Easy Instructions for Making a Solar Emergency or Recharging Station

I live off grid full time and started with just a 45 watt Harbor Freight solar kit and an old truck battery to run my water pump, lights and a radio.

That was over 20 years ago and solar was hardly available and expensive. That 45 watt kit cost almost $300.

There also wasn't any forums or groups helping people to understand solar which is why I started a group and then produced videos starting in 2006 to help people get started with solar and to find equipment and appliances that worked well with small systems.  http://www.youtube.com/solarcabin

Today solar is everywhere and there are state and fed rebates to install systems and panels, equipment and good batteries have come way down in price.

However, there is still a need for small systems and emergency back up systems that people can make themselves and understand how they work so I made a series of videos just for those people.  These are systems under 400 watts and my system I use at my cabin is 400 watts main system and two 200 watt recharging stations and that powers everything I need to ive completely off grid.

I run my water pump, LED lights, laptop/tv, small cooking appliances and swamp cooler off the 400 watt system and my recharging stations are used for charging tools, ebike batteries and to run my microwave and larger appliances as needed and act like a generator but no gas or oil needed.

So, here are those videos to show you small solar power systems anyone can make with out spending a lot of money and these can be used for recharging stations for your shed or workshop, emergency power in a blackout or for an off grid housing system.

LaMar Alexander wrote:I live off grid full time and started with just a 45 watt Harbor Freight solar kit and an old truck battery to run my water pump, lights and a radio.

That was over 20 years ago and solar was hardly available and expensive. That 45 watt kit cost almost $300.

There also wasn't any forums or groups helping people to understand solar which is why I started a group and then produced videos starting in 2006 to help people get started with solar and to find equipment and appliances that worked well with small systems.  http://www.youtube.com/solarcabin

Today solar is everywhere and there are state and fed rebates to install systems and panels, equipment and good batteries have come way down in price.

However, there is still a need for small systems and emergency back up systems that people can make themselves and understand how they work so I made a series of videos just for those people.  These are systems under 400 watts and my system I use at my cabin is 400 watts main system and two 200 watt recharging stations and that powers everything I need to ive completely off grid.

I run my water pump, LED lights, laptop/tv, small cooking appliances and swamp cooler off the 400 watt system and my recharging stations are used for charging tools, ebike batteries and to run my microwave and larger appliances as needed and act like a generator but no gas or oil needed.

So, here are those videos to show you small solar power systems anyone can make with out spending a lot of money and these can be used for recharging stations for your shed or workshop, emergency power in a blackout or for an off grid housing system.

nice videos. My only point of contention would be you should not lock them into the 12 volt panels with the pwm controller because that is what worked at the time you built your systems. A cheaper route would be a single larger higher voltage panel and an entry level mppt charger like the epever the victrons or the midnite kid. As a bonus they would get 20 percent more power from the same system at a cheaper price.

LaMar,

That is a nice setup there!  I am trying something similar, though much less ambitious, just to have some type of emergency solar power.  It is definitely a learning experience, but I am sure that you already experienced that!  I have plans to upgrade and expand my setup, but that is getting to be a longer term project than I originally anticipated.

Eric