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Stardate: 20190802.1154 | |
Location: Passenger in a Toyota SUV en route to Lake Tahoe | |
Input Device: Gemini PDA | |
Audio: some Olivia Newton John song | |
Visual: Freeway traffic and scenery | |
Energy: 75% | |
Mental: 65% | |
Emotional: Cramped, confined. | |
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The fam and I are on the way to Lake Tahoe today for the weekend. | |
I don't have to drive so I get to chill. | |
Lately, I have been reviewing my disaster prep supplies and | |
procedures. I brought out my solar generator rig that I built | |
several years ago for camping (I use a CPAP machine) and have added | |
to my disaster supplies. Unfortunately, the panels are not as | |
effective as they once were. The panels I have are the flexible type | |
that are light weight and you can roll up, but have been showing | |
their age. | |
There are 3 panels, 2 of which are small 5 watt panels and the | |
other being 20 watts. I connected these together and my meter only | |
registered between 100mAh and 300mAh, with the voltage around 16v | |
in direct sunlight. So I was only getting between 1.6 to 4.8 watts, | |
not the 30 watts that they were originally rated at. | |
The original batteries I used were 2 12v, 12Ah lead acid batteries | |
that I got used and wired in parallel for a maximum capacity | |
of 24Ah, or 288 watt hours...if the batteries were brand new. The | |
setup didn't last that long so I decided to use smaller 12 volt | |
batteries. | |
I was able to fit the whole rig in a plastic tool box, panels, | |
batteries, controller, meters, etc. I took it on a few trips, but | |
it wasn't too practical and the charging setup wasn't a good one. I | |
was able to learn quite a bit about solar charging and electricity. | |
With this recent test, I have been given the opportunity to revisit | |
this project. I thought about rebuilding the setup and finding | |
new panels. Then I thought about it some more and decided to keep | |
the setup, but replace the tool box since it is a bit banged up and | |
use this rig for maintaining batteries in my garage. Let's see how | |
that works out. | |
For the disaster/camping kit, I picked up a manufactured kit that is | |
much more efficient and lighter than the previous setup. The panels | |
are 50 watts that fold up like a brief case and the battery is 150 | |
watt hours. That might work better. | |
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