[Euler]

Ok guys and gals

A complete novice. Thinking about doing a DIY solar setup, expect to pay about 1.5-2K for 250Watts. Question is this:

When sun out get energy - great, what happens when no sun - no energy?. Can you purchase batteries?, to store the energy created during the daytime and use in the evening. ie, During the day when at work, the solar system stores electric to be used for when I get in from work (just like my slowcooker)

Hoping to use the energy stored to run TV and PC in the evening, is this possible.

Sorry if the question is stupid, but i'am a stupid person.

Thanks

[johntheexpat]

The principle is simple enough. Solar panel-Lead acid battery-inverter. 250W shouldn't be any great problem, cheap inverters can provide that much. I have run a tv (crt type) off a cheap inverter, but it gave a moving line down the screen. It was watchable, but a little irritating. Possibly more expensive ones don't do that, but does anyone have experience of running, say, an LCD tv off an inverter?
But other stuff should work OK, fridges etc.

Good luck and let us know what happens.

[gerabold]

Bear in mind that a rechargeable battery will likely only have a maximum useful life of 3-5 years, especially if it is constantly charged then drained. (I just replaced a UPS battery that was totally dead after 4 years and only gets drained very occassionally)

[johntheexpat]

When I worked in a warehouse, the batteries for the emergency lights have to be replaced, by law, every four years. These were tested each month by being run down to flat, but for the rest of the time they were kept topped up by trickle charge. So after 4 years you have batteries which must be changed and have only gone through 48 cycles. I managed to get them free, since it saved disposal charges and they were approx 50 Amp Hours each. (Mostly still working usefully after another 5 years or so, but obviously not the full monty. (No real idea how much charge they still hold, but enough for my purposes). So, there are ways to cut costs here, by scavenging. I often wondered what happened to the 'old' forklift batteries which still held a lot of charge, even when they were useless for forklifts. Now one of them would keep your house lit!

[Euler]

Thanks for the replies.

I am just interested as an experiment, looking at
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?...rce=1&DOY=29m6

buying maybe 5-6 then seeing what works?

[JagoPlasma]

if you were really up on your electronics then you could just skip the inverter parts as most electrical products are DC anyway. but thats if you dont mind taking the back off the tv

[Toasty]

I'm looking for something similar, but just used to charge things like mobile phones and other hand held gadgets. Can anyone recommend anything?

[Morden]

This company are close to releasing new technology that will allow storage of renewables by converting it to Hyrdogen.

http://www.itm-power.com/html/applied.php

Look at electrolyser on the page.

[miceri]

Deep cycle batteries are often used in telecomm installations in conjuction with solar systems...

http://www.windsun.com/Batteries/Battery_FAQ.htm

[splatz]

Toms Hardware did a project last year to power a PC via Solar Power.

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/solar-...iew-29627.html

This page shows the current power state of their system so you can see how efficient the system is at any time. At the bottom of the page are the links to the three individual construction articles explaining the fundamentals and how to build.

The thing that surprised me the most was how inefficient current solar technology is!

[RobDickinson]

Best system I've seen was $400,000 in the US - yes a lot of cash but it should come down.

A large aera of panels (house + barn, 3000sqm ish) powered aplant that converted water to hydrogen and stored that (obviously excess power). Used the H to generate power back.

Looked big and complicated though it worked out over a year. I still dont think solar is efficient enough, and home production worthwhile at all unless you've gravity driven running water.

[damo_in_sale]

Hi Euler, I think I have a solution.

You need to assemble a 'box' made of six highly polished square mirrors. Make sure the reflective sides are on the inside of the box. Angle sections placed along the outer edges and a simple adhesive can be used to hold the structure rigid.
The upper mirror will form the 'lid' of the box and so you'll need to articulate it in some way- simple door hinges from B&Q will do just fine.

Now, on a hot day you need to take your 'light' box outside, and open the lid. Make sure it's not in the shade, and try and angle it so the most sunlight gets in. Wait a good few minutes to get as much light in as possible. Then, close the lid as quick as you can (you'll need to be very quick). The light you've collected will now be stored in the box, ready for future use.


Hope that helped,

Damo