Solar Power Generator Systems

Here are the systems I have put together to try out solar power as a means to power some things during power outages and maybe even on typical normal days (when viewing the images keep in mind, for scale, that the battery pack units are about the same physical dimensions -- about 15" wide). Note that small solar power systems cannot handle large power drawing appliances and they are not intended to be used for this. You do NOT want to try or expect to be able to cook much with a small solar power system or do much cooling other than very small coolers that have low power draw because they do not use refrigeration compressors, but these do not maintain typical refrigerator range temperatures well either.

These small solar power systems are intended to power radios, lights, low power TVs and DVD players, power/charge personal electronics (cell phones, MP3 or MP4 players, etc.) and batteries, computers (lower power desktops or nettops, notebooks or, even better, netbooks -- I'll address low power PCs some other time), small fans, security systems, etc.

The following types of appliances are HUGE power drawing beasts and will NOT work well or at all on small solar power systems: ovens, stoves, hot plates, microwaves, air conditioners, large fans, refrigerators, larger kitchen appliances, hair dryers. It is math, investigate the power an appliance draws and determine for yourself what would happen if you tried to run a certain appliance on a small 20 to 30 amp-hour battery through a 400 or so watt inverter. These things CAN be run using a solar (or wind) powered system, but such systems have HUGE battery banks and inverters and cost $5,000 to $20,000, while these systems shown below cost only hundreds of dollars.

480 Watt AC, 28 Amp-Hour, 60 Watt/4 Amp Solar System

• 60 watts 15 VDC solar panel array (4 x 15 watts) -- about 4 amps at full power
• 7 amp max. DC Solar Charge Controller
• 480 watt (continuous max.)/600 watt (5 min. max.) AC inverter, 28 amp-hour portable battery pack/jump starter (with built-in AM/FM radio and 5 watt light), includes built-in 2.5 amp max. DC charge controller for charging from AC outlet (or DC source), 12 amp max. charge/discharge current through DC accessory socket
• Can attach 1 or more external batteries to unit using jumper cable attachment to increase available amp-hours

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400 Watt AC, 19 Amp-Hour, 30 Watt/2 Amp Solar System

• 30 watts 15 VDC single solar panel -- about 2 amps at full power
• 7 amp max. DC Solar Charge Controller
• 400 watt (continuous max.) AC inverter, 19 amp-hour portable battery pack/jump starter (with built-in 5 VDC USB power port, AM/FM/NOAA radio and LED light), includes built-in charge controller for charging from AC outlet, 5 amp max. charge/discharge current through DC accessory socket
• Can attach 1 or more external batteries to unit using jumper cable attachment to increase available amp-hours