Posted on 05/15/2012 10:25:57 AM PDT by Kartographer
12 volt LED’s draw one quarter amp each. You can run lots of lighting. RV solar systems charge battery bank which runs anything 12 volt that does not exceed the capacity of the battery. as long as you have propane and some battery, that would include heater, and fridge. Air conditioning takes too much power to run off batteries. Generator makes up for difference. Need at least 3500 watt gen for air.
Thanks for pinging, Quix.
Pump motors require lots of electricity to start them up. I would say your best bet for a well pump would be a generator big enough to run the motor. You would only need to use it for very short term to fill your holding tank. If you are rural, backup would seem to be an absolute necessity.
ph
Thanks, so is there any solar that would have enough power??
There is, but full solar takes a lot of expensive panels and a good 5,000 watt generator, is much less expensive on the order of one or two solar panel in cost, versus a minimum of eight panels at a 120 watts per panel, at about 400 bucks per panel and that’s just the panels much less system design, installation and all of the other components necessary.
That said, if you buy a Honda generator, you are going to pay much more for them then a run of the mill, on the order of double, but IMHO they are worth the money. I have a 2000 watt that will run my RV except for air conditioning, all of my power tools and depending on the start juice necessary for your well pump might even get close to operating it. For sure the Honda 3500 watt would be all you need and I think they run 1900 dollars or so.
Nice.
I have exactly the same setup.
I keep several 12 volt sealed lead acid batteries around (charge them up every 2 months or so), mostly in the 8-18 amp hour range, which is enough for a small car accessory hot water pot, or a small car accessory oven to effectively be used for heating water and some food for a day (then it needs to be recharged, which with that sized solar panel - takes about a day.
With a reasonable sized inverter, it can also run your desktop to post on FR for a short while (though an iPhone or something similar is far more efficient powerwise anymore)
Not breaking new frontiers in solar engineering with it, but in a pinch it’ll be better than nothing.
I figure mine will most likely be needed for an earthquake.
It’s fun, but ironically one could be better prepared, simply by imagine you’re going camping and having what you would need for that... :D
Small camp stove, standard kitchen stuff and a few fuel canisters, and you’re prepared enough for most things you’re likely to encounter.
Always have some water is, I think, the key.
The nice thing about it is that it's kept in a cooler and a small reusable gocery bag as a grab-and-go kit. I suppose one could also use it at the beach or when camping as a small electrical supply.
-PJ
Thanks that is good information! Appreciate it!
Little known fact — grid tied solar will shut down if the grid goes down. IOW grid tied solar is worthless for shtf.
A good performance estimation equation is:
(all in meters)
Shielding = 20*log((wavelength/2)/(mesh dimension)
wavelength = 0.3 (for 1000MHz, typical HEMP pulse)
for .1 inch (.000254 m)
For this small dimension mesh (.1 inch), you get:
35dB at 1000MHz
55dB at 100MHz
75dB at 10MHz
(lower than that, you are not shielding against magnetic fields as effectively so you should not count on this equation)
Even .1 inch mesh is inadequate for a typical EMP pulse which requires up to 80dB of shielding.
So the mesh faraday cage is not likely to be an effective sole means of protection - at best you count on it being “better than nothing”
This performance figure assumes a perfect mesh cage - which is difficult to attain with home-brew materials and methods. I would subtract 10-20dB for imperfections in implementation of design.
“I disagree completely. “
You are correct. The HEMP pulse energy produced is remarkably disconnected (i.e. non-linear) from the size of the detonation.
A 10kT explosion at altitude creates (off the top of my head) close to 90% of the HEMP energy as a 100kT explosion.
“45 watt? what good is this. 1 light bulb....big deal.”
Close to 4-amps into a battery charger would keep a battery charged fairly well if you do not have a continuous load.
You have to always do a load analysis - but you use the solar power to charge a battery so you have the power when you need it.
The idea is to charge a battery, then use an inverter for higher, non-continuous loads, for which over time, a small charging apparatus could provide some decent capability, depending on specific load.
THANKS TONS.
Soooo, what are you doing personally?
What do you recommend?
What would a couple layers of such mesh do offset slightly?
“What would a couple layers of such mesh do offset slightly?”
They would be additive - but only if you had, and I’m estimating here, them nested with a foot or so in between layers. This might require 3 layers to get to something approaching mil-spec across a broad frequency.
If you are genuinely concerned - and if you want cheap, go with a steel garbage can - put raw steel wool fragments all around the lip of the can. Fasten down tight with a rubber-mallet. Only open when you need to....., keep in a dry place or seal the lip with caulk or other moisture barrier.
Arizona is pretty naturally dry.
However the garbage can lid etc. would not work for a solar array. Is there no way to protect an array out in the sun and operating from EMP?
“However the garbage can lid etc. would not work for a solar array. Is there no way to protect an array out in the sun and operating from EMP?”
The blocking diode is generally robust, but I would put a UL1449 rated surge protection device (with associated ground) as close to the array as possible. the inverter/charge controller should be in an EMP-hardened container (you’ll need to access it more often - so don’t put it in a garbage can.
All electrical inputs and outputs should have an RF filter installed, including the DC input from the solar array - and the leads from the battery bank. It’s more complicated when you have an interactive grid-tied system.
Ahhhhh.
Thankfully, there’s a buddy who’s somewhat up on such details. Will share such with him.
Thx Big.
But shouldn’t the array itself have a screen of some sort over it? What would best match the worst risk and balance reasonably between protection vs too much shutting of the sun out?
“But shouldn’t the array itself have a screen of some sort over it? What would best match the worst risk and balance reasonably between protection vs too much shutting of the sun out?”
There is no data that I am aware of on that. My best guess is that you won’t burn the whole thing out - just degrade it - but I really don’t know. My guess is based on a more robust photovoltaic junction than with a microprocessor - it would fare better. If you don’t put an SPD on the power business end, all bets are off.
Is it complicated to make a hybrid system?
If gasoline is scarce and you want to minimize its use, could one use a generator to overcome the initial load, and then switch to solar-charged batteries when it steadies and shut off the generator?
It reminds me of the time many many years ago when a friend had a dead car battery in the middle of night before cell phones. We took the battery out of my car and put it in his to start the engine. Once started, the car's generator kept it going and we took the battery out and put it back in my car.
-PJ
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