPrep]

How long does it take the solar panel to charge the 12 volt?

[offthegridsurvival]

@NESurvivalPrep I haven't brought the battery down far enough to find out, but at 125 milliamps, my guess is at least a day or two...

[rewardboy1]

nice i already subed :)

[18wheeler76]

thats awesome,is a big setup basically the same thing,but a car battery bigger solar panels?

[offthegridsurvival]

@18wheeler76 for the most part, but with bigger setups the panels are connected to a charge controller which regulates the flow to the batteries...

[WickedHazeSilver]

Great Idea ! Gonna get on one of these this weekend I think ! Thanx Alot ! I enjoy watching your videos !

[offthegridsurvival]

@WickedHazeSilver Thanks! Appreciate it...

[Northemt88]

I think you may have given me a project to do this weekend

thank you sir

[offthegridsurvival]

@Northemt88 Post up a vid, I'd love to see how it turns out! 

[BlueCollarSurvival]

on my list

[veritasfiles]

Good stuff! How long do you figure that single 12v battery will last when its mostly in a state of disuse?

[offthegridsurvival]

@veritasfiles it depends on what your running. Example: 25 amp hour battery running a radio using 8 watts of power could last 15 hours of continuously.

[AppalachianFreedom]

Nice setup sir!