Posted: 6/19/2010 1:12:07 AM EDT
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Sounds like a great idea on the surface, but what kind of wattage does it take to run freezers and refrigeration? Like the option on not needing fuel
http://www.mysolarbackup.com/ Ad mentions tax breaks for going solar. |
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that is a Fail....
The whole ad reminds me of the old Herters advertising. Everything made to sounds 200% better than it is, while conveniently forgetting to mention any of the limitations asscociated with the item. It's a 90 Watt panel sold with a battery pack, in essence. The battery pack is rated at 1800 watts supposedly. Problem one: The ad mentions "continuous power". Well, maybe continuous if you run nothing but a pair of low wattage light bulbs. Continuous power for a refrigerator? That unit, fully charged, will be marginal for starting a refridgerator. IF it can get it going, it MIGHT last 60 minutes. As the battery dies down it will not have enough power to supply the appliance's initial power surge at start up. Other appliances? Well, maybe you can get two cycles on your coffee maker.... You could run two 50W bulbs for 18 hours and completely consume all stored power in that unit. Once discharged this unit is going to take several DAYS to recharge the battery pack. That assumes nice sunny, bright sunlight. See a lot of nice bright sunny days when the power is out due to blizzard, hurricane or other storm related activity? This ad is pure unadultered marketing horseshit, sold to unsuspecting and ill informed people.... Welcome to Herters, circa 1966. It is true that this unit does not need gas. However, the add conveniently fails to mention that the unit takes TWO perfect sunny charging days (and likely more like three or four) to generate the power that my modest Generac generator does in 20 minutes. For well under $1000 you can buy a 1000 or 2000W Honda inverter genny that is far superior to that panel unit (in terms of power production). The unit works. Unfortunately, all the ad statements sre deliberately general and non-specific, implying the unit can do far more than it can ever deliver. I suspect the same outfit markets male enhancement products......... |
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Basically a nice UPS, attached to a solar panel and charge controller. I'm sure many of us here would be glad to show you how to build a much more powerful system for less money. IMO Short term outage, a Honda EU 2000 is the way to go. When the gas runs out, I'm looking for a reliable way to charge batteries, run a few electronic items like a laptop, and maybe a couple of lights. That's where a small solar setup like this would pay benefits.
ETA- For about the same money as this system you could buy an EU2000, 135 watt Kyocera panel, charge controller, a deep cycle battery, and cheap inverter. You will have power in a very fuel efficient package, more solar power generation and energy storage capability, |
| its not a "generator". its nothing more than a UPS. it is FAR from a generator. a couple of 12v deep cell batteries or several 6v batteries, an inverter, solar panel or 2 and a charge controller along with the mis wire needed to hook it all together. im betting that 4 6v golf cart batteries wired in series/parallel with a good inverter would put this thing to shame. there are several writeups bot here and on the net that can point you in the right direction. |