Date: Thu, 11 Nov 2010 12:35:45 -0800
Reply-To: Pat Sloan <pmsloan@SHAW.CA>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Pat Sloan <pmsloan@SHAW.CA>
Subject: Re: Solar Power Charger for Van Camping
In-Reply-To: <4cdc1947.9c6fe50a.2063.51ed@mx.google.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
Hey, it looks like there is kind of a constant trickle charge of info into
my brain - even while it's in Park. So now my (admittedly limited, but
that's all I want) understanding is this:
1. Mostly I will be camping in one place for 3 or 4 days max. I will not be
winter camping or heading for the arctic, and plan to make-do with a good
down quilt if surprised occasionally by high-altitude or global warming
blizzards (I've lived at 40-below and know how to stay safe). My cooking
will be with a Coleman stove and food storage in an icebox/electric cooler.
I will probably bring along some kind of portable heater, but don't intend
to run it continuously. A lot of times I will be in campgrounds, but I
definitely want to be off-grid capable, in case of necessity or completely
irresistible location. I mostly want to be able to charge up my laptop,
camera and phone and briefly use the inside lights at night. So it sounds
like a permanently installed large solar array would be overkill for my
purposes at this time, but could always be installed later if priorities
change.
2. Eco-friendly is a priority for me. That's why I was looking into solar.
But now it seems that (given my limited needs) the auxiliary battery
charging off the alternator while driving is just as environmentally
responsible. Works kind of like a hybrid car, I think (?)
3. The Chinavasion solar panel I was looking at sounds like it would have a
very limited effective life. And the fact that it's portable and needs to
sit in the sun for up to 13 hours, means that I would have to sit there
alongside it so it doesn't get stolen or knocked over. This is not how I
want to spend my days.
So (if I understand you all correctly) the best option for my purposes is
the auxiliary battery route and if it isn't already set up in the van I
purchase, you guys (or the archives) will help me get the optimum
configuration? What a deal!
I'm saying thank you, in case that understanding above is correct. If not,
would appreciate correction.
Cheers and thanks again, Pat
-----Original Message-----
From: David Beierl [mailto:dbeierl@gmail.com] On Behalf Of David Beierl
Sent: November-11-10 8:26 AM
To: Pat Sloan
Cc: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: Solar Power Charger for Van Camping
At 09:15 PM 11/10/2010 -0800, Pat Sloan wrote:
>Thank you very much, Mike. I've had a quick look at the mrsolar page and
>have saved it for when I have more time to figure it all out. The thing is,
>for me, I read about the ThinkGeek thing and they describe its capacity in
>terms of 20,000 mAh.
Actually that's kind of scary -- why are they saying 20,000
milliamp-hours when they could say 20 amp-hours the way normal people
would? The main page gives me the feeling that they're trying to
blow smoke somewhere I don't want it.
However the details/specs page is more forthcoming. This thing is
basically a multi-voltage battery power supply for laptops and
smaller electronic gear. It has about the same capacity (74
watt-hours*) when brand new as an extra-large (nine-cell) laptop
battery. Just like the laptop battery, the capacity will start
dropping immediately and will get down to half in a few years.
*That's 74 watts for rather less than an hour (technical stuff you
don't want to know right now), 7.5 watts for ten hours, one watt for
?85? hours.
The solar panel is rated to charge the battery in ten hours, they
say. It might possibly do that at noon in the Sahara Desert, but I
doubt it. I'm guessing more like thirteen hours in full sun.
This is a perfectly worthy device, or could very well be, but it's
mainly an AC-powered auxiliary battery with flexible outputs for
various electronic gadgets -- and a solar panel for backup or
low-drain use like charging cell phones and the like.
> Then I go to the mrsolar site and they're talking in
>terms of watts and volts and AC. Since I don't really understand what any
of
>those things are, I throw up my hands, place my brain in Park, and go off
>and do something else.
FWIW, I sympathize.
>They will sell a lot more solar items generally, when people don't need a
>journeyman's certificate to decide what to buy.
Ouch. It isn't going to happen. Any time you're rationing a scarce
resource you have to know something about it, and solar power and
battery capacity are both scarce resources. Slightly off the point,
but -- my brother's 35-foot diesel RV came with a nylon "briefcase"
twelve inches thick, containing twelve inches of manuals. To operate
the thing correctly you'd better have read at least six inches of them.
People here, me included, can help you with watts and volts and stuff.
Yours,
David
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