Anybody using solar power as part of their preps?

[pnuner]

My bad, reading is fundamental! I was thinking 150' from the panels to the batteries. That's pretty much a no go. I didn't notice the panels would be on a shop building. I don't think you would have any trouble going from the inverter to your house. A good heavy extension cord should be able to run a freezer or refrigerator without a huge problem assuming you have the storage capacity.

 

[jrusling]

That's great info, guys. Thanks! My ideal situation in an outage would be to be able to run a fridge/freezer, some LED backup lighting strips, a space heater, and my fireplace blower. I'm also thinking of running one solar well pump setup as well as maybe a small setup for my storm shelter. I figure that in the shelter it'd be nice to have some LED lanterns on a float charger and to be able to run a small fan. Can you guys recommend any good write-ups/tutorials on wattage/amperage, loading, power draw, etc.?

Forget about an electric space heater. They will draw more than the rest of the stuff you quoted. For backup heat look at a portable propane or kerosene heater. I have a large kerosene heater, mainly for the shop, and a little buddy propane heater. There are a lot of sites with information. You might want to look at http://www.wholesalesolar.com. They have quite a bit of information on small to midsize solar systems.

 

[pritch]

Here is a thread on the CountryPlans forum that provides a very good overview on sizing battery banks and PV appropriately. Getting the order down before clicking the "buy" button is critical. Off Grid Power

 

[Surveyor1653]

Forget about an electric space heater. They will draw more than the rest of the stuff you quoted. For backup heat look at a portable propane or kerosene heater. I have a large kerosene heater, mainly for the shop, and a little buddy propane heater. There are a lot of sites with information. You might want to look at http://www.wholesalesolar.com. They have quite a bit of information on small to midsize solar systems.

I have a kerosene heater. I didn't realize that the small space heaters would draw that many amps. It's definitely good to know. Thanks again for the info.

 

[Old Timer]

Most small space heaters draw 1500 to 1800 watts. That would take a lot of solar cells to run it for just an hour.

Little buddy makes 2 small heaters a 9,000 but and a 18,000 btu. You can get a conversion hose that will connect to a 20 or 30 lb bottle.

The 18,000 will run for 3 days on a 30 lb bottle as long as it is not freezing cold. During this last weekend, it was not quite making the full 3 days.
It worked great to keep a rent house warm enough to keep the water from freezing while it had no electricity.

 

[Wolf44]

solar will someday be more of a 'have' for easy 'green' than a prep. Guess they want to keep throwin up Big ars propellers that come apart and litter the country side, as well as change the natural flow of things..... etc

 

[tntrex]

I'd like to learn more about solar but I worry we have too many hail storms out here in swok that it may be a bad idea.

 

[jrusling]

Mine has been up for a year now without any damage. We did have some pretty good hail storms here in Mustang this past year.