Re: Solar Power
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Posted by Zardoz
on April 07, 2004 at 09:22:51:
In Reply to: Re: Solar Power posted by Permanent Tiller on April 06, 2004 at 18:48:24:
FYI: Two types of panels, Monocrystaline and Amorphous. Panels come in rigid and flexible. If you want a small setup. Unisolar which makes the amorphous panels in rigid and flexible make the toughest panels but I have had no problems with my Kyrocera monocrystaline panels. Amorphous panels work better in the shade than monocrystaline panels. If I were going to spend alot of time in shadier places I would get amorphous panels. In Death Valley the monocrystaline panels work fine. Get a good controller like a morningstar 15M prostar hook it up with 10 gauge wire and fuse unit between panel and solar controller and solar controller and battery. Be sure to also fuse your battery output if you are going to use a seperate battery. Make sure your controller has blocking diodes in it so the circuit does not reverse at night and feed power backwards. Thats about it for solar. Costs are roughly. $550 for 125W solar panel (kyrocera) and $160 for a good controller. Get tin coated marine wire for the connections as this will stand up to the desert corrosion wise. It should be 1 to 2 bucks a foot for dual conducter with a outdoor rated cover. It kinda looks like romex house wiring only more flexible. Batteries can be flooded or AGM. Stay away from Gel batteries. AGM batteries (like optima) have many advantages like no fluid, no outgassing when charging so they can be indoors without venting. Flooded batteries are cheaper and more juice per pound but require maintenance and venting when charging. If you want 120V you can buy an inverter just be sure to put huge wire on it if you expect to run a blender or something like that. Also very important to fuse hot wire to inverter. Good Vendor with fair prices and technical help is listed below. http://www.e-marine-inc.com/ Zardoz
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