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fasenuff
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# Posted: 14 May 2010 11:24am
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I recently bought 5 acres that are almost 3 miles off pavement. The road in is so bad that it took a four wheel drive and a tractor to get my little 16 foot camper to the property. We got it set up and I set up my solar panels. Of course it rained the next day. And the next. And will rain for at least a week. But I have had enough sun to see that the panels will supply my needs if they ever get sunlight.
What I have are the Harbor Freight 45 watt kit and a 100 watt inverter and a 400 watt inverter. The 100 watt inverter will supply power for an Acer netbook which I use for internet via a Blackberry tethered with AT&T. I also use this for watching movies and tv shows I have stored on hard disk. The 400 watt will be used at the rare occasion I need a bit more of the 110 volt power. I have the 100 watter wired to the battery direct so I can run it with out using the controller that came with the panels and save a bit of juice. But occasionally switch on the power controller to read my battery status.
I have 12 volt florescents that can be used for the times I need extra light for cooking or such. But my primary lighting comes from solar lights that I place outside to charge(when the sun shines) then bring in at nite. The main lights came from Menards and were part of a set of 10 yard lights that had 2 spot lights in the set. The spot lights I place indoors and point towards the ceiling which gives me plenty of light. If I want to read I simply point one down towards me. Has worked great so far(except for the lack of sun) I also bought a solar shed light from HB that has a 4 watt florescent that lights up the inside quite well. It has a plug in so I can hook it to the power controller and get more run time if needed as it will only last about 1 1/2 hours on its own.
So far the sun has not been out enough to effectively charge the 125 amp hour Walmart deep cycle I have but it is still holding up and if it does go down I have a 2000 watt generator that has a 12 volt outlet so I can charge everything if needed. It kicks out 10 amps of charging power so I should not have to run it long to9 get the battery back up to full charge. I will have to watch it as it charges as it does not kick down but stays at 10 amps the entire time.
My first night here I fell asleep with the laptop playing a bunch of recent movies like Ironman II and it was still on when I woke up. Since then I have begun turning off the inverter when I lay down and the laptop battery gives me another hour then it shuts off. I should have done that in the beginning. I run the laptop maybe 6 hours a day And am on my 6th day and will probably run the generator for a couple hours today to bring the battery back up.
The generator has a gallon and a half tank and is supposed tor run about 5 hours at half load so I figure maybe a half a tank of gas to top off the battery. Gas being $2.65 a gallon here I don't think $135 for a weeks worth of power is too bad. It should drop to a lot less when the sun is shinning.
So far what I have is working for me(except for the lack of sun) and I think is a good starting point. As time goes by I will add things that can be moved to the 16x16 two story cabin I am going to build. I appreciate the ideas I get fro sites like this and look forward to any comments. Thanks.....
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Rob_O
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# Posted: 15 May 2010 03:54pm
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Sounds like you had great fun getting that camper back there.
45 watts of solar panel is not going to get you very far, start shopping around and saving your pennies. One watt per amp-hour of battery seems to be the rule of thumb
Enjoy your property, I've been fighting the banks for 3 months now trying to make my dream a reality
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steveqvs
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# Posted: 16 May 2010 08:36pm
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Sounds like you have a good set up. At some point switch out the 1 deep cycle for 2 6volts and you will have a little more power. The generator is a good suppliment..... and post some pictures!
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fasenuff
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# Posted: 20 May 2010 12:24am
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I will get some pics up soon.
The setup I have at the moment was a way to go as cheap as possible for a start. My hope was for the solar panels to supply some of what I will need to replenish what I use with running my netbook 4 or 5 hours a day for now. Alas still only one day of partial sun shine so I have not gotten a good measure of if it will do so. But I have found out that the battery will give me 7 days of power before needing to recharge. And the small generator I have will run almost 3 hours on a third of a gallon of gas.
The 12 volt side of the generator died and refuses to charge the battery so I had to buy a charger already. But even still I feel I am getting good mileage from the Buffalo Tools generator.
I had to resort to candles because the solar lights do not get charged enough due to lack of sun but I had tested them before the move and they will give me 2 nights of all night light when charged in a full days sun. And the two spot lights from the one set due give enough light to read by.
I could have went the bank route but found a company that sells the land for just the first payment down. That helped me a lot and the money saved from the down payment will help me build quicker. The parcel I bought is almost 3 miles from pavement along a logging road that has become really rough since I moved in. The creek crossing that I have to cross and is usually only about 20 feet wide and maybe a foot deep became about a quarter mile wide and extremely fast moving with a couple of the rains. Gonna have to remember to make sure I have all the supplies I will need before any rains in the future. But it does go down fast so that is one plus.....
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larry
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# Posted: 20 May 2010 07:38am
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Where are you building?
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fasenuff
Member
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# Posted: 20 May 2010 07:22pm
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Camden Co. Missouri. Beautiful area. Not far from the lakes but still remote and private....
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Rob_O
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# Posted: 21 May 2010 12:43am
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Quoting: fasenuff Camden Co. Missouri. Beautiful area. Not far from the lakes but still remote and private....
I looked Camden Co. up on google maps. Looks like a beautiful area for a cabin.
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lawnjoky
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# Posted: 31 May 2010 10:29am
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Buy a coleman duel fuel lantern and some books to read. Relying on electricity isn't a good idea. Yes, stock up on water, food, coffee, gasoline, matches and mantles. Dealing with storms is all part of the fun. The simpler things are the less that can go wrong.
And above all, have fun.
Jocko
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RDLong70
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# Posted: 1 Jun 2010 09:54am
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Camden Co.
Is your name Earl?
j/k =P
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fasenuff
Member
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# Posted: 4 Jun 2010 11:13pm
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Quoting: RDLong70 Is your name Earl?
lol...nope but I think he lives down the road a bit.....at times I hear faintly on the breeze what sounds like Dualin Banjos.........
Found out that the solar lights I have will last for about a week on fresh AA batteries if I leave em on all night. Still better than carrying fuel for a lantern and no mess or fumes. A lot safer too.
My netbook died this last week and I am having to use the much larger Compaq which uses three times as much power. But the sun is shinning and I am getting some benefit from the panels but the larger laptop negates any gain I get from the panels...sigh...
I came with several boxes of books and do read but internet requires using the laptop and I have to get online to take care of my website to post and download vids. but all in all I am happy and love it here. Looking forward to when I get further down the road with the cabin and get more panels...........
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Kithera
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# Posted: 1 Sep 2010 05:24pm - Edited by: Kithera
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I love netbooks, having now owned 3 of them, all Asus. Complete off grid entertainment systems, drawing only 10 watts of power. Acer always seems to make garbage though, and they are now on my permanent "Do not buy" list.
Perhaps you can invest in a 12V AA charger, and use that in your solar lights. Even if you want to keep the batteries in them, a little bit of wire, a switch, and a few moments with a soldering iron can make them a lot easier to deal with and much more "Conventional" looking. Only having them on for the 3 or 4 hours of dark that you actually need them, instead of all night works wonders.
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fasenuff
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# Posted: 1 Sep 2010 06:47pm
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I was able to fix the netbook that quit. Turns out the 12v power supply I bought for it burned out the internal power supply but I was able to fix it after I had already bought a new. Acer. The old one had an 8 inch screen and the new one has a 10 inch screen. The old one would run for an hour and a half on the battery while the new one will run almost 6. I was able to get the new one on sale for $195.00 on sale. Sold the bigger Compaq for $125.00. Now I have 2 netbooks and use the new one most of the time because it uses a lot less power. I feel I came out way ahead.
This week I buy the first part of the lumber to build my cabin. I am getting the materials for the post and beam foundation and the floor joists. In two weeks I will get the wall materials and if all goes well I will be getting the roof and rafter materials at the first of next month. That will have me a 12x16 cabin before it gets cold.
I picked up a part time job just a couple miles down the road and the guy there gave me a wood stove that is in excelent shape and another neighbor gave me 2 sliding glass patio doors one I will use for a door and the other set I will take apart and turn sideways and use for two large picture windows one on each side of the house. I have also gained a propane water heater from a camper that will go in the house.
Everything is coming together fast now and I am getting eager to see it done. As far as the solar lights I am using 8 of them to build chandalier with some of the smaller oil lanterns that Walmart has. I will wire them to a wall switch and I will be able to use 12v to power it.
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rayyy
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# Posted: 20 Feb 2011 09:01am
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It's been over a year now and we'd like to know how your are doing,fasenuff.
any recomendations for us newby's just starting out?It sound's like I'm following the same path you did.Any do's or dont's stand out in your mind?How are the HF solar system doing for you?
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