need opinions on solar equipment

[lcordero2]

http://www.siliconsolar.com/portable_power_system.htm

halfway down this page is the Solar System 400 Portable Power Pack. I've been thinking about buying it. Any comments? Does anybody know about a better buy?

[CottonBear]

1. You might try posting this in the Energy and Environment forum too.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=115

[doubleplusgood]

2. check out American Solar Energy Society

at http://www.ases.org

If you haven't checked them out already, they might have some useful info.

[amerikat]

3. What are you going to use it for?(nt)

[lostinacause]

4. Solar power often has high manufacturing costs (in terms of both dollars

and energy) it may actually do more harm to both your wallet and the environment then it does good. If you have an need for it choosing something like that might be beneficial, however if you are concerned about the environment there is a growing number of electrical companies that offer a green power program. This may be better suited to both your budget and your cause.

[lcordero2]

6. I was under the impression that all business is done

through Con Edison(thru state sponsored monopoly garbage) here in the NYC. I'm not interested in adding a middleman on my power bill since it's turn out to be nothing but a scam. Also, the blackout from August 2003 is really fresh on my mind and I'm still very suspicious about it.

[lostinacause]

8. Avaliablity of things such as what I mentioned depends on where you live.

This actually came out right after deregulation. It's one of the clear successes of energy deregulation here. I haven’t been paying enough attention to tell whether the deregulation has been a success or failure in other regards.

[LeftHander]

5. For remote AC power...

YOu need to think in terms of Amp Hours...

That system will produce 2-4 amp hours of electricty per DAY. ROughly 4-5 hours of direct sunlight at 34 watts. A battery just sitting doing nothing lose 1 amp hour per day.

So the gel battery is no doubt a deep cycle battery but I doubt it is beyond a 30 amp hour battery at only 30 lbs or so. A 12v 10 watt light will drain a battery of .5 amp hours per hour of use. this would not run a small 12 volt refrigerator/cooler with thermal chip for very long. Maybe 4-6 hours.

SO indeed the claim of 500 watt operation is true but you will drain the battery faster than the solar panels can replace it.

A 30 watt system such as this would be better suited for maintaining a 100 amp hour lead acid battery. Such as a boat's house battery that sees, minimal use of 5 watt 12 volt lights and maybe a fan.

DC to AC inversion is also very costly in term of energy. The energy from the panael stored in a battery then inverted to AC is less than 50% efficient. The inverter looses energy in the form of heat.

But if you need to charge a laptop battery it might take an entire sunlight day to recharge the energy used from the systems battery at only 30 watts.

For more usage say to operate a laptop remotely during the day without loosing any battery charge....100 watts of solar power would be better.

[jpak]

7. For $369 it looks like a good deal

It all depends on what you want it for....

But if you want to spend a little more on a portable PV system, there's the NOMAD series - it can be upgraded with more battery and PV capacity too...

http://www.solarsense.com/Products/1-Complete_Systems/3-NOMAD_1500/NOMAD_1500.html