[Kartographer]

Watch the video and you will see that this is a nice inexpensive and easy to buildset-up that could provide you with basic emergency lighting as well as the ability to charge small batteries and do it all quietly. It's not going to run you house, but it could easily give you enough 'juice' to get by. Please spare me the comments about Harbor Freight I am well aware that a lot of their stuff should be considered 'Chinese’ made junk, but again I say this is an inexpensive system that could make your life a bit easier during shtf and won’t hurt your wallet and just about anyone could easily build it.

[Lurker]

Thanks, Kart.

[Kartographer]

Preppers’ PING!

[ShadowAce]

You purchased it for nothing?

[Quix]

END TIMES PING LIST PING

THis is the system I’ve been trying to cobble pennys together to get.

I think this is worth prayerful consideration, for sure.

Remember—to put it in a Faraday cage . . . and if possible, have a backup duplication of at least major components.

The Faraday cage will lessen umph because of decreasing some sunlight but should protect it from EMP if designed well.

Who can tell us the size of the wire mesh needed to protect from EMP?

[Godzilla]

I’ve looked at the harbor freight system - seems well thought out and practical. I’ve currently added a 5.28kW solar system for the house and am looking to see how to integate a battery bank since if the utility loses power, my solar system is blocked. There are plans for a modifictation where they will switch automatically to teh battery bank and maintain the charge with the solar panels.

[Vendome]

I bought a Goal Zero 10 for my cell phone and recharging my AA batteries.

Totally Kewl!

http://www.goalzero.com/shop/p/132/Guide-10-Plus-Mobile-Kit/1:1/

One caution. It may look your phone isn’t being recharged but as you leave the Goal Zero attached the battery meter on your phone will go up.

Great for heavy phone users and will keep the phone charged all day long.

[expat2]

Either there is a typo, or the gizmo is stupid. What lighting or power tool can be run on only 45 watts?

[Political Junkie Too]

I have something similar.

I have three 12-volt 5 watt solar panels from Sunforce

that I link together in parallel into a 12-volt 15 watt panel. I hook this to two 12 volt 12 amp-hour batteries in parallel that I store in a small Coleman cooler.

It's portable, and with a DC cigarette lighter adapter from Radio Shack, can charge many small devices. The battery should be able to run some small electronics overnight until the next charging cycle the next day.

I also have a single 12 volt 15 watt panel

that can be linked in parallel to create a 12-volt 30 watt pane.

A charge controller would be required if you go to 15 watts or beyond.

-PJ

[chrisser]

I have thought along similar lines.

Actually what I’d like to build are a bunch of small, possibly portable (more likely “trans-portable”), independent systems.

Like one panel, a small charge controller (in the <50amp range) and one or two RV-type batteries. Make the panels collapsible and put it on a tripod with the batteries low for ballast and the ability to stake or wire cable the thing down. You could probalby build one for a few $hundred.

Once you have a working model, you keep duplicating it as funds allow.

Could be used as emergency power at home, or to power an RV or cabin. Set up separate ones for outbuildings rather than having a centralized system with a single point of failure.

I envision someting where tha panels fold onto themselves so if a storm is coming, you can make them weather resistant or take them down completely - the sun won’t be shining if it’s hailing anyhow.

Separate your load cicruits so each one of these units runs just a few items, with the ability to cross-connect as required.

Wouldn’t be the most convenient, but what it lacks in convenience, it makes up for in transportability and redundancy, and if you build it yourself, you can probably fix it yourself.

[NELSON111]

BFL

[Donald Rumsfeld Fan]

45 watt? what good is this. 1 light bulb....big deal.

[Buckeye McFrog]

..or you can probably pick one up for pennies on the dollar from the Chuck Harder Y2K Warehouse...

[MomwithHope]

Would it run a well pump? The submersible kind. I have been looking for something.

[TurboZamboni]

you should get your wife to be your employee and apply for some stimulus money:

"Canadian firm will receive up to 50 million stimulus dollars for NV solar plant with two employees"

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2883574/posts